![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)
Johnson and Ramsey Prepare for State as Tennis Season Closes
May 2, 2017
Flying a bit under the radar this year, the tennis team is closing out the year strong, and will even send players to the State tournament. This year has been largely successful for the Timberwolves, and the feel around the program is that there is more good to come very soon.
“It’s been a very good season, one of our most successful in the last few years,” head coach Randy Ballenger said. “We made playoffs again last fall, and then this spring season has been one of the best. We’re district champs and Layne and Kylee are going to state. The JV carried on with a first place and the freshmen finished third, so, overall, it was a very strong season.”
As a team, Cedar Park was very successful on the tennis court and won several medals at the district tournament. At the freshman level, Hamilton Watson won the boys singles district championship. The junior varsity team was also successful, winning two bronze medals. Sophomore Evan Richter and junior Macall Wells combined to win third in mixed doubles, and juniors Dylan Brent and Gordon Burt took third in boys’ doubles. At the varsity tournament, the Wolves earned even more honors. Seniors Dylan Maciborski and Jacob Larrea placed fourth in boys’ doubles, while junior Shiva Kumar and senior Alex Sweeney won bronze in the same competition. Additionally, in the girls’ singles tournament, senior Connie Kelly placed third.
“This year was the best that I played in the three years I have been on the team,” Kumar said. “Even though [Alex and I] ended as the alternate team to regionals, I am very proud of how we played, and I am well set to do even better next year.”
While the team has already racked up plenty of awards, the season isn’t over quite yet. Cedar Park will send its top mixed doubles team, composed of senior Layne Johnson and sophomore Kylee Ramsey, to the state tennis tournament in May. This is a big development for the team, and the duo is looking forward to the challenge.
“At the beginning of the season, we weren’t really sure how good we were,” Johnson said. “We did good in tournaments but we still didn’t know for regionals either. We knew we would get out of district but we didn’t know the skill level of the players at regionals, but once we got there, we knew state was a serious possibility for us. We just worked hard to make sure we qualified.”
Johnson and Ramsey will compete in the State mixed doubles tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center and Smith Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. The tournament runs two days, from Thursday, May 18, to Friday, May 19.
