Big Red Fall 2018

BIG RED

INSIDE

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

BEHIND FIELD HOCKEY’S RECORDBREAKING DOMINANCE

BY LUKE CASOLA / / P. 6

JACK FLAHERTY ’14 THE BASEBALL CAREER OF ONE OF HW’S BEST

BY KEILA MCCABE / / P. 20

VOLUME XII FALL 2018

BIG RED FALL 2018 • VOLUME XII • NO.1

THEPlaybook Eugene Wyman: POP CULTURE The favorite songs, shows, athletes, pregame meals, and desert island survival strategies of top fall athletes.

PHOTO SPREAD Luke Casola: HEART OF A CHAMPION A look at the undefeated field hockey dynasty, unprecedented in school history.

Eugene Wyman: LIFE OF A BROWNS FAN The Brown’s have consistently been one of the NFL’s worst teams. It’s been a wild ride.

PHOTO SPREAD Will Mallory: INJURED PLAYERS How sports injuries can hurt players and teams beyond their physical pain.

PHOTO SPREAD Keila McCabe: JACK FLAHERTY How the Cardinals pitcher’s experience at HW impacts him in the majors.

PHOTO SPREAD Zack Schwartz:

SULTAN DANIELS PROFILE

An intimate look at the star running-back’s remarkably football season.

theStaff

Letter from The Editors

3 4 6 10 12 14 18 20 24 26

Editors-in-Chief Ryan Albert, Lucas Gelfond

Assistant Editors Jay Lassiter, Will Mallory, Keila McCabe, Zack Schwartz, Eugene Wyman

Managing Editors Jackie Greenberg, Ben Tenzer

Panorama Executive Editors Sofia Heller, Kaitlin Musante

2 • BIG RED FALL 2018

Adviser Jim Burns

Big Red Editors-in-Chief Ryan Albert and Lucas Gelfond discuss prospects for Volume 12 and the contents of the issue.

As a new volume and, consequently, new era of Big Red begins, the staff is excited about these next four issues and our year as a whole.

Big Red has always strived to be one of the nation’s premier sports magazines and admittedly we’ve had some hiccups in our last two volumes. That said, we hope to bring you the best Big Red volume we can.

This year is about improvement and quality. We are pushing our stories further, getting more sources and focusing on better reporting. We are making our concepts more imaginative, more visually pleasing and more precise. We are taking photos that are more dynamic, sharp and high quality.

We’ve spent this layout working tirelessly to improve every small piece of this magazine, from the big things like article pitches down to the minutia, like photo credits and picas. We hope as a result of these efforts, the whole paper will look signifcantly better.

In this year’s volume, we hope to establish a culture of excellence, working our hardest while not taking ourselves too seriously, and we hope to put out the best issue of Big Red our readers have ever seen.

Sports can change lives, galvanizing friendships, pushing people further and offering unparalleled opportunities to participants, a fantastic pastime for both spectators and athletes alike. We hope to honor this tradition by offering sharp coverage and reporting of the sports we’ve come to love.

Big Red has always been on campus to provide longform, special interest stories and eye-popping designs to the Harvard-Westlake community. That will never change. We know the quality of this paper can and will change. We hope you enjoy this issue of Big Red. BIG RED is a publication of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle, the upper school newspaper at Harvard-Westlake School, 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604, produced as a part of Advanced Journalism classes. The school has 1,200 students in grades 9-12. For any questions, to purchase a subscription or to advertise, please contact us at chronicle@hw.com or at (818)487-6512. Copies of BIG RED are distributed free on campus to students and faculty, and are mailed to friends and family by subscription at $15 per year. Letters to the editor can be sent to editors-inchief Ryan Albert (ralbert1@hwemail.com) and Lucas Gelfond (lgelfond1@hwemail.com). BIG RED is a general interest magazine about athletic teams and individual pursuits of Harvard-Westlake students and faculty, as well as health and fitness topics. For seasonal coverage of Wolverine teams, see The Chronicle or www.hwchronicle.com.

