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Gators dominate: Xavier racks up four state titles
By Ambria Hammel The Catholic Sun
December 6, 2007
The Xavier College Preparatory Gators swam, dived, stroked, ran and spiked their way to an unlikely feat in fall sports.
They won four out of the five state championship titles in which they were eligible. The girls’ varsity volleyball, golf, cross-country and swimming/diving teams outperformed the other 27 Arizona teams that compete in 5A Division I. Three of the teams are reigning champions.
“I’m just so proud of what the students and coaches did this fall because this is history for Xavier,” said Sr. Lynn Winsor, BVM, athletic director.
Sr. Lynn also serves as longtime coach of the golf team, which recently earned its 26th state title.
The swim team earned its 22nd.
“It shows the work ethic of our girls,” said Colleen Murphy, who is in her first year of coaching at Xavier.
A strong work ethic is a dominant trait in every Xavier team. The athletes participate in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Pursuing Victory With Honor program. It helps athletes model six traits or virtues of character.
Chuck Schmidt, AIA’s assistant executive director, said the Xavier teams “have taken that program and incorporated it into the mantra of Xavier sports.”
The virtues of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship help the athletes strengthen their performance.
“We were actually a pretty young team,” Murphy said of the champion swimmers and divers.
Murphy called the divers and the relay swimmers the team’s strengths. She looks forward to watching the team grow.
Two of the swimmers who will return next year placed in the top three in all of their events during the state competition. Sophomore Haley Krakoski won the 50-meter freestyle and placed second in the 100-meter. Cimone Miner, junior, finished third in the 100-meter fly and backstroke.
Murphy credits Sr. Lynn for the successes of Xavier’s fall teams. Sr. Lynn, whom Murphy often spotted in the stands, praises the coaches.
“The coaching staff at Xavier is probably the best we’ve ever had,” Sr. Lynn said. “Our coaches are experts in their sport, they command the respect of the student athletes and they coach with Christian values. And I think those things really make a huge difference in our program.”
Xavier’s other two state titles this fall return to the all-girls school after at least a one-year absence. The volleyball team just took home its seventh state title.
“We knew that we had enough talent to win,” coach Tim McHale said. Despite their faith in their ability, McHale said the girls “were still giddy, excited and nervous about it.”
McHale described the middle players as the team’s strength this year, something that may have surprised Xavier’s competition. In years past, he said the team’s strength was always the outside and plays were set up accordingly.
This marked Xavier’s sixth volleyball title since 1997.
That’s the last time the cross-country team was a state champion so winning this year “was our goal from the beginning of the season,” said Dave Van Sickle, the team’s coach.
Van Sickle “deliberately didn’t run his kids at the regional tournament the week before because he was saving them up for state,” Sr. Lynn said. “So we lost the regional tournament by two points and then we won the state by 60.”
Seven of his roughly 30-member team ran in the state competition.
“We’re just young and talented,” Van Sickle said. Three of the team’s top five runners are freshmen and are returning next year.
Sr. Lynn suspected the teams would excel, but didn’t expect so many victories at once.
“I think we have a tradition of winning,” Sr. Lynn said. “It’s almost like, you’re kind of expected to win. What’s happened in the past builds for the future.”
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