Big Red Fall 2021

“BEFORE YOU GIVE UP, THINK OF THE REASON YOU HELD ON SO LONG.”

BIG RED

VOLUME XIV FALL 2021

INSIDE SHORTCUT TO THE TOP READ HOW HARVARD-WESTLAKE LANDS TOP ATHLETIC TALENT FROM L.A. TO SPAIN.

BY SANDRA KORETZ / / P. 10

BIG RED

FALL 2021 • VOLUME XIV • NO.1

thePLAYBOOK

4

PHOTO SPREAD

16

THE INJURY BUG

The Staff

Will Sheehy

Check out these action shots of the Fall Season MVPs!

The football team started 3-0. Then, injuries derailed the season.

6

MVP PROFILES

Letter from the Editors

20

PHOTO SPREAD

Leo Saperstein

The Staff

A glimpse into the Fall Season MVPs’ unique team experiences.

Field hockey trio celebrates dominant 9-0 Homecoming win against Marina.

8

PHOTO SPREAD

22

PHOTO SPREAD

The Staff

The Staff

Lining up for the next snap with the football team’s defensive core.

Former dancer reflects on her time in the program before quitting in 2020.

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RECRUITMENT

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STEPPING AWAY

Sandra Koretz

Fallon Dern

Athletic staff and players reveal how the school lands top student-athletes.

Injuries, burnout, school and the pandemic: Why are athletes quitting?

14

PHOTO SPREAD

26

RISING STARS

The Staff

Charlie Seymour

Cross country star runs league finals and girls tennis junior crushes serve.

After seniors graduate, who will step up on each team? These “Rising Stars.”

Big Red Editors-in-Chief Will Sheehy, Justin Goldstein, Julian Andreone and Amelia Scharff outline their plans for Volume XIV and preview the contents of the fall issue.

After an eighteen-month hiatus, Big Red has published a fall issue to commence a new volume of the magazine. In Volume XIV, we will put out one issue dedicated to each of the three sports seasons. We will consistently produce lively photos and intriguing stories, while maintaining our commitment to inform our readers.

Due to health and safety protocols in the Communications and Athletics Departments, Big Red did not publish last school year.Our staff, however, has withstood this adversity and is more energized than ever to start this new chapter.

This volume, we will be making some important changes to the magazine. We are adding an “MVP” spread and a “Rising Stars” spread to each issue to highlight outstanding athletes and their potential successors. We will have four MVPs each issue. Additionally, while the 2019 fall issue had 32 pages, this issue has 28 pages. This page count is subject to change in future issues.

Our photography is solely taken by Big Red staffers, faculty members and parents. We would like to specifically thank Math Teacher Woo Sim for allowing us to use his photographs in this issue.

We would also like to thank our advisor Jim Burns, our publisher Vince Cartusciello and former Big Red Editors Kyle Reims and Jaidev Pant for helping us get acclimated. The quality of our work at Big Red is greatly improved by consultation and input from these mentors.

In Volume XIV, we will consistently strive to inform our audience and continue our magazine’s rich history of excellent writing and photography. We will continue to build on the strong community left by our predecessors, having fun along the way. We will never pass up the opportunity to incorporate Drake quotes into photo captions, watch football during layout, and enjoy burgers, fries and milkshakes.

As a wise man once said, “A little Five Guys never hurt nobody.”

We hope you enjoy the first issue and encourage you to share our work with others so we can continue to grow our dedicated audience.

Go Wolverines!

theSTAFF Editors-in-Chief Julian Andreone, Justin Goldstein, Amelia Scharff, Will Sheehy

Photo Editor Sandra Koretz

Executive Managing Editors Ava Fattahi, Quincey Dern

Advisor Jim Burns

2 • BIG RED FALL 2021

Assistant Editors Milla Ben-Ezra, Claire Conner, Fallon Dern, Danny, Johnson, Paul Kurgan, Leo Saperstein, Charlie Seymour, Tate Sheehy, Will Sherwood, Josh Silbermann, Harry Tarses

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. The school has 1,200 students in grades 9-12. For any questions, please contact us at chronicle@hw.com. Copies of BIG RED are distributed free on campus, and are mailed by subscription at $15 per year. Letters to the editor can be sent to Julian Andreone (jandreone1@hwemail.com), Justin Goldstein (jgoldstein1@ hwemail.com), Amelia Scharff (ascharff1@hwemail.com) and Will Sheehy (wsheehy1@hwemail.com). BIG RED is an interest magazine about athletic teams and individual pursuits of students and faculty, as well as fitness topics. For coverage of Wolverine teams, see The Chronicle or www.hwchronicle.com.