Cover images by Ryan Albert

the staff

popCULTURE

Will Goldberg ’19 Football

Britt Gronemeyer ’20 Girls Volleyball

Maddy Dupee ’20

Girls Tennis

Caroline Sturgeon ’20 Field Hockey

Favorite song

Pregame meal

Favorite show

Favorite athlete

Desert Island necessities

“Life Goes On” – Lil Baby

Sunfare Steak

South Park

Reggie Bush

Food, water, and a boat My dog, Harry Potter, and acai

“Anna Sun” – Walk The Moon

Acai

The Office

Aaron Donald

“Freedom” – Beyoncé

Pasta with tomato sauce

The Office

My phone, salt and The Williams vinegar chips and unlimited sweatshirts Sisters

“6 Foot 7” – Lil Wayne

Spaghetti and meatballs

Walking Dead

Missy Franklin

A lighter, a knife and Emily Kornguth [’20] BIG RED FALL 2018 • 3

4 • BIG RED FALL 2018

NO-GOAL-IN NOLAN Nolan Krutonog ’20 prepares to block an opponent’s shot duing match at home against Mater Dei on Homecoming.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 5

HEART OF A

CHAMPIO BACK-TO-BACK UNDEFEATED SEASONS, TWO LAFHA CHAMPIONSHIPS, THREE CONSECUTIVE LEAGUE TITLES.

FIELD HOCKEY IS ON FIRE.

BY LUKE CASOLA

6 • BIG RED FALL 2018

FA

ON A

s the clock counted down in the LAFHA Championship game, the excitement of the varsity field hockey team could be felt throughout the crowd as the players stormed the field to celebrate the 2-1 win against Huntington Beach. The play-

Photo by

Ryan Albert Big Red

ers walked off the field after winning a second consecutive championship, knowing that they had just accomplished something unprecedented in the school’s field hockey history. Just last year, the squad finished with a record-breaking undefeated 20-0 season but this year the team broke even more records, raising the bar and expectations for the future teams.

This season, the squad built

on its strong team chemistry, which was shown last year to finish undefeated for the second consecutive season and win the LAFHA league for the third year in a row.

Head coach Erin Creznic said that she knew last year’s team would have a chance to win the championship.

“I was pretty certain this was the year we do it and win everything but not even could have predicted the [20-0

record] and winning every single game, so that was pretty incredible,” Creznic said. “Our whole team was so deep. So many good players starting with a strong senior class all the way down to the new freshmen.”

After winning the LAFHA Championship last season, former team captain Alyse Tran ’18 said that she believed the program would have a bright future.

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 7

“I think every single one of [our rising seniors] are really strong and passionate about field hockey,” Tran said. “[Rachel Brown ’20] of course, who won MVP of the league will definitely keep the team going strong.”

On the other hand, after the last season, left midfielder and current team captain Isabella Huang ’19 said that she didn’t really know how the team would do this season.

“I’m not sure how next year will turn out yet, but my hopes are high,” Isabella Huang said. “Last year, we had half the amount of seniors on the team compared to how many we had this year and it kind of changes the dynamic of the team in general.”

Despite Huang’s hopeful uncertainty that the current team would not live up to the expectations after last season’s dominant undefeated season, the current players said that they feel this season belonged among some of the greatest in the school’s history.

“We are extremely excited about our undefeated season and are honored to continue the legacy left behind by last year’s amazing season,” Brown said. “We are so excited for the ring, our fingers were beginning to feel a little light.”

In August, the team opened the season with shutout wins against Marina High School on Aug. 28 and Westminster High School on Aug. 31.

Center forward Emily Kornguth ’20 said that she believes winning the first games of the season motivated the team to work towards a second consecutive undefeated season.

“The beginning of the season was a great depiction of how we would do in the rest of our games,” Kornguth said.

“We were not too caught up with how we did last season or the expectations that were now on us going into the

8 • BIG RED FALL 2018

season because of our success last year and showed that we wanted to win another cham-

“WE ARE EXTREMELY EXCITED ABOUT OUR UNDEFEATED SEASON AND ARE HONORED TO CONTINUE THE LEGACY LEFT BEHIND

BY LAST YEAR’S AMAZING SEASON. WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR THE RING. OUR FINGERS WERE BEGINNING TO FEEL A LITTLE LIGHT.” -RACHEL BROWN ’20 pionship.”

After reflecting on the season, defender Iris Huang ’21 said that she believes the strong start was a key factor in the team’s overall success this year.

“It was really important to us [to start strong] because it boosts our confidence going into the rest of the season and it also just inspired us to work and practice harder so that we could do better in the future,” Huang said.

Over the past two seasons, the Wolverines are 39-0 overall with a league record of 16-0, winning two LAFHA Championships and league titles. Team captain Sydney Pizer ’18 said that she believes the seniors were important in building the team chemistry.

