By Bria Irizarry and Andy Pogach
Twitter: @daathletics
Instagram: @dacavsathletics
This week, Durham Academy athletics saw three teams — baseball, girls lacrosse and boys tennis — advance to the state semifinals. It was a history-making run by the baseball team, which hasn’t reached the state semifinal for three decades. And after a stellar conference meet, the track and field team is poised for a terrific showing at the state meet.
Baseball
DA’s No. 3-seeded conference champion baseball team hosted the No. 7-seeded Metrolina Christian on Tuesday afternoon but fell behind early after the Warriors earned six runs and 10 hits before the end of the second inning. The Cavs fought back in the third with hits from senior Sean Donahue and sophomore Emmet Christian but could not complete the runs. Metrolina Christian continued to bring the offensive firepower with five runs in the third inning, and the Cavs answered with a single from senior Zeph Hollenbeck. The score climbed to 12–1 in favor of the Warriors at the bottom of the fourth, and the Cavs saw one more run after a double from sophomore CW Hollenbeck and an RBI single from senior Jack Liddicoat at the top of the fifth inning. With the help of junior Jack Goldstein at the plate, DA was able to stunt the Warriors offense, but it was not enough to further the game past five innings. DA baseball finished the season 17–4, was crowned Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference (TISAC) champion and made the state semifinal for the first time in 30 years!
Girls Lacrosse
Durham Academy girls lacrosse, the No. 4 seed in the state and TISAC champion, traveled to Charlotte to face the Charlotte Latin School Hawks in the state semifinal on Tuesday. The Hawks secured an early 3–0 lead before junior Spencer Jennings found sophomore Kyla Newkirk to get the Cavs on the board. At the half, the Cavs only trailed 9–4, but the Hawks continued to find the back of the net in the second half and eventually tallied an 18–7 win over DA.
Sophomore Evelyn Guyer led the team in points this season (137) with 48 goals, 89 assists and 92 draw controls, followed by senior Brooke Epstein (128) who had 90 goals and 38 assists. Jennings added 62 draw controls and led the team in caused turnovers (22) and ground balls (72). Senior goalkeeper Mirella Kades and the Cavs defense held their opponents to less than 10 goals a game throughout the 2022 season, which aided in the team earning a 11–5 overall record.
The No. 3-seeded Cavalier boys tennis team earned a spot in the state semifinals in exciting fashion as they earned a one-point win over Providence Day over the weekend. Despite a terrific effort, the Cavs dropped the state semis contest to Charlotte Country Day School 5–1. Juniors Paul Wang and Nikolas Larson earned the lone point for the Cavs, defeating their matchup 8–1 on court three in doubles play. DA boys tennis ends the year with an impressive 19–5 overall record.
Track and Field
This week, DA track and field will compete at the N.C. Independent School Athletics Association state meet at Ravenscroft after earning quite a few accolades at the TISAC conference meet last weekend.
On the girls side, junior Amani Diallo earned the conference crown in the 100-meter and 200-meter individual races and contributed to the 4x100-meter relay win. Diallo was named the TISAC Conference Championship Meet Most Valuable Player. Sophomore Ama Mensah-Boone took first place in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles, and she contributed to the 4x400-meter relay team win. Eighth-grader Audrey Crowder placed first in the 3,200-meter and ran with the 4x400-meter relay team, comprising Mensah-Boone, eighth-grader Catherine Hall and sophomore Allison Hall. For the second year in a row, senior Julianna Hallyburton won the pole vault and ran one leg of the 4x100-meter relay along with Diallo, senior Izzi Gershon and sophomore Kate Parker. Sophomore Margaret Hulka was crowned TISAC champion in the discus event.
On the boys side, junior Aaron Caveney won the 400-meter and the 800-meter race. The 4x800-meter relay team also earned the title with the help of sophomore Hutch Levinson, seniors Michael Yancy and Stewart Roessler and junior Connor Barritt.
Keeping Up with the Cavs
As always, you can keep up with the Cavs on Durham Academy’s website and the Durham Academy App (available on the Apple App Store).
- For a list of all teams, their schedules and directions to games, visit www.da.org/teams.
- Click on an individual team to subscribe to automatic alerts about athletics results, postponements and cancellations, calendar and athletic event reminders.
- All information about the daily athletics schedule is also available on DA’s Athletics Hotline: 919-489-2534 (ext. 5).
The DA App: Schedules and Results
- The DA App allows you to keep up with athletics wherever you are. You can download the app from iTunes at http://bit.ly/DACavaliers. The DA App pulls athletics content directly from the DA website and delivers it to iOS-based devices including iPhone and iPad.
- The Athletics portion of the DA App (after launching, click Menu, then click Athletics to open) features results of recent games, a list of upcoming contests and team records.