Sports

The Myers Park Mustangs brought it to the court, pool, mat, track, and beyond this past winter sports season. With successful seasons all around and two State Championship titles, athletes showed off their horsepower after countless hours of grit, focus, and precision. 

To kick off the State Championship titles, the Myers Park Women’s Swim and Dive team placed first at the NCHSAA 4A State Championship meet, securing the title by a mile. The ladies came into the meet as the defending champions and were eager to reclaim their title. Their efforts were reflected in the final standings, as all three relays secured first place, and there were several individual scorers.

State team member, Sofia Plaza, reflects, “To be part of the winning state team was incredible because I got to do it with my closest friends. My favorite moment at states was being part of the relays and being able to break the state record.”

Taking home the title for a second year in a row was monumental for the athletes and served as an unparalleled finale to Coach Goudes and Coach Coyne’s last season with the SeaStangs. 

Plaza recalls, “My favorite memory with Ms. Goudes was watching her expression when our team was called out as State Champions. She was so happy and it felt amazing to make her so proud!”

A few weeks later, the Myers Park Men’s Basketball team set out with a similar goal: to win the NCHSAA 4A State Championship Title. This would be the first state title to go down in history for the men’s basketball team. 

Two-year varsity team member and senior, James Barber, details the team’s preparations, “Over the course of the year I feel like our team grew a ton…we did two tournaments over holiday break…I think that I was only at home for around three nights of break and with the team the rest, so that brought us a lot closer together and we just kept that rolling…We all had a certain urgency and everyone was dialed in…but we also had fun…everyone was just super excited.” 

The men’s basketball team knew they were in good standing to potentially win the state title. 

“We came in and it was definitely our goal…we knew that with the talent, the discipline, and I would say the best coaching staff in the state, the goal was definitely a State Championship” Barber notes. 

The Basketball State Championship took place in Dean Dome, home to the North Carolina Tar Heels. This setup made for an unsurpassed experience for both the players and the cheerleaders. 

“I’ve been a Carolina fan my whole life, so it was just crazy to be playing in the Dean Dome…I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better senior year, especially ending it that way,” Barber adds. 

Other teams, such as the Men’s Varsity Wrestling team, Women’s Basketball team, and Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track teams had exceptional seasons. 

Senior and 3-year Men’s Varsity Wrestling team member, Riley Galvin, notes, “The past season was great for the program. We tripled the team’s size and we have a lot of underclassmen. Almost our whole starting roster qualified for regionals so that was awesome…My favorite memories are going out to eat after a tournament and our tournament in the Bojangles Coliseum.” 

Another Senior and 4-year Women’s Varsity Track and Field team member, Simmons Lee, adds, “The entire team is so encouraging towards each other and I’ve loved being a leader on the team and getting to witness other runners reach their goals…I’ve absolutely loved my time running on the track team at Myers Park and have made lifelong friendships and bonds…as well as learned to challenge myself through both mental and physical obstacles as a track athlete.” 

With vast momentum across all winter sports, the Mustangs are working hard to bring this same energy into the spring sports season. Let’s hit the fields! 

  Most athletes have gotten into degree programs to keep them eligible for sports, but it doesn’t help prepare them for post-sport careers. Education specialists say clustering raises various potential problems, including academic fraud; certain majors and classes have specific academic requirements. Coaches and athletics academic advisers inappropriately influence students’ decisions on their majors and classes.

    Instead of getting paid, college athletes get a free education. College athletes like Steven Cline pursued a pre-veterinary program; it is 1 of 4 interdisciplinary majors in the College of Arts and Sciences that provide options for those who don’t have a major chosen. Cline stayed at Kansas State and spent 2007-2008 in a master’s program in college student personnel. Cline didn’t let the academic advisers choose his major for him. He knew that once football was over, he needed something to fall back on. Cline is now working construction to save money and return to school as a pre-vet student.