“We really try to lead by example and facilitate an environment of support for our team,” Pizer said. “I think that this close dynamic is very critical to our success because we are a team first and players second.”

In the LAFHA

Championship against Huntington Beach on Nov. 3, the Wolverines trailed 1-0 until the second half. Freshman Ella Ganocy ’22 scored the game-tying goal and nearly three minutes after, made the game-winning goal for the Wolverines.

“Since we were down for the first time in the entire season, this provided a huge challenge but our team was able to rise above and ultimately pull out a win,” Brown said. “This shows our determination and ability to lean on each other in times of trouble.”

To end the reg-

Photo by

Luke Casola Big Red

ON THE ATTACK: CENTER FORWARD EMILY KORNGUTH ’20 LOOKS TO SCORE IN ular season at home the school congratulated Pizer, Toomey, Isabella Huang, Bella Guanche ’18 and Emily Wesel ’18 for their last home game as Wolverine on Senior Night Oct. 25.

“My favorite moment of the season was [the game against Westlake on Oct. 25] when all the underclassmen worked so hard to make Senior Day really magical,” Pizer said. “They surprised us with princess dresses to wear all day at school and presented us with wonderful posters, candy, and flowers.

I know I speak on behalf of all the seniors when I say that we

THE 1-0 WIN AGAINST NEWPORT HARBOR IN THE SECOND ROUND OF PLAYOFFS. were so grateful to be on this team because the people are just the best.”

Many players said that the seniors played a key role and contributed greatly to the team’s overall success this season.

“The seniors on this team were incredibly helpful for our successful season because after 12 [of last year’s] seniors left, many thought it would be our transition year and didn’t expect much of us,” Brown said. “The seniors on the team didn’t ever let us play lazy or give up. Instead the seniors consistently motivated us and made our team better.”

Along with standout senior leadership, Brown also played a key role in the team’s success and was awarded her second LAFHA league MVP in two

seasons. “[Brown] is still the best field hockey player I have ever coached,” Creznic said. “She leads our team as center mid, and she is always a part of every crucial play. [Chronicle Photography Editor Astor Wu ’20] and [forward Samantha Yeh ’20]were two other juniors who had fantastic seasons for us, and there is nothing quite like [team captain Cypress Toomey’s ’18] drive and spirit.

We also had three fantastic freshmen players [Ella Ganocy ], [Bella Ganocy ’22], and [Fiene Oerlemans ’22], who led the team when it came to scoring and assists.”

Not only have the players contributed to the team’s success, Creznic was able to coach this team to become back-toback undefeated champions.

“Coach Creznic has done an amazing job always keeping us focused and preparing us for the season as a whole, as well as always just being an all around coach whether it be games or practices,” Yeh said.

After winning league Oct. 25, defender Scarlett Strasberg ’20 said that she believed the players were happy to carry on the legacy and winning tradition that the program has built over these past two seasons.

Looking ahead, Creznic also said that she believes the team next year will very likely be better than this season.

“It’s been a lot of fun to coach these girls these past two seasons,” Creznic said.

“Not only are they strong, determined, and strategic athletes, but they are compassionate, goofy and kind teenagers.”

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 9

Life of a Browns Fan

by Eugene Wyman

I

’m sitting in my living room shocked. “All I do is win win win no matter what,” DJ Khaled screamed through my tiny iPhone speakers in celebration. The impossible had happened. My favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, had just beaten the New York Jets. I immediately thought that Baker Mayfield is the messiah. After I settled down I looked at my phone. It had been 639 days since their last win on Dec. 24, 2016.

When people ask me who my favorite football team is, I instantly say “the Browns.” I usually get responses such as: “Oh, I’m so sorry,” or “how could you root for that team?”

My path towards the Browns was complex, and some of my friends consider me a bandwagon, but once I started rooting for them I instantly felt at home.

I was originally a Colts fan because my favorite player was Peyton Manning, but he got hurt, missed a year and then signed with the Broncos. I felt betrayed by the organization when they let him go. After that, I bounced around from the Chargers, to the Bills, and thought I’d finally settle down and root for the Rams when they announced that they were moving to Los Angeles

10 • BIG RED FALL 2018

in 2015. Things did not go as planned; during that same 2015 season, I fell in love with watching a young, loose cannon of a quarterback, Johnny Manziel.

I first followed the Texas A&M quarterback watching his 2012 season, when he became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman. He could scramble and create big plays out of nothing, as if he were playing a video game.

