Track & Field Headed to NCSISAA Meet
Congratulations are in order for our girls track team, which crushed the competition by winning a staggering 14 of 18 individual events for the conference crown. Amani Diallo ’23 led the way by winning the 100- and 200-meter races and was part of the conference champion 4x100 (meet record) and 4x200 relay teams. Ali Laros ’25 won the pole vault and triple jump and joined Diallo on the 4x100 team. Ama Mensah-Boone ’24 (100- and 300-meter hurdles as well as the 4x200 relay) also won three events. Margaret Hulka ’24 (discus and shot put) and Audrey Crowder ’26 (1,600- and 3,200-meter races) each won two events.
On the boys side, Aaron Caveney ’23 had quite a day, actually quite an hour, as he set two school records while winning three events all in the span of an hour Saturday afternoon. Caveney set school records in the 200 and 400 while also winning the 800. The Cavs 4x100 relay team of Emery Anderson ’25, PJ Jeffries ’25, Jason Hugh ’24 and Evan Pfeil ’24 were the other individual event winners for the Cavs. Pfeil also finished second in the long jump while Sanju Patel ’23 took second place in both the 1,600 and 3,200 races. The boys team finished in a tie for second place with Cary Academy. Congratulations to Diallo and Caveney, who were both named Most Outstanding Performers of the TISAC meet.
These teams will head to Cannon School on Friday and Saturday for the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) meet.
Postseason Successes
With conference play concluding today, half of our programs captured conference crowns in the 2022–2023 school year. Congratulations to our spring Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference champs: girls track, boys golf, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and girls soccer. Earlier this school year, boys basketball, boys soccer, girls tennis, girls cross-country and girls golf also earned TISAC championships.
DA joins Charlotte Latin School and Providence Day School as the only NCISAA 4A schools with four or more teams to advance to the second week of state tournament play.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team finished third in the state qualifier last Monday in Greensboro. The Cavs were just six strokes behind Charlotte Latin for first place and will battle Latin, Christ School, Metrolina Christian Academy and Ravenscroft School on Friday at the state championship in Greensboro. As has been the case all season, the Cavs had balanced results led by the quartet of William Chapman ’23 (76), Miles Moore ’25 (77), Nicholas Hogan ’23 (77) and Tate Duensing ’26 (77).
Lacrosse
The boys lacrosse team had the most impressive win last week as they went to Charlotte on Thursday and defeated Country Day 11–9 to advance to the state semifinals on Tuesday. The Cavs trailed 7–4 in the second half and 9–7 entering the fourth before a 4–0 final period to defeat the Bucs and avenge an overtime loss earlier in the season. Brodie Mason ’23 had five goals and two assists. The win in Charlotte came just two days after a 14–1 home win over Cary Academy in the first round of the state tournament. Against Cannon, the Cavs fell 17–3 to the top-seed and undefeated Cougars. They finished the season 10–9 as a state semifinalist and TISAC champion.
The girls lacrosse team took care of business last Friday with a 20–6 win over St. Mary’s School on Alumni Field. In the team’s third win of the season over the Saints, DA was led by junior Evelyn Guyer’s eight goals and junior Kyla Newkirk’s seven goals. Stella Edwards ’25 had ten saves in goal. The Cavs then took on the top-seeded Charlotte Latin Hawks in the state semifinals. They fell to the Hawks 18–3 on Tuesday. They finished the season 10–7 as a state semifinalist and TISAC champion.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team reached in the semis for the third straight year as they took a hard fought 5–1 win over Carmel Christian Friday afternoon. The 18–4 Cavs took two doubles points (Paul Wang ’23 and Nik Larson ’23 on court two and Jet Bilsborrow ’25/Eli Werness ’26 on court three) to take a 2–1 lead. In singles play, the Cavs won all six first sets before Bilsborrow (court four), Owen Brent-Levenstein ’23 (court three) and Pete Crowley ’23 (court two) closed out their matches in straight sets to clinch the victory. The Cavs headed to undefeated Providence Day on Wednesday in their state semifinal matchup. The Cavs ultimately fell 5–1 but have nothing to hang their heads over, having finished the season with an overall record of 18–5.
Other Postseason Updates
Unfortunately, three of our teams had their seasons come to a close last week. On Saturday, the conference champ girls soccer team had the tall task of defeating TISAC rivals NRCA for the third time this season. It looked very good early on as senior Faith Hanson scored in the first few minutes and then again right before halftime to give DA a 2–0 lead. The Moylan Field fans were stunned in the second half as the Knights scored four times in just a nine-minute span to rally for the 4–2 win. A huge thank you goes out to coaches Susan Ellis, Thomas Phu and Ashu Saxena for their leadership of the 13–2 girls soccer team!
The DA softball team won its second game this season, a 27–8 victory at Ravenscroft on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament. The Cavs trailed 6–3 after one inning before jumping on the Ravens for six, seven and 11 runs in the next three innings. Holly Wilcox ’23 led the way with three hits and six RBIs as well as a defensive gem turning an unassisted triple play. Whitney Wiles ’25 added three hits and five RBIs while Stella Teis ’27 had a complete game in the circle striking out four. The Cavs’ season came to a close on Thursday with a 15–0 loss at Covenant Day in Charlotte. Teis, Vera Ruth ’28 and Maya Maynard ’23 each had a hit in the defeat. This was the first appearance in the state tournament for DA softball since 2009 and the first win since 2008.
The DA baseball team defeated Ravenscroft 12–0 on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament. Darren Bland ’23 and William Chen ’23 and Emmett Christian ’24 combined to go 10–10 at the plate with 7 RBIs. Christian launched a long home run as well. Ben Tarpey ’23, Mark Caveney ’23 and Griff Maynard ’23 combined to give up just two hits in the shutout. It was back to Cary Academy on Thursday for the second round and a chance to avenge a defeat to the Chargers just two weeks ago. Things started great, as DA jumped to a 3–0 lead but Cary put together six run innings in both the second and the fourth en route to a 13–6 win. Caveney was 3-4, while Jack Goldstein ’23, Sam Schaeffer ’23 and CW Hollenbeck ’24 each hit solo homers. The Cavs finished the year 17–7.
Spring & Senior Athletic Awards Ceremony
The Spring & Senior Athletics Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 21, at 6 p.m. in Horton Hall on the Middle School campus. Varsity athletes and their families are invited and encouraged to attend this event to highlight the spring season’s accomplishments.
BSN Sideline Store Discount
Get an extra 20% off $100 in the Durham Academy Sideline Store with code May23 valid now thru May 31 at 11:59 p.m. DA Athletics receives a portion of each sale, which goes directly to support our athletics programs.
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