     For athletes to be eligible to play, they need to complete 40% their 2nd year, 60% their 3rd ,and 80% their 4th year. Until recently, athletes needed to at least have an 820 on SAT or 68 ACT sum score. There is also a new NCAA rule that threatens penalties for teams with too many players who have become academically ineligible or fail to graduate. Doing things like changing your majors because you find the first one too hard will also make you ineligible. You would have to start at the beginning all over again because you decided to change majors. It will also affect Football, Basketball ,and Baseball ;if you play any of these sports, you  wouldn’t have any time to focus on both your major and your sport at the same time.

    The NCAA rules are in place to help control college athletes and to have them do whatever they say ,even up until they graduate from college. Those college advisers choose whatever they want  you to take that’s in their program. For the freshman that are in high school, if you want to go to college for a sport, you should already be thinking about your academic eligibility. By doing this early, you can make sure that you are taking your core classes in time and that you are maintaining your GPA. That is one of the main things that colleges will start to look at if you are trying to get a scholarship for that specific sport that you are good at.

   So for any high school students who are trying to go to college for a sport, make sure that you are being careful about your choices. Try to talk to anyone who might have gone to college for a sport and got wanted to have a major to fall back on. See what they went through and figure out what all you need to do to succeed. Remember that if you don’t end up going pro after college that you at least have something to fall back on so you won’t be stuck.

  Your decision matters, because at the end of the day you’re going to have to be the one who has to stick with the major. Anybody who tells you any differently is wrong. Just make sure that whatever major you choose is a good decision and that you will actually stick with it. Also when you are choosing your major make sure it will fit in with whichever sport you are going to college for, because if it doesn’t fit you might have to choose something different. So for all of Myers Park athletes I hope you find this helpful and can hopefully put this to some good use.

The 2022-23 College Football season is one that will not be forgotten. The season included an underdog making a National Championship, a dynasty being established, and the loss of a legend. 

While this season was one to remember on the field, it was also important off the field. Mississippi State Head Coach Mike Leach died on December 12th. Leach was a pioneer for College Football and his ideas contributed to how the game is played today with the heavy air game and spread offense.  Mississippi State decided to finish their season and won the ReliaQuest Bowl over Illinois 19-10.

The first couple weeks of the regular season proved how    unique college football can be. Fifth ranked Notre Dame got off to a rocky start, losing their first game to Ohio State followed by a surprising loss to Marshall. However, Notre Dame was not the only team to be on the bad side of a surprising upset. Texas A&M (who was ranked sixth in the AP Preseason Poll) lost its second game of the season to Appalachian State University. The win by App State brought the College Gameday crew to Boone for the first time. 

As the season progressed, the powerhouse teams of the 2022 season became apparent. Georgia was dominating, getting off to a 6-0 start. The Bulldogs took the number 1 spot after Week 2 and maintained this position for the rest of the season. Tennessee started the year unranked but flew up the AP Poll getting off to a 6-0 start. The October 15th matchup between #3 Alabama and #6 Tennessee was one of the most anticipated games of the entire season. According to 247 Sports, the game drew an astonishing 11.557 million viewers. Tennessee won the matchup, sending shockwaves through the college football scene with the Crimson Tide losing to the Volunteers. While all this drama was going on in the SEC, Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, and TCU all put together sneakily good seasons by staying undefeated through mid October. Ohio State, Michigan, and TCU kept this pace to finish the regular season undefeated, but Clemson suffered two losses late in the season to crush the Tigers’ playoff hopes.

The Conference Championship games proved to have major value when it came to playoff selection. Georgia won the SEC Championship in dominating fashion over LSU. The Big 10 Championship game was looked at as a “play-in game” by most to see which team could make the College Football Playoff. Michigan won the fight to lock in its spot in the College Football Playoff. With 4th ranked TCU falling in a close game against Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship, and University of Southern California falling to Utah in the PAC-12 Championship, no one knew who would make the college football playoff going into selection week. 