This combined with his larger than life personality off the field made him one of the most electrifying players in all of college sports. When he fell to the late first-round in the 2014 draft and the Browns took him, I thought it would be interesting to see if a misfit like Manziel could turn around an organization that had 20 starting quarterbacks over the last 15 seasons.

At times, Manziel showed promise that he might have what it took to turn the Browns around, but in reality, the Brown’s poor management put him in situations he wasn’t prepared for in his first two years in the NFL. Manziel won four games in his two years with the Browns. While this record may seem unimpressive, after Manziel was cut following issues off the field, the Browns won just three

games in the two and a half seasons that followed.

This was definitely the hardest time for me to root for the Browns. When I first became a Browns fan I didn’t know what I was getting into. I watched every game with the hope of a win, and simply disappointed myself every week. I soon learned how to appreciate the rare bright moments and laugh at the bad ones.

Many who knew me assumed that after Manziel’s departure, I’d find a new team to root for. On the contrary, the rebuilding process excited me to root for the team to reach the light at the end of the tunnel that they have been yearning for since 1994.

Over the past three years or so, I have learned that the life of a Browns fan is miserable. Most teams consider it reasonable to celebrate when they win the division or make the playoffs, but for Browns fans , they celebrate smaller things like successful PATs or our rare wins.

The win over the Jets was huge for Browns fans. It signified the start of a new era with Baker Mayfield at the helm. Bud Light even offered a free beer for every

person in Cleveland.

Finally, after two and a half seasons as head coach, the Browns finally fired Hue Jackson. During his tenure with the Browns, he posted a 3-36-1 record, which leaves him as the second least winning coach in NFL history according to FootballReference.com. In his last game with the Browns, the team lost 33-18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many will remember Jackson for his forgetting to use timeouts at the end of the first half that could’ve given the team opportunities to tie the game.

In addition, the Browns fired Todd Haley, their offensive coordinator, on the same day. He was hired to revamp their offense, but during his eight games as the team’s coordinator, they ranked 24th in total offense.Jackson and Haley were succeeded by Gregg Williams, the former defensive coordinator and now interim head coach. This new chapter seems promising for the Browns fanbase. Williams is the man behind the Browns’ amazing defense that ranks first in forced turnovers. With its young rising

stars, Myles Garrett and Jabrill Peppers, the Browns defense could be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

Once the Browns get their offensive coaching on the same page, they’ll have the pieces in place to be a contender. Baker Mayfield has shown that under the right system, and with protection from the offensive line, that he can be an elite quarterback. In addition, Nick Chubb and Antonio Callaway both have shown signs of greatness in their rookie seasons, and Jarvis Landry is already a first class receiver.

In Gregg Williams second game as the Browns interim head coach, they beat the Falcons 28-16, Baker Mayfield completed 17/20 passes and threw three touchdowns, and Nick Chubb ran for 176 yards and a touchdown. In only two weeks since the firing of Jackson, the team has improved enough to beat a perennial playoff team.

Being a Browns fan is bigger than just rooting for a team on Sundays. Yes, we deal with constant mockery and are frequently faced with defeat, but rooting for the Browns signifies hope. When we finally reach the end of the tunnel, the satisfaction of victory will be indescribable.

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 11 ILLUSTRATION BY SAM KO

QUEEN OF THE COURT Lily Bailey ’21 sets the ball to her teamate in a 0-3 loss against Redondo Union in the Homecoming matchup.

12 • BIG RED FALL 2018

RYAN ALBER

RUN, ALEX, RUN Alex Ankai ’19 races in the Woodbridge Invitational.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

LONE WOLVERINE Keon Mazdisnian ’19 represents the black and red during the Woodbridge Invitational.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 13

Down for the count THE PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES OF SPORTS INJURIES

J

ake Kelly ‘20 Jake Kelly ‘20 felt a sharp pain shoot through his left leg as he hit the turf after a four-yard gain on a muggy Friday night in August. It was late in the third quarter of the Wolverines’ football opener against Birmingham and a fresh start for a young squad after a disappointing finish in the 2017 season. Hobbling back to the sideline, Kelly told himself to shake off the pain, blaming the young season for highlighting his rustiness. He bent his knee a few times to test its mobility, correcting his limp on his way to the huddle. He knew that he couldn’t afford an injury. In addition to being the most important year to him, his junior season was a product of the years of practice and dedication to the sport he’d come to love. Kelly hoped the pain would wear off in a couple days and that the injury would subside in a few weeks.