Cover images by Julian Andreone and Harry Tarses

theSTAFF

popCULTURE

Sonny Heyes ’22 Football

Ben Oerelmans ’24 boys water polo

Margaret Piatos ’23

girls tennis

Kennedy Hill ’22 Girls volleyball

w

Favorite Athlete

Favorite City

Best Movie Snack

Favorite T.V Show

Celebrity Crush

Maro Itoje

London

Buncha Crunch

Bojack Horseman

Kennedy Hill ’22

Dean Strauser ’24

Amsterdam

Green Beans

Sex Education

Jennifer Aniston

Emma Radacanu

Paris

Sour Candy

Gilmore Girls

Ross Lynch

Catherine Plumber

Chicago

Game of Thrones

Sonny Heyes ’22

Welch’s Fruit Snacks

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 3

FALL

ARTICLES BY LEO SAPERSTEIN

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Photo by

Julian Andreone Big Red

MVPs BIG RED FALL 2021 • 5

Fiene Oerlemans Photo by Big Red

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ide-receiver Jason Thompson ’22 is one of four Big Red Fall Most Valuable Players (MVPs) for the 2021 season.

Thompson joined the football program in seventh grade, has been playing on varsity since ninth grade and has blossomed into a reliable deep threat.

Thompson said he appreciates being named a Big Red Fall MVP. He said it feels great to receive recognition from fellow students.

“It’s amazing,” Thompson said. “There’s really nothing like having all of your hard work and sacrifices be recognized by your peers, so I truly am honored to be chosen.”

Thompson said the team has focused on adapting to challenges in light of recent injuries. He said these injuries have reminded him to be grateful for the time he spends 6 • BIG RED FALL 2021

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enter midfielder Fiene Oerlemans ’22 is one of four Big Red Fall Most Valuable Players (MVPs) for the 2021 season. To cap off her senior season, Oerlemans led the field hockey team to a 3-1 victory over Huntington Beach High School in the Tournament of Champions finals Oct. 30. This victory marks the team’s fourth consecutive championship.

The team finished the season with a 14-2 overall record and a 5-2 record in league play. Oerlemans tallied 21 goals and 13 assists for the season. As one of the team’s four captains, Oerlemans said she worked on encouraging teammates to remain disciplined during practice.

“Each [captain] played a different role as leader,” Oerlemans said. “I found myself being the captain that helps the other players with their field hockey skills and encourages them to focus at practice and take it more se-

Kyra Goldstein

playing football.

“I think pushing through adversity has been a huge theme of our team this year as we’ve had a lot of guys go down,” Thompson said. “But almost more importantly remembering to always have fun while I’m playing cause you never know how many games you have left.”

Football Department Head Aaron Huerta said he has enjoyed coaching Thompson and appreciates his talent, leadership and sportsmanship. “[Thompson] is a oncein-a decade athlete, teammate and person,” Huerta said. “As a coach, you know that on any given play he can make a ‘Sports Center Top 10’ play.

As a teammate, he always has a positive mindset and truly cares for others. It was truly a pleasure to coach [Thompson] over these past two years."

riously. I loved being a leader of the team and I am so proud of how much we have grown as a group this year.”

Oerlemans said the team struggled early in the season due to the COVID-19 quarantine’s effect on player relationships, but said the younger girls played a large role in their later success.

“At the start of this season, the team did not know each other very well and there was a divide between the seniors and the juniors,” Oerlemans said. “[Fortunately] for the team, all of the younger players are amazing players and great friends, and we all became close very quickly.”

Sweeper Dylan Perkins ’23 said Oerlemans is an effective leader because she brings energy and athletic excellence to the team environment. “[Oerlemans] is so talented,” Perkins said. “It’s insane, and I think it really inspires everyone to improve their own skills.”

