![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)
![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)
![Smiling at the camera, the Varsity Tennis team celebrates winning districts. They played against Liberty Hill on Tuesday night and won with a final score of 10- 5. “We improved a lot even from the last game,” senior Blake Hillis said. “We lost against them the last time we played [Liberty Hill], but it was really close. It was just really important for us to win this match since it was the district finals. [When we won I felt] overwhelmingly happy, especially being there with my teammates and it being my senior year. It was just really great. It [felt] like a community.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Tennis-Districts-e1728060882260.png)
Girls BBall preps for District
On Dec. 12, junior point guard Jazzmine Thorpe dribbles the ball during the girls’ varsity basketball game against the Westwood Warriors. The Lady Timberwolves lost by 15 points but the Timberwolves are looking forward to playing the rest of the season’s games. “Westwood wasn’t easy,” Thorpe said. “It wasn’t an easy win for them either, it was hard on both teams. Even though I’m disappointed, I’m really looking forward to the Georgetown game. It’s our chance at redemption and I’m looking forward to beating them.”
February 4, 2015
As the balls bounce, the Girls Varsity and JV basketball teams prepare for the upcoming District games. The most recent games resulted in both the JV and Varsity teams winning against Marble Falls on Friday Jan. 16. The varsity’s current record is 9-15. Varsity’s point guard, junior Jennifer Stallings wishes to make it to playoffs this year.
“It’s too soon to tell,” Stallings said. “I think that we can at least make it to the third round of playoffs like we did last year, but anything can happen from now until then.”
The varsity’s overall strategy for District includes intense two hour practices all week, excluding game days. During the practices, the team works on fixing the problems they faced from the previous games, and improve on the basics, like free throws. Other than the hard practices, the team studies up on the opposing team’s plays throughout the week leading up to the game. Varsity and JV practice together in order to work on their fundamentals and make sure everybody knows the plays. Both of the team’s biggest opponents are Georgetown and Vista Ridge, according to varsity guard junior LeeAnn Stephens.
“They are very disciplined and execute their plays very well,” Stephens said. “They’re also very aggressive and know how to get plays done the way they want to exactly.”
Stephens is not the only one on varsity thinking about these teams. Stallings also finds that the Georgetown and Vista Ridge basketball teams are skilled.
“Vista Ridge has a lot of talented players and are really fast,” Stallings said. “They’re very difficult to defend while Georgetown is extremely disciplined. They execute everything they do almost perfectly. They are both very good teams and really tough to beat when played.”
This feeling is mutual amongst the JV team as well. The JV’s biggest challenge as a team is focusing on individual opponents and not worrying about what the other teams are doing, but the team try to focus on. Sophomore JV point guard Aubrey McCarty thinks the team’s strength will outweigh those of the other teams.
“Our offense is very strong; we can all shoot really well,” McCarty said. “Our starting #5 Shannon Hazard is very aggressive and takes it to the hoop a lot. Everybody contributes to the team and you’ll never see us just standing around when we run a play. We execute it really well.”
The varsity’s focus is now on the strengths instead of weaknesses, despite their challenges of making quick decisions as told from Stephens. Stallings feels that the varsity’s season has progressed well this year.
“Our season has really progressed; our greatest strength has become our teamwork,” Stallings said. “We’ve gotten really good at finding open players on the court and setting them up for a play, whether it’s setting up a shooter on the three point line or dishing it in to a post on the block, we work really well as a team.”