14 • BIG RED FALL 2018

by Will Mallory

He considered almost all the possible scenarios, except one: a season-ending ACL tear and nine months of rehab.

Injuries have always been a consequence of sports. According to the NCAA, there were over 41,000 injuries from 2004 to 2009 in football alone. All it takes is one hit, one cut, or one swing to snuff an athlete’s hopes along with their season.

Sports fans are guilty of moving on from the player’s injury before the athlete can even get up off of the ground.

Humans naturally embrace the “next player up” mindset and, by the end of the game, many fans simply assume the injury is just another “part of the game”.

“There’s a pervasive sense that athletes are superhuman, not only in their abilities to perform athletically, but also in their morals, their ability to handle pain, disappointment and injury,” sports medicine

Photo by

Ryan Albert Big Red

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 15

expert Dr. Deborah SaintPhard said in an interview with the New York Times.

According to the New York Times, injuries can alter both lifestyles and mentali-

nett in a season full of injuries including Loyal Terry ’19 and Brendan Kang ’20. Burnett, who just wrapped up his first season at the school, said he had to constantly switch the lineups to accommodate for all of the injuries this season.

Burnett said that the last

“The hardest part of it all was definitely watching my teammates play knowing that I couldn’t do anything,” Kelly said.

“At times, I felt useless.” ties, and depending on the degree, can cause a dramatic change in one’s life.

Kelly said that he had to face a lot of new pressures after he went down with his ACL tear, including the pressures to perform better in school and to find new activities to pursue.

“I was in shock at first when I heard it was my ACL,” Kelly said. “I immediately felt a lot more pressure to succeed in school and find something else to do with my life. It was really difficult to have to deal with the fact that

thing he wanted was to simply draw up the X’s and O’s and conform to the “next player up” mentality.

“With these types of injuries, we try and offer some sort of managerial role for the players for them to stay engaged in the game,” Burnett said.“Jake is one of those guys

who is always eager to help out, even if it isn’t on the field.”

Regardless of his managerial position, Kelly was still forced to sit the entire season and watch as his teammates battle through the season and ultimately

“Even with all of the support and love from my teammates and coaches, I still felt like something was missing,” Hodge-Adams said.

“I wanted to be out there.”

I was going to be out for the rest of the season.”

Kelly’s injury was another key loss for the Wolverines program head Michael Bur-

16 • BIG RED FALL 2018

lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Kelly was far from the season’s only injured player.

The field hockey team lost Bella Guanche '19 to a seasonending ACL tear of her own only a few weeks into the

season. It was a Thursday in September and Guanche made a cut to the left, buckling her left knee and ending her season before it had really begun . As a rising senior on a field hockey team that won the LAFHA Championship just one year earlier, Guanche was forced to watch from the sidelines as her teammates fought for a second consecutive championship.

“I was pretty upset when I found out that I couldn’t play for the rest of the season,” Guanche said.

“It’s frustrating when you put in all of this work only to have to sit out the whole year.”

Guanche has met with a physical therapist for the past few months for two to three hours a day. Each session consists of hundreds of repetitions of knee-bending in order to build up the strength

accommodate her injury, and she said that it has taken a toll on her interests and priorities. Ever since that practice in September, Guanche’s life has never been the same.

“This injury has definitely affected many sections of my life,” Guanche said. “I had to shift my focus from field hockey and my teammates to the repair of my knee, and that is the last thing I would want to do, especially so early in the season.”

Like Guanche, Jaida HodgeAdams ’19 is no stranger to knee injuries before the beginning of the season. In Hodge-Adam’s case, her injury was the result of weeks of constant stress and pressure as a senior on the girls’ volleyball team. After returning from a break in early August,

“It hurts to be sidelined for my last season,” Guanche said. “It was great to support everyone, but it just wasn’t the same.” that was lost in the tear. Guanche said that one of the most challenging parts of such an injury is simply “getting around” every day.

She said it often takes well over five minutes to get from class to class, not to mention all of the stairs and

pain caused by every step. She now wears a brace on her left knee and uses crutches to help her take the pressure off of her knee.

Guanche said she began to appreciate the smaller things that the average student tends to take for granted. After all, she said she has shaped her life to

Hodge-Adams jumped to swing at a ball in practice and landed awkwardly, causing a quick pain to surge down her leg. This was the final blow after hundreds of small abrasions to the ligaments in her knee.

