![Holding up T-wolves, the tour group poses for a picture in the Chinese classroom. Sophomore Lydia Ou, junior Phu Trung and senior Yushan Pan gave a tour to Taiwanese diplomat Andrea Yang on Nov. 8. “I was so excited when I heard I would get to give the tour because it’s a big deal,” Ou said. “She’s from the US embassy for Taiwan, so she’s really important. I’m so privileged [to get this opportunity] and I’m so excited.” Photo by Skyler King](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Main-Taiwan.jpg)
![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)
The best wrestlers from across the state will gather at the Berry Center in Cypress, TX this weekend to compete for a spot on the podium at the State Championships.
Seven T-Wolves, along with Coach Richard Eckley, left to a DEN sendoff today. These athletes are seniors Tristan Fay and Rachel Corley, junior Max Brandt, sophomores Cade Haskins and Gavin Wood and freshmen Nathan Reilly and Jet Mentel.
“Tournaments take a long time and typically you [compete] every hour or so,” Corley said. “Duals are really fun. They are really hyped up around the team and everyone is cheering for everybody. Every meet or tournament will go in weight order. I enjoy the competitiveness of meets like when you are warming up for a match, seeing your opponent and getting ready to wrestle them. Our team as a whole is looking really good going to state. We have quite a few athletes and I think we will have a couple state placers and even some state champions.”
During practice, the team focuses on conditioning their bodies and working on the drills they use in matches such as different pins, turns and takedowns. They also focus on live conditioning, where they wrestle each other to give them the most realistic match-like practice.
“For the bigger meets we have throughout the season, we’ll usually start the week off with harder practices,” Brandt said. “Usually doing 30-45 minutes of live wrestling then some sprints for conditioning. Then towards the end of the week we tone it down a bit and start to do more drills and stretches to keep our bodies from getting too banged up so we can be at our best for that upcoming tournament.”
Since a new head coach came in this school year, the athletes have had to adjust to the new coaching style while also continuing to build their own team chemistry. According to Corley, the team has to just keep going and focus on the benefits the team has had with a new perspective and push forward for the goals they have as a team.
“I like how close knit our team is,” Corley said. “I made a lot of friends that I wouldn’t have met otherwise and we support each other in a lot of ways. We cheer for each other a lot, we like to coach each other. We will even go mat-side at tournaments and I have even won matches because of other people telling me what to do. Strengths of our team are how close we are together and we have to have a lot of trust in each other. It’s a really genuine environment to be in.”
The support of teammates has an impact on the performance of the team. As they prepare for the state tournament, the mindset and hard work each partner has put in to make all seven athletes better will come into play during their matches to come.
“My favorite thing about the team is the connections I’ve made,” senior David Postelnicu said. “I basically have another family away from home. I feel a lot of love from my wrestling family. I feel comfortable with the whole team to express myself and be myself everyday. Advice I would give people interested in wrestling is to give it a shot. You might be better than you think. It’s going to be hard but the reward is going to be worth it. Stick to your team, don’t distance yourself and build that family because they are going to get you places.