Jason Thompson Photo by

Woo Sim Faculty

Sophia Lindus Lindus Sophia

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utside hitter Sofia Lindus ’22 is one of four Big Red Fall Most Valuable Players (MVPs) for the 2021 season. Lindus led her teammates to a 25-8 overall record and a 6-2 league record.

She announced her verbal commitment to the Early Decision admission process at Wesleyan University on Sept. 7.

Lindus said her leadership as team captain is strongly based on encouraging her teammates.

She said she attributes her Fall MVP award and other individual successes to her team’s camaraderie and hard work.

“I could not have done it without my team,” Lindus said.

“This group is so special, and we’ve all grown to be the players that we are with the love and support from each player and coach. Volleyball is such a team sport, and I could not do anything without my team. I want them to know how much they’re

Justin Goldstein Big Red

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ight side attacker Jack Burghardt ’23 is one of four Big Red Fall Most Valuable Players (MVPs) for the 2021 season. Burghardt stood out offensively and defensively, leading the team with 34 goals, 26 sprints won and 21 steals. With Burghardt's contributions, the boys water polo team finished with a 21-5 regular season record and earned a 4-0 record in league play.

Burghardt said he feels honored to be named Most Valuable Player and is proud of his squad's hard work and discipline.

“It feels nice to get recognized,” Burghardt said. “It means a lot to be considered the [Big Red MVP]. This season, I attribute our success to the sheer amount of practice that we have been doing and the work we have put in.”

Burghardt said he has appreciated spending time with

the team and motivating his teammates as one of the squad’s leaders.

“My favorite part [of the season] has probably been bonding with the team and going on trips to [Northern California] and San Diego to go play water polo with the team,” Burghart said. “To be more of a leader, I’ve been trying to constantly hype people up and make sure that they always give their best.”

Center Jeff Koretz ’23 said he views Burghardt as a valuable member of the team because of his offensive explosiveness and lock-down defense.

“I think that Jack is our best player because of his versatility in the water,” Koretz said. “He is able to score in every phase of the offense and routinely shuts down the other team's best players.”

The team defeated Junipero Serra High School 14-7 in their first CIF play-off game of the season Nov. 4.

appreciated, and I’ve changed my leadership style to hopefully create this environment.”

Lindus said receiving honest feedback from her teammates and coaches has helped her become a better leader.

“My coaches and teammates have been instrumental in helping me achieve these things because of their feedback and communication," Lindus said.

Outside hitter Ava Lange ’23 said she appreciates Lindus as both a player and a friend, and she expects Lindus to succeed after she graduates.

“She is an amazing leader not only on the court but in life,” Lange said. “I have looked up to her since I joined the team freshman year. [Lindus] knows exactly how to guide you and give you constructive feedback that can really benefit your game. She is a wonderful leader and person, who I know is going places."

Jack Burghardt Photo by

Sandra Koretz Big Red

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 7

STICKS TO THE SCOREBOARD Illevat ’22 and Prentiss Corbin its Homecoming game versus Marina High School on Oct. 2.

8 • BIG RED FALL 2021

Photo by

Julian Andreone Big Red

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 9

DESTINED TO SUCCEED Photo by

XXXxx YYYyy Big Red

Photo by

Sandra Koretz Big Red

Harvard-Westlake has produced elite college athletes, MLB stars and Olympians. How does the school attract talented student-athletes?

by Sandra Koretz

10 • BIG RED FALL 2021

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efore moving to Los Angeles where they blossomed into Harvard-Westlake water polo stars, Mot ’20, Ilias ’22 and Otto Stothart ’25 dominated the Spanish water polo scene. When Mot was in middle school, his parents considered moving to the United States.

In Dec. 2015, the family visited one of their potential destinations: Los Angeles. Mot reached out to the L.A. Premier Water Polo Club, and an assistant coach allowed him to participate in practice. The club operates at Harvard-Westlake’s Copses Family Pool, and is coached by the school’s Aquatics Director and Boys’ Water Polo Head Brian Flacks. One month after visiting the school, Mot decided it was the right fit for him and submitted his application.

Ilias Stothart ’22, who recently committed to Brown University to

continue his water polo career, said he and his brothers were not formally recruited by the school.