“To go down before my senior season really upset me,” Hodge-Adams said. “But my teammates were so supportive and I was able to connect with them more even if it wasn’t on the court.”

Hodge-Adams was officially diagnosed with a degeneration of her patellar tendon. Her injury required hours of physical therapy and inactivated her for the rest of the season.

Photo by

Ryan Albert Man Down: Quaterback Jameson Wang ’20 on the ground after getting sacked by a defender. The Wolverines fell to St. Paul 20-16 on Oct. 12.

“We were obviously very sad that [Hodge-Adams] was not able to play her senior year, but understood in looking at her long term volleyball career this was what was best,” program head Hayley Blanchard said. “Because we knew she would not be able to play this season, she focused on school rather than volleyball, but still came to our big matches and practices when she was able. It definitely made it more special the days she was with us since we didn’t see her every day.”

Despite playing different sports and living different lifestyles, Kelly, Guanche and

Hodge-Adams all share one thing in common: they know the consequences of a seasonending injury. None of them asked for it. None of them could have prepared for it. And none of them knew what was in store for the future. Each of them experienced first-hand what it was like to be a part of team that they didn’t get a chance to play on. Each of them experienced the pain, the isolation, and the helplessness of watching their team win or lose from the bleachers.

All three of these athletes said that their injury has had

a significant impact on their lives. They all acknowledged and appreciated the support of their teammates and coaches for finding ways keep them involved in their programs.

“It was obviously really tough not being able to play with my teammates on the court,” Hodge-Adams said.

“But the relationships we formed off the court were so strong that I still felt like I was part of the team.”

The simple principle of inclusion boils down to pure humanity. These teams don’t

Big Red

have to include the injured player in their warm-ups or in the coaching booth, but they choose to anyway. They love and respect one another to an extent indescribable to many.

After all, these teams are a family, and they’re not going to leave one of their own out in the cold.

“I have no idea where I would be without my teammates’ love and support this season,” Guanche said. “I can’t thank them enough for helping me get through this.”

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 17

DUPEE OR NOT DUPEE Madeleine Dupee ’20 hits the ball to her opponent in a 15-3 win against Beverly Hills High School.

18 • BIG RED FALL 2018

UNDER PRESSURE Quarterback Jameson Wang ’20 passes the ball to his teammate in a 28-21 win against St. Anthony High School on Homecoming.

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED KEILA MCCABE/BIG RED

BIG SWING Skylar Graham ’20 swings for the ball in a 188-268 win against Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy.

ZACK SCHWARTZ/BIG RED

JAY LASSITER/BIG RED

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 19

LOOKING AT A LEGEND Tracing the baseball career of Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty ‘14

BY Keila McCabe

20 • BIG RED FALL 2018

Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty ’14 stood in Dodger Stadium, looking out at 50,000 empty seats waiting to be filled for his upcoming game against the Dodgers. He excused himself; Flaherty needed a moment alone to process his memories of his last game there. In 2013, the Harvard-Westlake baseball program secured its only CIF title with a victory over Marina High School 1-0. Flaherty pitched a complete shutout and drove in the only run of the game with an RBI single.

Flaherty said that he will remember and cherish the CIF final and entire 2013 season for the rest of his life.

“We went over there, played, won and had the best night of our lives,” Flaherty said. “It brought everything together. I’m still close with every single one of those guys. It capped off an unbelievable season; it was just special.”

Athletic Director Matt Lacour, the Wolverines’ baseball program head from 2007-15, said that Flaherty’s performance was a key factor to the Wolverines’ victory. “[Flaherty] was the best player on the field,” Lacour said. “He was dominant on the mound and dominant at the plate as a hitter. He did a lot of things in that game that spurred us on to victory. [The CIF final] was a special night, and you could see the makings of him as a professional athlete down the road.”

Flaherty’s 2013 season was unprecedented. He pitched 89 innings, struck out 112 batters and had a

record of 13-0. In addition, he played both shortstop and third base, batting .360 for the year. He earned a place on All-CIF Division I FirstTeam and Gatorade named him its Gatorade Player of the Year.

As a current Wolverine outfielder and close friend of Flaherty, Pete Crow-Armstrong ’20 noted his athleticism.

“You can tell All ph [Flaherty] is a huge otos f rom C hroni competitor just by cle A rchiv es talking to him, but it’s a whole different story watching him play,” Crow-ArmChastrong said. “He’s insanely athletic. pel Hill durHe is one of the most freakish athing his sophomore year, letes ever. He is super long and fluid, but was selected 34th overall in the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft soon after graduating high school.

