![Broadcast, yearbook and newspaper combined for 66 Interscholastic League Press Conference awards this year. Yearbook won 43, newspaper won 14 and broadcast took home nine. “I think [the ILPC awards] are a great way to give the kids some acknowledgement for all of their hard work,” newspaper and yearbook adviser Paige Hert said. “They typically spend the year covering everyone else’s big moments, so it’s really cool for them to be celebrated so many times and in so many different ways.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/edited-ILPC.jpg)
![Looking down at his racket, junior Hasun Nguyen hits the green tennis ball. Hasun has played tennis since he was 9 years old, and he is on the varsity team. "I feel like it’s not really appreciated in America as much, but [tennis] is a really competitive and mentally challenging sport,” Nguyen said. “I’m really level-headed and can keep my cool during a match, and that helps me play a bit better under pressure.” Photo by Kyra Cox](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/hasun.jpg)
![Bringing her arm over her head and taking a quick breath, junior Lauren Lucas swims the final laps of the 500 freestyle at the regionals swimming competition on date. Lucas broke the school’s 18-year-old record for the 500 freestyle at regionals and again at state with a time of 4:58.63. “I’d had my eye on that 500 record since my freshman year, so I was really excited to see if I could get it at regionals or districts,” Lucas said. “ State is always a really fun experience and medaling for the first time was really great. It was a very very tight race, [so] I was a bit surprised [that I medaled]. [There were] a lot of fast girls at the meet in general, [and] it was like a dogfight back and forth, back and forth.” Photo by Kaydence Wilkinson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Kaydence-2.7-23-edit-2.jpg)
![As her hair blows in the wind, senior Brianna Grandow runs the varsity girls 5K at the cross country district meet last Thursday. Grandow finished fourth in the event and led the varsity girls to regionals with a third place placement as a team. “I’m very excited [to go to regionals],” Grandow said. “I’m excited to race in Corpus Christi, and we get to go to the beach, so that’s really awesome.” Photo by Addison Bruce](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/brianna.jpg)
Born to Run
Senior Reflects on High School Track Career
Senior Aaron Esparza holds the district champion award. “Track really had a huge impact on my life,” Esparza said. “It was my go-to place whenever I needed it and I will never forget the amazing memories that came from winning track.”
May 29, 2019
For the first time in high school history, the boys and girls track team swept district and area all in the same year. These accomplishments were a dream come true to senior Aaron Esparza, who has been running track ever since seventh grade and has a huge passion for the sport.
Esparza said that he joined the track team because it was mandatory for playing football. He started off by only running the mile, but in eighth grade when the coaches saw the potential in him, they encouraged him to run the 4×4. Going into high school, Esparza said that he continued the sport because he saw himself developing a love for track, but also keeping his love for football alive and decided to dive into soccer. When practices, games and meets became overwhelming, Esparza ultimately chose to keep track at the top of his priorities.
“Track was my priority because of the love I had for the sport,” Esparza said. “I felt like I really had a purpose and the way I felt after running was an amazing feeling, especially when it all paid off during the races. I knew I had a lot of potential in track and thinking about everything I could accomplish made we want to keep doing it.”
Sophomore year is when things started taking off for Esparza. He focused on track and improved immensely, and when he went into the JV season and soon won the 400 for Districts, Esparza quickly got moved up to varsity to compete in the 4×4, where he ended up qualifying for Regionals.
“My accomplishments are what truly made me feel excited for what track had to offer me,” Esparza said. “Accomplishing all these things while still young made me excited for the years ahead of me. I started setting high goals for myself and wanted to beat any school records.”
Junior year was Esparza’s first full year on varsity. He placed fourth in the 400 for Districts, which led him to qualify for Area. This would have been the third year the boy and girls track teams won district champions, but due to an inconvenience, they got eliminated.
“Getting eliminated from winning district champion my junior year made me upset because that’s a trophy and title that you can’t win back,” Esparza said. “This made me want to work harder my senior year so we could get the title.”
Esparza came into senior year with a strong mentality and was ready to work harder than ever. Starting off the season strong, Esparza, along with sophomore Kiyon King and seniors Eric Shine and Alden Yi, shattered school records in the Sprint Medley Relay, placing first and winning the race. To add to the success, the boy and girls JV and varsity teams all swept Districts, winning the entire meet. Esparza placed first in the 400 and 4×4 at Districts, along with senior Alden Yi and juniors Tanner James and Peyton Chriswisser. This gave Esparza and the boys the title of district champion for both races.
“I had never been happier in my life,” Esparza said. “I finally realized that all the hard work that I’ve been putting in for years finally paid off. I couldn’t stop smiling. I called my mom twice that night to tell her everything. It all just didn’t feel real. It made me even happier seeing my whole team feeling the same way I was.”
The four boys got to advance to Area and placed third in the 4×4, and Esparza placed third in the 400, qualifying for Regionals. At Regionals, Esparza placed sixth in the 400 for his heat, fourth in the 4×4 and qualified for finals. Esparza and the boys placed seventh in finals in the 4×4, ending Esparza’s high school track career.
“Leaving Regionals was a really sad time for me,” Esparza said. “I cried at the end of the race and hugged Coach Blanton and Grenier and all my teammates and thanked them for an amazing season. Everything felt weird for the next few days because track will always have a part in my life and not doing it felt really weird.”
This upcoming summer, Esparza plans on joining a club track team and hopes to earn a scholarship out of it.
“Track really had a huge impact in my life,” Esparza said. “It was my go-to place whenever I needed it and I will never forget the amazing memories that came from running track. The bonds created in track are unbreakable. We’re all with each other for 10-14 hours on meet days and see each other every day. Even after this season, the bonds stayed. It’s a great feeling knowing you’ll always have a family to come back to no matter what.”
![Dressed as “H-E-B Buddy,” senior Logan Hedges entertains shoppers during a shift at H-E-B. Hedges has fun on the job, as there’s significantly less pressure than other jobs he has had. “I [used to umpire] little league baseball, and it’s definitely less stressful,” Hedges said. “There’s not much [that can go wrong] scanning groceries. Making a bad call in baseball is so easy.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BF3C2083-817E-4847-B673-1FEF973AB972-300x300.jpeg)