“My older brother started at Harvard-Westlake just a few months after my family moved to the United States, so it was always my goal to go to high school here as well,” Stothart said. “Because I had a brother on the team and had done well on L.A. Premier, the club [team] attached to Harvard-Westlake, I was lucky enough to be one of the guys that got moved up. I did well because a couple of months in, Brian asked if I was going to be applying and about my grades and ISEE scores. Although nothing official was sent either way, ‘recruiting’ was really just a few conversations on the pool deck.”

The school’s boys water polo program has produced successful players over the years, including Olympians

Photo by

Jonathan Joei

Peter Hudnut ’99, Johnny Hooper ’15 and Ben Hallock ’16. Flacks has led his team to four combined California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section and Regional Championships, most recently in 2019.

Flacks said he and other coaches are not permitted to contact students younger than eighth grade on behalf of the school team unless they are on the Harvard-Westlake middle school boys water polo team.

“Through CIF bylaws, we are not allowed to have any conversations about our sports teams with kids [in] eighth grade or below, that would be considered undue influence,” Flacks said. “So there is no recruiting by any technical terms.”

According to CIF rules, studentathletes who are recruited to high schools based solely on their athletic abilities are ineligible for competition for at least one season. A school that violates these rules would be subject to severe sanctions.

Flacks said the development of a powerful water polo team at the school has helped him attract future student-athletes to the program.

“The way that you recruit athletes is through conversations, or finding these players, but also through creating top notch programs that get high level exposure in the area that you are playing in, that also grab the attention of local players,” Flacks said.

“But in terms of coaches connecting with players outside of high school, that just does not happen, especially at our school.”

As a member of the Los Angeles Independent Schools consortium, Harvard-Westlake must abide by admission standards of included Los Angeles schools. These schools must also abide by CIF regulations and self-imposed school rules.

Head of Athletics Terry Barnum said the school looks at applicants’ • Continues on next page

BIG RED BIGFALL RED2021 FALL•2021 17 • 11

portfolios holistically and does not accept students solely based on their athletic abilities.

“No one is ever admitted to the school strictly for athletic reasons— that never happens,” Barnum said.

“We only admit students who we believe have a chance to be successful here academically. Sometimes some students are more successful than others, but we would never admit a student where there’s no chance that they can be successful here.”

Barnum said many student-athletes are attracted to the national recognition that successful school athletic and academic programs receive.

“There are families out there that are looking for the best opportunity for their kid,” Barnum said. “Obviously, the academic reputation of Harvard-Westlake speaks for itself. When you combine that with a national caliber athletic program, you tend to attract applicants from a bigger radius than we would normally.”

Barnum said the school is allowed to host one athletic open house per school year. In these events, the

Photo by

Eric Dearborn

12• BIG RED FALL 2021

school displays its athletic programs to prospective student-athletes. The school typically hosts their athletic open house on Homecoming, which allows prospective students to experience various Harvard-Westlake sporting events on one day.

“A few years ago, CIF passed a rule that said that schools can have an athletic open house, where there is a day that you can invite prospective high school students in before they’re in high school and tell them about your athletic program,” Barnum said.

Head of Admission and Enrollment Aaron Mieszczanski said the school’s admissions office does not treat potential student-athletes with preference over other applicants.

“We approach working with students who are interested in athletics in the same way we do with everybody,” Mieszczanski said. “I meet with the athletics department and all the coaches at the beginning of the year, just to say, as soon as you connect with [a student-athlete] who you might know over the course of your club [sports] commitments or [when]

working with other folks that you get them to us so that we’re fully able to introduce them to the school.”

Mieszczanski said the admissions office wants to admit student-athletes that are prepared to engage in the school community outside of their respective athletic programs.

“There's much more to this experience and what we think makes kids happy and successful than playing a specific sport,” Mieszczanski said. “But it does help when there's a long history of [the school] having [athletic] success, and so a lot of [student-athletes] find us and then it's our job in the admissions office to make sure that they're aware of the full range of experience here that everybody will go through and participate in and contribute to.”

Mieszczanski also said the school does not provide financial aid based on athletics or other talents.