“He got thrown into the professional baseball world really early so he had to rely on a lot of skills he learned in high school, not just physically, but mentally,” Lacour said.

“His maturation process as a professional athlete needed to happen fast -Matt Lacour so it’s especially rewarding for the people that coached him because a it’s just really beautiful to watch.”

Over the course of his career as a Wolverine, Flaherty developed a close relationship with Lacour, largely due to his need to understand the game on a deeper level. “[Flaherty] had his own thoughts on how he was going to do things,” Lacour said. “He needed to be convinced in order to make to change in his game.

You needed to really explain why because he is really smart when it comes things on the baseball field. That required more interaction than the normal high school baseball Printed with permission of Matt Lacour player.”

Flaherty committed to the University of North Carolina,

“

That was a special night and you could see the makings of him as a professional athlete down the road.”

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 21

lot of things that he’s doing he got from them. His base knowledge and core values were developed when he was here at Harvard-Westlake.”

Flaherty joked about Lacour’s

“

Never be afraid to ask questions. Don’t ever feel stupid asking a question, whether it’s in a class or to your friends.”

-Jack Flaherty ’14

involvement in his career but credited Lacour for shaping him into the player he is today.

“I hate giving Lacour credit, but he had a lot to do with my success,” Flaherty said. “He brought me out of my shell, allowing me to be more aggressive and have a better mentality on the field. For me, it was always just play, play, play and have fun. He was able to, as I got older, help my improve my mentality.”

In addition to learning many lessons on the field from Lacour, Flaherty said he learned a lot of lessons from his peers and teachers as a student.

Visual Arts teacher and close friend of Flaherty, Ted Walch, noted Flaherty’s academic drive and strong

2013

AS A WOLVERINE

89 INNINGS PITCHED 112 STRIKEOUTS 0.63 ERA 22 • BIG RED FALL 2018

work ethic with a story from Flaherty’s senior year.

“He was on some team that was playing abroad and with special permission he was two weeks late to school,” Walch said. “The first day he was back was the day of his first physics test and teacher said they would be happy to give him an extension. But he said ‘no I’ll take it’ and he got the best grade. He got a better grade than all the students that had been there for two weeks. That’s Jack.”

Flaherty said he was a quiet student when he came to campus as a new ninth grader. He noted the major lessons he learned in high school.

“Never be afraid to ask questions,” Flaherty said. “Don’t ever feel stupid asking a question, whether it’s in a class or to your friends. If you are curious about something, and you just don’t know, never be afraid to ask questions. Just try to learn more.”

Lacour said that Flaherty, in addition to being exceptional on the field, was very serious about his academics.

“As a student, he was really well thought of by his teachers,” Lacour said. “He worked hard and was really responsive to instruction. It would be hard for me to think that anybody didn’t like Jack.”

After he was drafted in 2014, Flaherty spent three seasons playing in the St. Louis Cardinals’ Minor League system. In 2017, he had his Major League debut in San Francisco. Walch, Lacour and Flaherty’s

family were able to attend the game.

“My debut in San Fran[sisco] didn’t go as well as I hoped but I just tried to stay calm and to get through that first inning,” Flaherty said. “I got through the first inning, took a big deep breath, and said ‘Thank goodness that’s over with.’ The rest of the game happened, and it was okay, not great. I wouldn’t have wanted it to have happened any other way.”

In his rookie season, Flaherty pitched 21.1 innings and had a 6.33 ERA. This season, he was in the starting rotation for the Cardinals and pitched 151 innings with a 3.34 ERA. He finished fifth in the voting

2018

AS A CARDINAL

151 INNINGS PITCHED 182 STRIKEOUTS 3.34 ERA

“

for National League Rookie of the Year, gaining the most recognition for his Dodger Stadium outing. He pitched six innings, allowed one hit and struck out ten.

“Dodger Stadium was my ‘made it to the big leagues’ moment because that was the moment that I fell in love with the game,” Flaherty said. “I fell in love with baseball.

This was all I ever wanted. For me, that was something so special.

Just to do it and

It gives you a sense of confidence seeing someone who came from the same place go do things like he is doing.”

-Pete Crow-Armstrong ‘20

have those feelings running through me, was something I will never be able to replicate.”

Crow-Armstrong said he got to watch Flaherty develop as a player over the years due to their overlapping baseball careers.

