Winter Sports Preview

As our winter sports start up again, let’s take a look at some notable parts of this upcoming season.

Wrestling – Nikhil and Malik

After two years of no competition, Blake wrestling is back with another strong team.  The Bengals are looking forward to performing at a high level.  Head Coach James Potts expects that the team will “have a very competitive season [with] several key pieces in the room.”  Aside from physical strength, Freshman Tyler McCardle notes that “mental health and toughness is also important.” While brute strength is necessary, having the right mindset and techniques could be the factor for success. Coach Potts tells us the Tri meet against Springbrook and Paint Branch on Feb. 5 is one of the key matchups that the team is looking forward to. Led by captains Evan Ominksy and Anthony Goglia, Blake expects a strong and fun season.

Girls and Boys Basketball – Morgan

As the new season opens, excited students are ready to support our basketball teams. New teams with new faces of all ages and abilities are ready to get the ball in the hoop. Though there was no season last year, all team members are more ready than ever for this new season.  For Boys’ Basketball, the season opener against Good Counsel was a hard loss, 81 – 54. Their next game is today, away against Seneca Valley. Led by Senior Captain Ben Adjoyi, the boys look forward to improving this season. 

The girls team also started their season on Tuesday. Their first game was against Saint Vincent Pallotti with another hard loss with 90 – 17. There is always the next game, which is today also against Seneca Valley, but at home. Good luck to both teams and get out there to support! 

Indoor Track – Josephine

The coach for Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Indoor Track, Mr. Oxley, has large expectations for his teams this year, in spite of COVID-induced obstacles from 2020. Last year’s season was virtual (no practices or competitions), so Coach Oxley focused on mutual team building instead.

One match that the coach is looking forward to is a meet at the Hispanic Games, in which the teams will run on a legendary track in Manhattan. Some athletes that Coach Oxley says to watch out for are Brooke Cochran, Ella Zeigler, Nate Busey, and Atsem Kum.

Indoor Track’s first meet will happen on Dec. 22 at the PG Sportsplex in Hyattsville. The meets scheduled for Dec. 8 and Dec. 14 were canceled since that complex will be used as a mass vaccination site until Dec. 15.

Let’s wish Indoor Track a successful season! Go, Bengals!

Bocce – Omar

Our Bocce Varsity team had a phenomenal season the last time they competed back in the 2019-2020 season. They went undefeated and won the Division title. In the postseason, Bocce went to the MCPS County Tournament and placed third, and now they’ve started up again this year. Coach Renne Harrison, the new Bocce Coach, is hopeful that the returning players and more new players to come will compete to the best of their abilities, with the more experienced players teaching the new ones. 

“I am looking forward to our first match at Magruder H.S. on December 18th”, Coach Harrison stated. “I expect all of my players to shine, learn and develop new skills, especially patience. Bocce is a game of skill, I hope not only that we make the target but also work together to find the best strategy to win the match.” 

Our Bocce team is filled with passionate players and one, Charli Costa, stood out to Coach Harrison as someone with a passion to win it all. “He is a strong leader with a wealth of knowledge about the game. We want the chance to advance even further this season, but we do need players,” Coach said. With a fiery passion to win, the Blake Varsity Bocce team will look to continue their success this year.

Swimming – Sofia

The return of Swimming and Diving (S&D) is another sport that our Bengals can look forward to this winter season. The stand-in coach for S&D, Athletic Director, Jared Fribush has high hopes for the team. Due to COVID canceling their season last year, Mr. Fribush is working hard to get his new swimmers accustomed to being on a high school team, as well as working on his returning swimmers’ stamina. On Saturday, December 4th, S&D had a scrimmage in order to get everyone adjusted to the atmosphere of a high-school level swim meet.

This year, Blake S&D will be competing in the third division of MCPS. Their next five meets are against division-level opponents, such as Einstein and Springbrook. Following that, S&D will partake in a divisional championship meet, invitionals, regionals, and finally, states. Athletes to keep a close eye on are Ethan Badrian and Harrison Quach on the boys’ team, as well Andrea Dworak and Alana Hawkins on the girls’ team.

We can’t wait to see S&D dive into greatness this season!