“We just look at what their family circumstances are and the financial aid they receive is really just based on the demonstrated need that a family has, not on any particular talent or capability,” Mieszczanski said. “We don’t do any sports scholarships.”

Girls’ Basketball Program Head Melissa Hearlihy said she looks for athletes who are prepared for the school’s rigorous academic curricula.

“I think we also do a really great job of finding [students] that are a right fit for our school, that's really important,” Hearlihy said. “Students that understand the makeup of our school from an academic standpoint, also understand the workload and what it's going to entail, and also connecting that with athletics and what that's going to entail, because most of our programs are at the highest level.”

Hearlihy said she considers the school environment while searching

for students she believes would be a good fit for her team.

“I think there's a misnomer about what the school really is—I think most people think it's for really rich families or it's really just extremely intelligent families,” Hearlihy said. “They don't understand that this is a very diverse school and it gets more diverse every year. So people having the knowledge of who we are [as a school] is more the job of the head coaches, then not just to go out and find great athletes, but to find kids who would be the right fit for us and getting those right kids to understand who we really are.”

Football tight end and outside linebacker Santi Hernandez ’23 said he was approached by a Harvard-Westlake coach in middle school.

“I was playing for Village Christian and we played Harvard-Westlake in the league,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t even know what Harvard-Westlake was. And then after the game, their head coach came and talked to me and I started doing research and stayed in contact with the coach. After the championship game, I talked to the coach and he told me about applying to the school and how everything works.”

Harvard-Westlake baseball is one of the school’s most successful athletic programs. The team won the CIF Southern Section Division I Championship last season and has sent multiple players to the MLB. Most notably, the team is represented by Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Gioloto ’12, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty ’14 and Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Max Fried ’12, who led the Braves to a game six victory over the Houston Astros to clinch the World Series on Nov. 2.

Baseball shortstop Kai Caranto ’23, who lives in Castaic, Calif., said he attracted interest from the school’s baseball program at 11 years old when he attended the 12U USA Baseball tryouts hosted at the school’s O’Malley Family Field.

“Going to the USA Baseball tryout, which was at Harvard-Westlake, is where [Baseball Program Head Jared Halpert] saw me,” Caranto said. “And that’s where I believe he saw more interest in me and then started watching me

Photo by play more. I was 11 at the time, Eric Dearborn and so I was really young.”

Caranto said Halpert did not explicitly recruit him and only asked about his grades at the time.

“He just asked me how my grades were,” Caranto said. “He didn’t go deep into the situation, he just asked how my grades were.”

Catcher Jacob Galloway ’22 said he grew interested in attending the school after competing for Pacific Baseball Academy (PBA). PBA is a club team coached by Halpert that Galloway said is a pipeline to Harvard-Westlake’s program.

“When I was 13, I found out about Harvard-Westlake through the baseball feeder program, which was PBA at the time,” Galloway said. “I really enjoyed all of my teammates and coaches. And I felt like I learned the most about baseball at the moment and I wanted to be a part of Harvard-Westlake because I knew the coaches and I knew that it was a good environment to play in.”

Galloway said his commute to campus is lengthy, but worth the time because he gets to play for such a wellknown baseball program.

“I mean, the commute is definitely tough, but it was something I took into account when deciding to come here,” Galloway said. “I thought that would be a small sacrifice for what I would get [from] the school and baseball program.”

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 13

LEVIN LIFE ON EASY MODE Cross country runner Gabe Levin ’23 cruises Mission League Finals at Pierce College.

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Violet Barron 14 • BIG RED FALL 2021

Big Red

Photo by

Kate Burry Big Red

ZA-POPPIN’ OFF Doubles player Lou Zapata ’23 lofts the ball in the air as she prepares to crack a serve over the net.

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 15

STRAI NS, SPRAI NS an d

SETBACKS

By Wi ll Sh e e hy

All photos by

Eric Dearborn

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Undermanned and injury-plagued, the team looked for ways to power through

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he Wolverines trampled Heritage Christian 39-0 in the season opener Aug. 20. One week later, wide receiver Jason Thompson ’22 hurdled cornerback Jason Quinn Jr. en route to a touchdown, sealing a 27-13 victory against Venice High School, the eventual five seed in the Los Angeles City Section.