“When I was little and played Little League, he played at the same place as me and his brother was only a few years older than me,” CrowArmstrong said. “He would umpire some of my games. I got to see him play at Harvard-Westlake before I actually got here. We kept connecting in different ways. I got to know

him the best over the last couple years when we both started having our own big successes.”

Watching Flaherty playing in the Major League was inspirational for him and other current baseball players that want to achieve similar success, Crow-Armstrong said.

“It gives you a sense of confidence seeing someone who came from the same place go do things like he’s doing,” CrowArmstrong said. “It’s surreal. It is cool to say you have been able to learn from him.”

One of Flaherty’s mentors, Walch said he was incredibly proud of Flaherty and admires him for the humility he has maintained throughout his success.

“As a teacher, there is nothing that makes a teacher happier than when one of your students achieves success or happiness, preferably both, in doing what it is they want to,” Walch said. “Jack is achieving that very thing. This is what he was put on this Earth to do. He brings a lot to us. He adds a lot of luster by not ever ever telling us how important he is. That’s what I love about Jack.

I love the guy.”

Looking back at his time in the classroom and playing baseball as a Wolverine, Flaherty said the things he learned were vital to his professional career.

“In baseball, you meet a lot of people day in and day out,” Flaherty said. “Here at Harvard-Westlake, you learn how to handle relationships and how to be good to people.

The relationships that I built here and the people I’ve known and how I’ve been able to take those relationships and sustain those relationships has been really special.”

Lacour, Walch and Crow-Armstrong said Flaherty had a great impact on the community and stand as the model student-athlete. As Flaherty looks to the future, he said his goal is to put in consistent hard work.

“I want to be the best version of myself that I can be, and whatever comes with that comes with that,” Flaherty. “I am going to go out and try to make myself better each and every day. When it is all said and done, I want to be able to look back and say I did everything I could.”

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 23

TOO MUCH TOOMEY

Cypress Toomey ’19 slaps the ball up the field in a 1-0 win in the second round of playoffs.

LUKE CASOLA/BIG RED

FRESH(MAN) PRINCESS OF STUDIO CITY Bella Ganocy ’22 races towards the ball in a 10-0 win DUPEE OR NOT DUPEE against Westminster High School on Aug. Madeleine Dupee 31. ’20 hits the ball to her opponent in a 15-3 win against Beverly Hills High School.

24 • BIG RED FALL 2018

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

/BIG RED

UNDER PRESSURE Quarterback Jameson Wang ’20 passes the ball to his teammate in a 28-21 win against St. Anthony High School on Homecoming.

SULT AND PEPPER Sultan Daniels ’19 takes on defenders in a 28-21 win over St. Anthony High School on Homecoming.

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

BIG SWING Skylar Graham ’20 swings the ball in a 188-268 win against Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF WOO SIM

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 25

The Sultan of Ted Slavin

BY ZACK SCHWARTZ

L

ate in August under the bright lights of Pierce College, Sultan Daniels ’19 walked into the end zone for his 207th yard and fourth touchdown of the night.

One thing became abundtantly clear: Daniels had dominated the night, and spectators were astonished by just how special of a running back Harvard-Westlake had.

The season started with a committee at running back but once Jake Kelly ‘20 went down with a ACL injury it was clear who would dominate the ball this year. Daniels finished the year with 1,417 yards on the ground, an unprecedented 6.56 yards per carry and 21 total touchdowns through the 11 game season. Daniels is a two sport athlete playing both lacrosse and football and he said he believes playing multiple sports has improved his abilities in each. “[Football] never really interfered with [lacrosse], but it actually helped me out,” Daniels said. “I also like not getting injured [from] doing the same motions all the time.

I’m taking some parts from football like lifting, the football team lifts a lot more and we do, [and] a lot more conditioning so that’s really helped me with lacrosse.”

Daniels said camaraderie was a large factor in his season.

“I think we just had a lot of team chemistry and this is probably the closest I’ve been with my teammates all year,” Daniels said. “Everyone had a role on the team, even the little freshmen, they’ve got an important role in practice, they got us better every single week. So we all just like really depended on each other and we all just had each other’s back.”

Daniels also attributed his explosion this season to the increase in carries and opportunities the new coaching staff brought.

“I just had more opportunities to get the ball,” Daniels said. “That of course had some impact on [my season]. And in practice we focused on the run more and so did the line, which was way better at blocking this year.”

26 • BIG RED FALL 2018

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

BIG RED FALL 2018 • 27