With Conference Championships over, the College Football Playoff Committee made its decision. #2 Michigan would play #3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, and #1 Georgia was set to face off against #4 Ohio State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. TCU and Michigan put together one of the best games of the year, with TCU  hoisting the $1.4 Million dollar Fiesta Bowl trophy, winning 51-45. The other semifinal matchup between Georgia and Ohio State ended right at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.  Ohio State kicker Noah Ruggles missed a field-goal kick that would have sent the Buckeyes to the National Championship. The new year started off well for the Bulldogs, winning 42-41 in Atlanta.  Georgia ended their season the way they started it with a 65-7 win over TCU. This was the second straight National Championship win for Coach Kirby Smart and Georgia, with the program firmly planting their foot in the door as the next dynasty in college football.

With Myers Park being such a large and diverse campus, there are numerous opportunities to find a community or group of people to fit in with. Avery Peacock, senior at MPHS, is doing her best to provide an opportunity for one such community through rugby. Avery currently plays for a club team in Charlotte but has been working to rally support to form a girls’ rugby team in upcoming years here at The Park. Having started as a freshman, Avery recently celebrated four years dedicated to the love of her sport.

“I started playing through my brother… I got cut from the Myers Park soccer team and the next day I was at rugby practice because that’s what my brother said; if I got cut I’d be there.” “Basically I just went out to practice with zero experience. I literally didn’t know anything, and I am very thankful I went to that practice,” Peacock notes. 

Though Avery’s plan to create a new team is still in the works, other schools have sought interest in participating. So far, West Charlotte, Olympic, and South Meck have all expressed interest in participation. 

Peacock  admits, “I really do wish I could’ve played for my school. Hopefully, I can get that going at the end of this year in order for them to start something next year. That’s my goal.”

Peacock’s current league, Elite Girls Rugby, consists of teams from all over the east coast spanning from Florida to New York.

“They wanted to create a league where you could get a lot of competitive rugby in one spot, just because girls rugby- the levels are very spread out across the United States,” voices Peacock 

This struggle of playing such a niche sport also serves as a binding force for the teams. “It’s a very welcoming environment just because rugby is so unfamiliar to most people that like we have to be… It’s different like everyone knows how basketball operates for the most part, people know how soccer operates, [and] football, but it’s like when people don’t know anything about a sport you have to be willing to help them.” 

“Whenever I describe it to people I would say it’s like a mix of football and soccer. Rugby is like a game of possession so the game doesn’t stop… In rugby, the point of it is you want to keep going so the game doesn’t stop and the clock runs.” 

Peacock then explains what rugby looks like in a high school context, “So there’s traditionally a 7’s team which happens in the fall, so 7 on 7… and 15’s is in the spring, so 15 on 15. Next year they’re trying to do a girls’ high school 10’s, so that’d be 10 on 10.” 

Joining the sport relatively late herself, Avery says the best way to learn how to play is by watching others. “I would just watch a game. I would watch the USA women’s 7’s, they were in the Olympics and did pretty well” 

She also explains that it is imperative to have no fear, “Just show up, just be vulnerable, get uncomfortable you know. Go somewhere you don’t know what’s going to happen and just take that chance because worst comes to worst, you don’t like it.”

With the spring season underway, Avery says it’s never too late to give rugby a try and encourages anyone interested to go out to a practice and see what it’s like firsthand. 

She is a firm believer that anyone can find what they are looking for within the rugby community and says  “If you’re the person that’s getting technicals in basketball, play rugby, or if you need an outlet, rugby. If you’ve ever felt rejected in a sport or like you’re not good enough to be on a team… and if you’re looking for change in your life, play rugby.”

This year, Myers Park High School initiated a new sport into its program consisting of many athletic teams, mountain biking. Originally, mountain biking had only been a school club, but now claims a spot next to over 31 other athletic teams as part of the Myers Park community. Students with any level of experience who are interested in the sport have an opportunity to be a part of the team, meet other bikers, and fall in love with the sport.

Ava Snowdon, a sophomore at Myers Park has recently taken to the sport and plans on continuing as a part of the newly established team. Snowdon watched her brother race last year and immediately admired how team-orientated and enjoyable the races were, including the team’s workouts during practice. “I started riding for fun, decided to work at a summer camp that my coach hosted, and eventually joined the team,” Snowdon explained. 

