Athletes at three Catholic schools made some historic feats during the spring season with plenty of other teams adding state or runner up trophies to their trophy case.
Only time will tell which trophy Brophy College Preparatory will come home with. The No. 4 seed baseball team plays No. 2 seed Chaparral tomorrow for the Division I state title. The Broncos only held the state baseball title once in 2006.
Historic feats
- Softball — Bourgade Catholic’s girls team left their opponents scoreless in two of their four post-season games. That put them in the state championship game (Division III) for the first time since 1993, according to The Arizona Republic. This time, the No. 5 ranked Eagles took on No. 3 seed Winslow May 12. They dominated 7-1 to capture the school’s first state softball title since 1984. View the team’s photo album from the game.
The Eagles were poised for success early on. Short Q-and-A with the coach earlier this season.
Bourgade Catholic was state runner up in 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1993. - Crew — Brophy and Xavier College Preparatories both have crew teams who qualified at the Southwest Junior Regional May 5-6 to advance to the U.S. Youth National Rowing Championships next month. It’s a first-time appearance for Xavier’s Gators who will compete in a a two-person boat and a 4+-person boat.
The Brophy duo of senior Matthew Nelson and junior Sean McMahon will also compete. The Nationals are June 8-10 in Tennessee and will feature more than 1,500 athletes from high school and junior rowing programs across the country competing for national titles in 18 boat classes. - Sand volleyball — It was a pilot season for this sport and top-ranked Xavier College Prep went undefeated. Full story.
- School record — May 4 junior Jack Rubenzer, a junior at Brophy, set the school record May 4 for the half mile (800m) at 1:54.00. He shaved off Tommy Williams’ record, who graduated last year, by one-tenth of a second.
- Undefeated — Brophy’s club lacrosse team finished its first perfect season May 5. The final win (17-0) was the championship against Chaparral, which ended with a final score of 8-5. The teams also played each other in last year’s championship game
Others
- Lacrosse — Xavier College Prep took home the state title in this club sport for Division 2 play. The Gators also held the state championship title 2004-2010.
- Tennis — Top ranked Xavier College Prep, the top-ranked Division I team, only lost one match in post-season play. The Gators beat Scottsdale’s Chaparral in the finals, capturing its first state title since 2003.
— Likewise, Brophy, Arizona’s top-ranked boys’ team left its opponents scoreless until the championship match May 5. It was against No. 2 Desert Mountain. Brophy still won 5-2.
See Republic story about both schools and a student recap of Brophy’s match.
— Tucson’s Salpointe had a top-ranked tennis duo in brothers Matt and Andrew Dunn. They captured the Division I state title April 28 leaving No. 6 seed Brophy’s Hudson Blake and Zach Cihlar with the runner up title. Article from Tucson Citizen.
— The girls doubles tennis match in Division I had a picture perfect state matchup: Tucson’s Salpointe and Phoenix’s Xavier, ranked No. 1 and N. 2, respectively. Xavier’s Maggie Cohen and Scarlet Rush gave Salpointe the upset for the win April 28. The same thing happened in singles play, except Xavier’s Madison Clarke was ranked No. 1 and Salpointe’s Courtney Amos, ranked No. 2, took the state title. Clarke only lost one match before advancing to the state finals. - Golf — Yuma Catholic captured the state golf title with an eight-stroke lead in Division III match-ups May 11-12.
- Track and Field — Salpointe Catholic’s fetes in 17 track field events over the weekend put both the boys team and the girls team first in Division II competition.
Runners up, Third place
- An unusual state championship matchup May 12 had the state’s fifth- and sixth-ranked volleyball teams competing for the title. Brophy, No.5, bowed out to Gilbert High.
- Brophy’s fetes in 17 individual track and field events put the boys second in Division I competition.
- Brophy tennis doubles Hudson Blake and Zach Cihlar finished second in Division I competition.
- #4 Yuma Catholic lost to #2 St. David in the Division IV baseball game May 12.
- Arizona’s No. 3 ranked tennis duo defeated their ranking with Notre Dame Prep’s Adrian Cordova and Luke Carstens taking third place in the Division II match April 28. Likewise, the Notre Dame duo of Kelsie Sanborn and Caitlin Railson, ranked No. 2, also captured third place.
