![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
Swim Dives into a New Season
CPHS faces off the Leander Lions in their first meet of the season and came out victorious in the end. Coach Dean Lackey has specific goals for this season. “I want us to win District champions this year,” Lackey said. “We have less kids on the team this year, so I have a lot more visual attention and I’ve been able to see a lot more improvements. Judging by our first meet against Leander, we beat them and they were our real competition.”
October 5, 2016
The CPHS Swim and Dive Team splashed into the new school year by hosting a Swim-A-Thon that took place on Sept. 27 at the Millburn pool during their practice. The Swim-A-Thon was instigated by the team’s booster club with the goal to help fund the costs of travel, meals, equipment and recognition for the team throughout the year. Each lap that the team members swam was recorded and collected along with flat rate donations.
“We made over $2000 and almost met $4000,” the swim and dive team coach Dean Lackey said. “Everyone participated, some more than others, but we met our goal. Freshman Chris Lemke swam the longest length of 170 laps and sophmore Liam Ballon donated over $1000.”
Two returning team members were elected for captain positions this year, senior Kristen Perron and Junior Jack Weiland. According to Lackey, both athletes are tremendous leaders in and out of the pool and are well deserving of the honor. Both swimmers have specific goals for this 2016-17 season that will strengthen the team.
“As captain I want to make sure that everyone on the team has someone cheering for them for each race,” Perron said. “This will create a good spirit at meets and make sure everyone is feeling encouraged.”
Each year the CPHS swim team has had swimmers advance to Regionals, a championship meet that indicates if you are fast enough to compete at State. Weiland has hopes of winning Regionals, a title just as prestigious as qualifying for State.
“My plans as captain are to motivate and cheer on the team,” Weiland said. “My goal for the team this year is to have more swimmers qualify for the higher meets and for the team to place first at the Regional meet.”
Lackey has a number of goals for the 2016-17 season. He has one primary goal that he thinks the team is getting close to achieving by the looks of the season so far.
“I want us to win District champions this year,” Lackey said. “We have less kids on the team this year, so I have a lot more visual attention and I’ve been able to see a lot more improvements. Judging by our first meet against Leander, we beat them and they were our real competition.”
This weekend on Oct. 8 the team is traveling to Erving, Texas for their first sprint meet that will contain only short races such as 25’s and 100’s. If you find yourself in the Dallas area this weekend, try to go and cheer on the team who are waking up at 4:45 a.m. to swim fast.
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901-600x400.jpg)