The team’s hot streak continued in a 49-35 win against El Camino Real on Sept. 3.

What came next? The team endured injuries to Thompson, starting wide receiver and running back Alvin Holmes ’22, starting quarterback Henry Wendorf ’23, starting linebacker Matteo Perez ’22, starting wide receiver and cornerback Mark Cho ’22 and starting defensive back Alex Mogollon ’22, and starting linebacker Josh Dixon ’23. The Wolverines won just two of their last seven regular season games, finishing with a 5-5 overall record and a 2-2 record in the Del Rey league. As a result of their regular season performance, the team was granted an at-

large bid out of the Del Rey League into the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section (CIF-SS) playoffs. The team lost in the first round at home to Tahquitz High School 56-33 Nov. 5.

Mogollon credited his teammates for stepping up when other players were injured, but said the injuries limited the team’s ability to compete. “[Health] was a struggle all year long,” Mogollon said. “We made the playoffs, and that was one of our goals, but we came up short. Younger players had to step up, and they played their best, but in the end we were [outmatched] by teams with [more] players, and it just wasn’t sustainable.”

Mogollon said he and his teammates never gave up despite the team’s struggles to close out the season.

“Looking back, we tried our hardest every game,” Mogollon said. “I think we played to the best of our ability with the tools and limitations we had.”

Mogollon also credited the Sports Medicine staff for treating players promptly and with care so they could return to the field.

“The training staff tried their best,” Mogollon said. “They tried to get us back [healthy] as fast as possible. Much respect to [them].”

With Wendorf injured, backup quarterback Aidan Greenfield ’24 took the reins of the offense. Wendorf, who sustained a grade two posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) sprain in a loss to Pasadena High School on Sept. 17 and did not play for the remainder of the season, said Greenfield played well, especially considering his youth. Wendorf still receives treatment from the Sports Medicine staff, and worked with a physical therapist outside of school.

“I thought he nailed it,” Wendorf said.

“It’s not easy to come into that position, especially a position like quarterback where the game starts with you and you have to get the offense going, particularly considering it was his first time playing varsity.”

Greenfield played wide receiver until Wendorf’s injury, but his experience practicing the quarterback position during the summer and his knowledge of the playbook put him in position to run the offense.

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BIG RED FALL 2021 • 17

With 13 graduating seniors, how will the team's underclassmen step up next year?

Greenfield said he was initially nervous playing quarterback, but grew comfortable in the role. “[I was] definitely nervous,” Greenfield said. “There’s so many seniors I wanted to feed the ball to, and it was a big [step] for sure, being the leader of the offense and touching the ball every play. I think I definitely did some good things and grew as a player and teammate and person, but I think I just need to become more experienced and there are certain things that [I] definitely could have done better.”

Greenfield said Quarterbacks Coach Khaleel Jenkins and Wendorf offered important advice to ease his transition into a larger role on the team.

“Coach Khalil, whom I’m very close with, mentored me a lot, as did Henry Wendorf,” Greenfield said. “Anytime I made a mistake and was down on myself, [Wendorf] always explained to me what I did wrong and [advised] me not to take it too hard.”

Greenfield played the entire season with a broken vertebrae. He said he felt compelled to play through the injury because the team was already shorthanded.

“If we had a huge team, I probably would have taken [the broken vertebrae] more seriously and got it checked out,” Greenfield said. “But knowing that our team was so small and lot of what we did depended on me, I felt like it would be selfish to sit out if I could finish the season and play. So I just figured I’d play through it for my teammates.”

Of the players rostered on this year’s football team, 13 will be graduating.

These graduates include 10 starters, most notably three-star recruit Thompson, ranked as the 87th best football player in California by 247Sports and the 12th best wide receiver in the state by SBLive.

Thompson averaged 118.9 all-purpose

18 • BIG RED FALL 2021

yards per game and caught 13 touchdowns in nine games this season. Greenfield said younger players are prepared to step up next year in the absence of this year’s seniors.

“I’d be lying to you if I said losing [Thompson] isn’t going to make a big difference, because it definitely will,” Greenfield said. “But I think we have guys that are capable. We got Josh Dixon and [Santiago Hernandez ’23] back, which is huge for our defense. And then we also have a bunch of young guys. I think we’re going to be pretty well rounded next year, as long as we play hard and play together.”