An average practice with the team consists of workouts, riding down the Greenway in a pace-line, and “Hill of Death” hill climbs. At the beginning of the season, as well as during pre-race practices, there is a large focus on team building and goal setting. Members determine what the team hopes to achieve and what it will take for them to reach those goals. 

As mountain biking has been picking up pace as a sport, there has been an extreme increase in sales for mountain bikes in the past three years. In 2020, sales of front-suspension mountain bikes grew by 150%, and full-suspension bikes grew 92%, according to market research company The NPD Group. It’s no surprise that mountain biking out on trails, away from other people, was a great source of entertainment and a way to leave the house during quarantine. Since then, the rate of bikers has continuously grown. According to Market Research Future, a 10% growth is expected in the market between now and 2027. 

Despite the lack of mountainous terrain, the Charlotte area has many opportunities for mountain bikers. The Charlotte area alone has roughly 132 trails totaling over 273 miles in length, according to the MTB (mountain biking) project. One of Snowdon’s favorite courses is the Backyard Trail (BYT), a trail covering 1.8 miles just slightly off the path of the Sugar Creek Greenway. There are countless community parks, as well, which feature many of these trails, allowing easy access for those in the Charlotte community hoping to bike various courses. 

Aside from trails, bikers can join one of the many mountain biking clubs taking place in and around Charlotte, such as CLT MTB, Dirt Divas, Tarheel Trailblazers, and many others in various parts of the state. Other common ways to get into mountain biking are MeetUp’s or Instagram and FaceBook groups, where you can find groups near you to meet up and hit the trails or ask questions for advice from experienced bikers.. 

Snowdon encourages interested riders to join the Myers Park team and get in on the fun. “You just gotta get out on the trails and start riding; you’ll meet people out there, talk to them, plan to meet up, and meet even more people!”

Upgrading mountain biking from a club to a sport will give the team advanced financial funding, school recognition, and a hopeful chance to recruit more interested bikers. Snowdon shares the team’s excitement and pleasure in seeing their sport become part of the school. “It’s inspiring to see that we can do what we want with the sport and that we have interest from high schoolers. It’s cool to see that (Myers Park) supports something that’s different.”

On October 15th, The University of Alabama and Tennessee football teams faced off against one another in Neyland Stadium, Tennessee’s home field. This annual matchup has ended in Alabama victory for 15 consecutive years. Alabama was ranked 3rd overall and Tennessee ranked 6th, both teams were undefeated. After a nail biting game, The Vols upset the Tide with a stunning victory by a 40 yard field goal to decide it. The end score was 52-49.

This immediately caused a frenzy of Vols fans to rush the field. During the pandemonium, they took the field goal posts, which they hadn’t done since 1998. The Vol fans carried the goal posts to the nearby Tennessee River, where they threw them in. As the madness ensued, a video of UT President Randy Boyd, was recorded smoking a cigar from his box suite where he stated, “It doesn’t matter. We’re going to do this every year”. 

Later that evening, the SEC fined UT $100,000. The University also had to cover the cost of buying new field posts. Despite the deterrents, the SEC continues to have issues with fans storming the fields. The SEC hired more security personnel to prevent this issue after an uprising of fans rushing onto the field. In addition to this, the SEC implemented a regulation stating that the fans who storm the field could receive punishments such as expulsion from the facility, the charge of trespassing, and the loss of future ticket privileges. 

Despite the excitement of storming the field, it does cause some issues. After the Vols victory, Nick Saban and Alabama receiver, Jermaine Burton, were confronted by a fan who had to be tackled in order for the teams to get off the field. Saban stated “I talked to him(Burton). He was scared. I was scared. Some of our other players were scared.”

Andrew Siegel, TCU’s sports field manager, gave insight to the lengthy process of cleaning up after the field has been stormed. Siegel and his 8 person team have to clean the debris from the storming so that their lawn mowers don’t get damaged. Siegel states “I think we found cell phones…We’ve also picked up sunglasses, a pocket knife, lighters, peanuts, pizza crust and beer cans.” TCU, UT, and other schools have real grass, so it’s Siegel’s team and other field teams’ job to maintain it. Mid-October is the prime time for ryegrass (which makes the fields look green in the winter) seeds to be planted. After the fields are stormed, the new seeds are compacted and die.

