Lady Cougar’s jaw-dropping victory!

Richelle Zheng
CHS Class of 2025

(4/2025) As the snowfall finally comes to a halt, so do most of the winter sports. However, Catoctin’s indoor track and field and girls basketball teams continue on their season as they go off to compete in state championships. Both sports had amazing outcomes in their state competitions, and Catoctin cannot wait to see what the spring season will bring.

Indoor Track & Field

On February 26, the indoor track season came to a close with their final meet at Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex. Here, the boys competed in the MPSSAA 1A Indoor State Championships. Starting with the men's 55-meter dash, senior Shaymus Stull ran in the preliminary, placing fourth in his heat and 13th overall with a time of 6.81 seconds. Freshman Noah Riling competed in the men’s 1600-meter. He finished the race with a time of 4:54.01 minutes, putting him in fourth place for his heat and 13th overall. Riling’s second event was the men’s 3200-meter event, where he marked a new personal record of 10:40.00 minutes, finishing in seventh place!

In the men’s 55-meter hurdles, senior Gavin Scheetz participated in the preliminary and ended the race with a time of 8.37 seconds, placing fourth in his heat and eleventh overall. Next, in the men’s 4x200-meter relay race, Catoctin was represented by the team of Stull, Brady Koenig, Mason Ferrell, and Scheetz. The boys finished the race with a time of 1:38.83 minutes. For the men’s 4x800-meter relay race, the freshmen team of Grady Abruzzese, Logan Holden, Ryan Leadbetter, and Sean Hoyle represented Catoctin and ran a time of 9:58.80 minutes. Over on the field, in the high jump event, junior Konner Dodson jumped 1.68 meters. Lastly, in the men’s pole vault category, junior Wyatt Sullivan vaulted 3.35 meters, putting him in ninth place!

The girl's team was represented by Hadley McQuay, Charley Keilholtz, Isabel Brodsky, Olivia Baker, and Cora Durrschmidt at the MPSSAA 1A Indoor State Championships. Junior Olivia Baker competed in the women’s 800-meter event and finished the race in 2:31.42 minutes! This allowed her to place fifth out of 18! Baker ran another event, which was the women’s 1600-meter race. She placed sixth overall with a time of 5:39.32 minutes. Hadley McQuay, Charley Keilholtz, Isabel Brodsky, and Baker made up the 4x400-meter relay team. These four girls set a new personal record for themselves as they ended the race in 4:32.40 minutes and placed sixth overall. Over on the field, Cora Durrschmidt competed in the pole vault category, vaulting 2.44 meters!

Lady Cougar’s Basketball

The Lady Cougars had their last game of the regular season on February 18 against Mountain Ridge High School. In the first four minutes of the game, both the Mountain Ridge Miners and the Catoctin Cougars had a slow start to the game with zero points scored. By the end of the first quarter, the Cougars were able to score six points and the Miners three. Then, the offense started pumping up their game, with junior Brooke Williams scoring all of the points. Williams scored a total of 13 points during the second quarter, allowing the Cougars to have a one-point lead by halftime. The score was then 19-18 at halftime.

After intermission ended and the second half of the game began, the Cougars were rejuvenated and came back fiercely at the Miners, with the defense taking control. The iron defensive wall the girls put up against the miners allowed the Cougars to further their lead to nine points. At the end of the third quarter, the score was now 35-26. Continuing to extend the lead in the last quarter, the Cougars could easily drift their way to their win, 50-34. Leading the team was junior Kelsey Troxell, with 21 points and nine rebounds. Williams chimed in 16 points and three assists. In addition, senior Rebekah Zentz added seven points, and freshman Olivia Hoyt helped out with four assists and six rebounds.

The junior varsity team was also victorious against the Moutain Ridge Miners for their last home game, taking the win 30-20. Starting off on the wrong foot, the Cougars let the Miners gain a six-point lead early in the game. In the second quarter, the Cougars started to pick up their intensity on the defensive side, limiting the Miners to only two points. Later, in the third quarter, the girls began playing strategically on offense and ran effective offense sets. This allowed the girls to extend their lead. However, the Miners picked up their game late in the fourth quarter, giving the Cougars a tough time. Still, the girls managed to work together to finish the game off strong. Maddy Whetzel scored the most points in this game with ten points. Chloe Mathias chimed in with five points and six steals. Moreover, Josey Shaffer and Ryleigh Hammond both made four points, and Raquel Owens made eight rebounds.

The Lady Cougars (#2 seed) went on to play in the semifinals on March 3rd against South Carroll High School (#3 seed). At the start of the first quarter, the South Carroll Cavaliers came out strong, gaining a five-point lead on the Cougars early in the game as the Cougars had a hard time scoring points. By the end of the first quarter, South Carroll was in the lead 12-8. Then, in the second quarter, the girls held up a tough defense against the Cavaliers, restricting them to only seven points. However, because the girls were busy holding up their defense, they were also having a tough time being able to make any points. With the Cavaliers still remaining in the lead with the score being 19-15, the Cougars decided to strategize for a comeback.

The girls came out stronger than ever in the third quarter, adding up their points until they were tied with the Cavaliers, and continued to gain points to overtake the lead. The third quarter ended with the Cougars leading 28-25. During the last quarter, the two teams fought back and forth for the lead, but with 19 seconds left of the game, the Cavaliers remained in a 39-38 lead. Nevertheless, Williams, with nine seconds left of the game, was not going to let the Cougars go home without a win and nailed a three-point shot, putting the Cougars into a 41-40 lead, ending the game! Troxell was notorious again this game with another double-double as she scored 22 points and 17 rebounds! Williams aided the team by making 11 points and seven rebounds. Lastly, Hoyt contributed nine rebounds and three steals. Catoctin is beyond proud to have such skillful and passionate student-athletes roaming their halls!