Thompson said there are a number of underclassmen prepared to embrace a larger leadership role in the 2022 season.

“I think we have a ton of guys who are going to step up next year,” Thompson

said. “This season, with the amount of injuries, we had so many young players that had to act as leaders, and they did a great job. Next year, Henry [Wendorf], Kai [Faucher ’23], Josh [Dixon], Santi [Hernandez], and a bunch more, and some of the younger guys like Brock [Getson ’24], Connor [Bunnak ’24], Aidan [Greenfield] and Bill [Coleman] are guys who are ready to lead, even if it’s more [focused], just within position groups.”

Thompson said the team has become more gritty and communicative after the adversity it faced this season.

“We just focused on coming together as a team and being open with each other about how we’re feeling, and opening that line of communication with the coaches,” Thompson said. “We had the mentality

that every week, no matter how many us can come out to play, we’re going to give it our all every game, every play, every rep.”

Reflecting on his six years with the school’s football program, Thompson said practices and games have gifted him camaraderie, memories and joy.

“This program’s been everything over the past few years, Thompson said. “Football’s always been a place where I can get away from school pressures and just hang out with some of my best friends. I wanted to make sure when I left the field for the last time that I made the most of my opportunities and had the most fun that I could. It’s really rare that someone just gets to spend a few hours with their best friends after school everyday, and I’m really grateful for that.”

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 19

KING HENRY VII Quarterback Henry Wendorf ’23 throws the ball to a receiver in the team’s 27-13 win against Venice High School on Aug. 27.

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Woo Sim Faculty

20 • BIG RED FALL 2021

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Woo Sim Faculty

CUTTING THROUGH Running Back AJ Holmes ’22 sprints to the end zone as Kai Faucher blocks a defender behind him en route to their victory.

BIG RED FALL 2021 • 21

NEXT CHAPTER From student-athletes to just students, Adison Gamradt ’23, Ethan Lachman ’21 and Avi Carson ’22 share why they left their sports behind.

By Fallon Dern

Photo by

Fallon Dern Big Red

22 • BIG RED FALL 2021

A

t midday on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a single ray of sunlight streams through the clouds and a dreary silhouette of the city.

The light penetrates through the wrought-iron windows of the Joffrey Ballet Summer Intensive Studio. 34 sets of feet tap lightly on a hardwood dance floor, echoing against the lofted ceiling like rainfall. The music suddenly stops. 34 pairs of feet pause. It is quiet now, and the ballerina’s anxiety is palpable. 34 sets of eyes dart to the studio’s full body mirrors, dance floor or anywhere other than their disappointed instructor’s face. His steel toed boots march circles around the students and his voice booms with threats: “If you can’t make it here, you won’t make it anywhere.” He narrows his eyes.

“Will you show me that you have what it takes? Do you really want to make it as a dancer when you’re grown up?”

33 hands raise high in the air.

Adison Gamradt ’23 stands in the first row and glances at her peers. These dancers are from Australia, Canada and nearly every state in America. All are at least two years older and three inches taller than she. Gamradt straightens her posture and holds her chin high. She is the only student who keeps both hands planted firmly by her sides.

“It was such a strangely freeing experience for me,” Gamradt said, recalling her final extracurricular dance class. “I was in a room with dozens of insanely talented dancers, and only one percent of them [would] succeed in that career. It shifted my lens of dance, and I realized I can dance as a hobby. I can dance for fun. I don’t have to

pursue this. It’s okay if I quit.”

Gamradt said she began ballet after years of admiring the sport. At age 11, Gamradt said she enrolled in her first dance class intending to improve her flexibility, athleticism and coordination. Gamradt said being a ballerina seemed elegant and exciting, but starting years later than her peers was uncomfortable.

“Most girls start when they’re two or three,” Gamradt said. “I started with the studio and I was dancing alongside five and six year olds, which was embarrassing. Eventually, I would just progress past all the levels, and I caught up really fast, I’d say.”

Gamradt danced for both in-school and extracurricular programs. She recieved top marks on the Royal Academy of Dance exam in ninth grade, but said she overworked her body to achieve this goal.

