![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)
Practice How You Play
Fall League Showcases Cedar Park Girls Basketball Talent For Upcoming Season
The JV team huddles around seniors Takara Holst and Nicole Leff during a timeout at Fall League game vs. Lake Travis. The teams, Freshman, JV, and Varsity, all came out on top of their Lake Travis games. The younger teams look up to the returning players for support and example during Fall League and even into the season. “Bringing back girls that have the best chemistry together allows the teams to create their own flow during every game,” head coach Donny Ott said.
September 18, 2019
The team that made Cedar Park history is back and better than ever. With eight returning players, the girls basketball program is projected to continue its win streak that swept the district for the last two seasons. For the team, preseason is in full swing, beating Liberty Hill on September 5th, by a “substantial margin,” in the words of head coach Donny Ott. The success in Fall League so far is the tip of the iceberg for the varsity team and the players’ drive to remain the best team in the district propels their desire for the state title.
The varsity team’s preseason Fall League allows the team to view opponents in the area and improve abilities before the season officially begins by playing scrimmages every Wednesday night against teams from all around the Austin area. In the past, the tradition of Fall League has consisted of the older, returning players taking the coaching position for the JV and Freshman teams. This year, Takara Holst and Nicole Leff, two significant returning seniors who have been playing under Ott for their third year now, were allowed the opportunity to coach the first few games due to minor injuries that were still healing.
“It’s been very eye-opening getting to watch how much talent we have this year for all three teams,” Holst said. “Now that we’re seniors, everyone is looking up to us and it’s time to show what we have to offer on and off the court.”
Success is so important to this team that players like Holst and Leff regularly stay after school in order to shoot around with the younger players, polish their knowledge of the plays and give support to them in any area. Holst said she and Leff, in particular, have roles on the team “to lead and coach the younger players” as captains, allowing their knowledge of the game to encourage and teach the future varsity teams.
“I’m excited to be bringing back the experienced girls on the team,“ Ott said. “And to cultivate a team of girls who already get along so well.”
Coach Ott has been on staff with Cedar Park for three years now, and his team’s legacy puts high expectations on the program for this season. With the program winning district titles for the last two years on both the varsity and JV teams, this year, according to Ott, is all about reaching expectations.
“We, as a team, need to create our own expectations for greatness instead of letting other people set them for us,” said Ott.
Ott has decided to bring up freshmen Ana Minor, Moly Ly, Aliyah Carter, and Gisella (G) Maul into the fourth period varsity practice because of their outstanding skills that distinguished them from the rest of their young teammates. By bringing up a few girls, Ott is able to use the returning players as examples for their game and skill on the team.
On Thursday Sept 12, Cedar Park played Lake Travis and won 59-21, proving that this team is out for another district title. The varsity team plans on attending a tournament in Bowie from November 14-16, and then to the McDonald’s Invitational Tournament in hopes of proving their spot in Central Texas, as well as developing the skills and bonds necessary to be as successful as their previous years.