Recently, it’s much more commonplace to storm the field than it used to be. FiveThirtyEight, a statistics company, calculated that there were 27 instances in 2020, 14 in 2019, and 10 in 2018. Dr. Stephen P. Gonzalez, an executive board member for the Association of Applied Sport Psychology explains this rise, “In a post-COVID year, I think that there’s just a lot of built up or pent up need for normalcy. When athletics are a large part of a school’s identity and in some of these major conferences, it’s an opportunity for people to kind of feel like they’re a part of something that’s bigger than them…. So this is almost like a release valve for a lot of people.”. 

Nick McKenna, Texas A&M’s assistant athletic director for sports fields, describes the recent storming of the field as “ some of what makes college athletics great. Is it ideal? No. But, at the same time, you embrace it. You can’t change it. Have fun. We’ll do our job and do everything to cover it and make the field right afterward.” With the College Football Championship game fastly approaching, all eyes are on the field and the fans for the outcome of one of the nation’s most watched sporting events.

After having an unbelievably successful career at Myers Park, Megan Frost has been furthering her education and love for field hockey in the heart of northern California at Stanford University. She is majoring in Management and Science Engineering and planning to work for Blackstone, a private investment company in the Metropolitan Area of New York. 

“I mean, it was always the dream to wanna go to the best school in the country with the best weather and also a great field hockey team,” says Frost. Frost never had her eyes necessarily set on Stanford, but it was an obvious “no-brainer” when she was accepted. 

In her time at Myers Park, Frost was a key player on the varsity women’s field hockey team and the women’s soccer team. She fell in love with field hockey during her freshman year as a Mustang, “I started loving it a little, actually a lot more than soccer.” 

Frost committed to field hockey, graduating from Myers Park in 2019 as the leader in goals with a total of 115 in addition to 85 assists. Making history for our school, Frost was the first-ever four time MVP (Most Valuable Player). 

Bringing that same energy to Stanford Field Hockey, Frost entered the team her freshman year and started all 23 games, had nine shots on goal, and three assists. “College hockey is a completely different sport than high school field hockey, it’s a lot faster, and you have to think a lot faster, it’s never on grass or field turf, it’s always gonna be on astroturf.”

Shortly after an unbelievable first season, the sport took an unexpected turn during her sophomore year at Stanford. It was announced that her university was to cut 11 varsity sports, field hockey being one of them. The fans and athletes fought for 10 months hoping that their beloved teams could keep their rightful spots in the Stanford community. However, field hockey was the only fall sport preparing for another season just around the corner of the devastating announcement. Field hockey played their “final season” and made it to the postseason before thankfully being reinstated after Stanford announced its reversal in May 2021.

Even after the women’s field hockey team was put through the wringer, the fight wasn’t over. The team entered the 2021 American East Tournament with no goalie, subbing in some of their best players into the missing position. Nevertheless,  Frost and her team are grateful for the seasons they’ve had, “It’s been weird, but I would not trade it for the world. I’ve had so much fun here.”

This year, during Frost’s senior year at Stanford, the field hockey team went far into the American East Championship, “Just to see the growth in the team from having 11 players and no goalies to having two goalies and a full team this year, to see what you can do in a year. That overall was really exciting and empowering.” 

After graduating from Stanford, she’ll take on and revisit the east coast once again while working in New York for a private equity firm, Blackstone. She is currently enrolled as a management science and engineering major, often used to lead into finance and entrepreneurship. Taking that next step towards her future, Blackstone is a leading global investment business located right on Park Avenue in New York City. 

As Frost is rounding out her senior year, she hopes that all athletes wishing to follow in her footsteps as college athletes find what they’re truly passionate about and run with it. “I would encourage everyone to just keep up with the sport if they love it, and if they don’t love it, just try to look for something that they do love…”