![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)
Senior night was a memorable evening for both the Timberwolf basketball players and the Timberwolf basketball record book. A 12 point victory over district rival Leander gave the Timberwolves their first 20 win season in the history of CPHS basketball. The guys finish out the year with a 20-12 overall record, which is the most wins and fewest losses in Cedar Park history.
The game started off slowly as the score at the end of the first quarter was 7-4, in Leander’s favor. Dylan Cox scored all four of Cedar Park’s points, as everyone on the team was showing signs of anxiety.
“We came in with the mentality that we needed to win this game to get into the playoffs,” Evan Oddo, senior forward, said.
The game picked up intensity in the second quarter as the Timberwolves began to heat up from beyond the arc. The Timberwolves saw three pointers from Dylan Cox, Alphonso Fields, Brandon Allen and even the center, Tyler Stromberg. At the half, the Timberwolves found themselves down 22-21. Cox led all scoring after two quarters with seven points, followed by Stromberg with six and senior forward Kollin Steichen with five.
A scary event occurred with six minutes left in the third quarter. As Cox was driving into the lane, he was fouled hard to the ground. It took him a few minutes to get up, and even then he could only walk with the aid of his trainers. He did not return to the game.
Ironically, after their leading scorer left the game, the Timberwolves started scoring more. The two big guys, Tyler Stromberg and Matt Gallagher, stepped up in the third quarter, ending the quarter with seven and ten points respectively. Not only were the Timberwolves stepping up their game offensively, Leander was having a tough time scoring.
“In the second half we played much better defense,” Steichen said. “We held Blanchard down, too.”
Blanchard was the high scorer of the game, dropping fifteen points, and most of his field goals came in the first half, and the majority of his second half scoring was from free throws. The Lions tried stepping up their defense in the second half, running a full court zone press after every time they scored.
“We just need to look ahead for open players,” Fields said. “The only thing that affects us when they press is being nervous.”
Despite having some troubles inbounding the ball, the Timberwolves managed to refrain from turning the ball over while being pressed. With the continuing domination from Stromberg and Gallagher, the Timberwolves were just too much for the Lions late in the game. The final score was 51-39 and the guys celebrated by cutting down the nets as the 2009-2010 district champions.
“This season was the time of my life,” Gallagher said. “As a senior, it’s exactly how you want to go out, as district champs.”
The Timberwolves will find out who their playoff opponent is within two days, and the guys will look to carry their momentum into round one of the 2010 post-season.
