A Year in Review: NPHS Sports Highlights
Whether they were scoring goals, shooting baskets or hitting home runs, this year our NPHS athletes took their victories by storm. Several teams made it to the early rounds of CIF, championships and overall dominated their respective fields. With so many monumental achievements sweeping our athletic program, we felt that a deeper look through the ins and outs of some of our highest-performing teams could show Newbury Park just how impressive our student-athletes really are.
Flag Football:
A new sport has come across NPHS with the addition of flag football.The team was catching hail marys and won the Coastal Canyon Tournament for their bracket. Captain, Dylan Yamaura, senior, was working hard with each practice to develop their abilities. “Everyone out there wanted to play and wanted to win which helped us develop the skills we needed to perform and win games. We worked hard at practice everyday and did everything we could as a team to learn the skills we needed to,” Yamaura said.
Girls Swim:
Girls’ swim made a splash in their season with their second consecutive win in the Marmonte League Championship. Captain, senior Larkin Patsch, was so grateful for such a fun and rewarding end to her time as an NP swimmer. “I was trying my best to live in the moment this season because this is the last time I will be swimming competitively like this.” Patsch also saw some personal wins and was even able to drop 5 seconds on her 100-meter breaststroke in the PreLims competition. The seniors were especially excited, as, “At the end, when they announced us as winners, we all got to jump into the pool with all our coaches and it made all our work worth it,” Patsch said.
Another swimmer, sophomore Megan Wang, was busy making history and breaking numerous school and league records. Wang feels that a majority of her success can be attributed to the supportive community that the swim team fosters. “I think my environment really contributed to my success this season since everyone on the team made me feel comfortable.” With such a strong support system backing her, Wang was able to break records in the 200 Individual Medley, the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.
Boys’ tennis:
One of the biggest athletic successes this year came from boys’ tennis, where two players broke a school record and won NP its very first Marmonte League title for their specific category. All these successes can be tied back to two players, senior Karthik Tholudur and junior Jason Kiang, who compete as a pair in the doubles category.
“For me specifically this season has been amazing since my doubles partner and I have gone 51-0 in six game sets, which is a school record. We were 30-0 in league matches, sweeping traditional powerhouses like Calabasas and Westlake. Also, we won the Marmonte League individual championship for doubles, which is the first time ever a team from NP has won it. The last time an NP player won singles or doubles was 20 years ago so the fact that we won doubles this year was pretty insane,” Tholudur said.
However, these two players weren’t the only to make NP proud. As a team, they finished second in their league and qualified for D2 CIF. Kiang explains that a lot of their team’s success is thanks to the strengthening of team chemistry this season. “…This year we’ve bridged better connections throughout the team, especially between different grade levels.”
Tackle Football:
NPHS tackle football team dominated the season going to the CIF Southern Section Finals and winning Canyon League. Receiver and safety, Beau Smigiel, sophomore, has worked through a ACL tear his freshman year, then was able to help the team this year, ”I scored 4 touchdowns in my first game back from a torn acl and I stayed healthy [for the rest of the season],” Smigel said. The team had to stay strong both when winning and losing, “We had to work hard through every practice and we never let up, especially when we were losing,” Smigiel said.
Girls Basketball:
NPHS girls basketball team has made history after accomplishing a 20 game winning streak and advancing to the CIF Southern Sections playoffs. Kimiko Carmer, junior, has been playing basketball since she was in 5th grade and she, along with her team, has put in immense dedication and time. “It felt great that all our hard work paid off and we had such a successful season,” Carmer said. Carmer has accomplished an outstanding season with being second team all league and first team during CIF.
Playing basketball for 12 years, Skylar Komatsu, junior, impacts the team in her position as point guard, which always allows her to jump into the action. She believes that the success the team had this season was due to their abilities of playing as a team instead of individuals. Being supportive of each other is a key to their success and Komatsu was a major part of that. “I accomplished being more vocal on the court and being more of a leader,” Komatsu said.
Stunt:
NPHS stunt team has had a victorious season with making it to CIF and being named League Champions. Senior and stunt captain, Gabi Prusinski, has been a part of our high school’s stunt team from the very beginning of her freshman year. Her main goal as a leader is to always encourage her team and to help them believe in themselves. The success of the entire team was due to “lots of teamwork, effort, practice, and drive that went into the successful season we had,” Prusinski said.
Co-captain and fellow senior, Emma Buckley, was elected as Marmonte League Most Valuable Player and led the team to win Marmonte League Champion alongside her co-captain. “We had an abundance of people who were entirely new to the sport make so much progress and become assets to our team. I could not be prouder as both a captain and a teammate of this team as we have overcome so many challenges and learning curves this season.” With so much dedication and passion being poured into their team, the girls were able to put all 18 of their routines on the floor, the only team in the entire league to do so.
Girls Lacrosse:
Girls lacrosse advanced to CIF-Southern Section Division 1 Playoffs this year after winning Marmonte League to make it a 4 beat streak. Senior and one of the captains, Micah Shin, is proud of the season that the team had with all the successes “Winning the Marmonte League was our primary goal, and achieving that, especially for the fourth consecutive time, made it a fulfilling season,” Shin said. Shin has not only had a successful team season but individual season as well with leading the team in goals.
