![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.jpg)
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-1200x804.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author's visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I'm glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn't just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sebastian-5-1200x800.jpg)
![Standing in front of the field at a freshman football game, cheerleader freshman Jacob Gaudreau along with teammate freshman Bella Gibson pose for a photo during halftime of game. “[Cheer has] definitely given me a much more outgoing personality,” Gaudreau said. “I used to be very introverted, so it's definitely made me more extroverted towards people.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ingrid-204-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Taylor-P.png)
![Swinging with his arm extended, senior Nolan Park hits the ball smoothly over the net and to the opponent’s side. Park is one of four varsity tennis captains and helped the team win district championships. “Winning district champs was a pretty awesome feeling,” Park said. “We had lost to Liberty Hill a couple of weeks before, but when we played them [again], we came out and really took care of business. We took them out and it was just a really awesome night.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kassidy-419.jpg)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
In the blazing heat of Texas, where shorts and tank tops are the accepted fashion almost year round, it is hard to imagine the elements of a traditional white winter amongst the everyday heat known so well to us. But this image is known well to the boys of the Leander ISD ice hockey team.
The newly named team beat Austin-Westlake with a final score of 8-1 Friday, October 19, winning their first pre-season game of the 2008-2009 season. Three weeks later was their second pre-season game against Round Rock ISD’s number two team. They iced RRISD2 7-0. Winning both of these games provided a positive outlook for the LISD ice hockey team this year.
The team is a club sport that is comprised of students from the entire school district. There are 21 players on the team with 14 reigning from Cedar Park High School.
Though the LISD team is newly organized this year, the majority of the players have already played together. In previous years the team was called the Cedar Park ice hockey team, consisting of only members from CPHS rather than the entire school district. Because of this, the team is close knit and everyone is friends on and off the ice.
“It’s pretty hardcore,” Albie Valicenit, sophomore, said.
Valicenit has been playing hockey for about six years, and has been on the LISD team for two years.
Joey Sundgren, sophomore, has been playing hockey for 11 years, but this is his first year playing on the team.
“This season’s going to be great,” Sundgren said. “We have a good chance of getting to the playoffs, and a very good team to reach that goal.”
LISD plays a total of 16 games this season against Austin-Westlake, RRISD2, RRISD1, and Bell Co. They play against each of these teams four times over the course of the season.
All games and practices are held at Chapparal Ice Arena in North Austin. The team’s next game is January 15 at 8 PM against Bell Co. Bundle up and head out to heat up the rink.
