Junior Amalie Fackenthal completes a 23.5-second 50-yard freestyle race at the Rio Americano meet on April 20.
Swimming
Junior Amalie Fackenthal, sophomore Joe Zales, freshman Rebecca Waterson and the girls’ relay team (consisting of Fackenthal, Waterson, and sophomores Emily Hayes and Heidi Johnson) qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Championships in their first race. (Because coaches Brian Nabeta and Tyson Frenn were unavailable for comment, Fackenthal provided information.)
Athlete’s Insight: Making finals at sections for the girls’ relay team is going to be the goal and challenge. There are a lot of teams with fast girls that swim (for club teams), and we are seen as “rookies” (because only Waterson and I do club swimming).
—By Larkin Barnard-Bahn
Senior Emil Erickson rushes to gain control of a ball.
Tennis
Four of the seven players on the team, coached by Jamie Nelson, qualified for sectionals on May 4 at Oak Park Tennis Center in Stockton. In league, junior Nico Burns won the boys’ singles title, and sophomore Michaela Chen was the runner-up in girls’ singles. Seniors Emil Erickson and Christian Van Vleck placed second in boys’ doubles.
Coach’s Insight: (Our) greatest challenge is our small size. The final roster has just three boys and four girls. We mathematically cannot beat the bigger teams in the league. That said, we still have very talented individuals.
—By Anna Frankel
Sophomore Heidi Johnson participates in the high jump.
Track and field
The track team, coached by Nick Domich, had outstanding results at the first league meet, with sophomore Heidi Johnson, juniors Annya Dahmani and Nina Dym, and senior Anny Schmidt placing first in the 100-meter relay race. Johnson also placed first in three other categories: long jump, high jump and 300-meter hurdles.
Coach’s Insight: (The biggest challenge this season has been) getting people to show up for practice and invitationals. School events, like band and orchestra performances, occurred at the same time as invitationals or meets. There were also meets during spring break.
—By Héloïse Schep
Junior Miles Edwards drives.
Golf
The golf team won its first two league meetings before losing on a windy day at Rancho Solano on April 24. According to coach Matt Vargo, the “young and talented” team is led by junior Miles Edwards.
Coach’s Insight: We actually have a lot of parental support this year. Golf isn’t a sport that typically has a large number of fans, but we’ve had a consistent parental fan base at every match. They’re not allowed to directly interact with players; it’s just nice to have.
—By Bri Davies
Baseball
The baseball team, coached by Chris Millsback, is currently 7-7, 6-6 in league. After starting off 1-5, the boys bounced back with a monstrous 17-4 win over the Lutheran Panthers. They’re fighting for the third place in league to get a spot in the playoffs.
Sophomore Nate Jakobs pitches.
Coach’s Insight: (The team’s greatest improvement has been) pitching and defense. Those are two things that make a huge difference in our league. You can win and move onto the playoffs (with those things). (Our biggest success this season has) to be the Western Sierra game because we won in 10 innings. (The game) was really exciting, with great pitching, great defense and a three-run home run (from sophomore Nate Jakobs).
—By Jake Longoria
Freshman Naomi Turnbull runs to a base.
Softball
The softball team has yet to win, having lost all eight of their games. But the team, which is the first Country Day has had since 2012, has improved steadily, according to coach Scott Galati.
Coach’s Insight: (Our greatest success has been) starting to make outs. We are not making as many errors. The games against Sac Adventist I think we could have won if we had more practice before, because we really started to improve on getting outs (during the game).
(Our biggest challenge this year has been) getting to practices. You can’t get better if you don’t come.
—By Bryce Longoria