“I would just stretch and stretch and stretch every single day,” Gamradt said. “There was not a day where I didn’t do these really aggressive exercises or lift weights or run harder than what was healthy. I just didn’t know any better, but I was able to do these exercises well.”

Gamradt said her flexibility changed when she partially tore her posterior tibialis and acquired a flatfoot deformity three days into the Joffrey Ballet Summer Intensive program.

Gamradt had previously spent a year recovering from a herniated disc in her back, and said the thought of enduring physical therapy again crushed her will to continue ballet. “[My injury] was a blessing in disguise,” Gamdradt said. “I realized that [ballet] was only

a small, very formative phase of my life. It’s okay to have a sport as a transitory period, or as something you just do recreationally because at the end of the day, if you’re not doing something that you love doing, it’s not really worth doing at all.”

When former Editor-inChief of The Chronicle Ethan Lachman ’21 first considered ending his basketball career, he faced a dilemma: choos-

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ing between what he loved versus what he knew. Lachman started playing basketball when he was five years old, and continued for 11 years before switching to track and field.

“I first started playing at Beeman Park, Pan Pacific Park and then North Weddington Park,” Lachman said. “I started playing club basketball when I was eight. I had played volleyball and done track before. I always liked sports, but I liked basketball the best.”

Though Lachman played on

the seventh grade, eight grade and junior varsity teams, he never completed his varsity season in winter 2019. Lachman said his time with varsity players confirmed two things: He was physically able to play on varsity, and he had no interest in doing so.

“I couldn’t really handle it anymore,” Lachman said. “It sounds cheesy, but it felt like ‘Top Gun,’ when that character’s like, ‘Oh. I’ve lost the edge.’

I thought maybe this competition wasn’t for me, or that just maybe I needed a different type of atmosphere and community at that point. Basketball had become a double edged sword in terms of how it stressed me out but also was something I was so connected to. It was this cycle, and I guess that, eventually at the point when I quit, I realized that, even though it was really difficult, why I was quitting was probably more important than why I would have stayed.”

Lachman said leaving basketball was not an easy choice, and he often considered rejoining the program. Lachman joined the track and field team his junior year of high school, and remained on the team until he graduated.

“I still always considered if I’d ever be able to go back,” Lachman said. “I would always imagine just joining a practice one day. At the time, it was not clear in my mind, but I definitely wanted to leave. It was clear that I thought that it was best for me, but I didn’t feel ecstatic about it or anything. For a while, I would go to basketball games and get embarrassed and feel like I gave up, though I always tried to frame [quitting] as a decision of strength, which, overall, it was.”

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Lachman said after quitting basketball, he felt a strong sense of community on the track and field team and The Chronicle.

He said encounters with former basketball teammates became bittersweet, but his peers ultimately respected his decision.

“I still valued the basketball community, despite having left,” Lachman said. “I would see my former teammates around campus, in many cases they’d be my friends. I would also see the coaches during the season when they would walk around campus. They would say hi to me and encourage me on whatever my new journey was at the time. That actually made me very happy, and I sort of felt like I was ‘bigger than basketball.’ That felt nice.”

When Lachman and Gamradt quit basketball and ballet, they chose to join track and

cheer, respectively. Avi Carson ’22 left tennis behind in August 2021 and did not join a new athletic program. Instead, he looked inward and reflected on his 15 year commitment to tennis and its impact on his mental health.

“I started [playing tennis] when I was two,” Carson said.

“The first time I picked up a racket, I was on vacation with my parents in Hawaii. I was with my mom, watching my dad play. He played growing up, and his dad played too. So, I started playing and was really, really good at the beginning. It just kind of ran from there. I started tournaments when I was seven.

That was the natural progression of it, though I used to play other sports. I was pretty good at baseball for a little while, but I quit that. I ended up quitting everything for tennis. It just spiraled.”

Carson played tournaments

from ages seven to 17, joined the school’s varsity boys tennis team as a freshman and eventually attended IMG Academy in Florida during the second semester of his junior year. After completing the program, Carson permanently quit tennis.

“I’d been on the fence with tennis for a while when I got to Florida, and pretty quickly realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Carson said. “Every day, all the time, these kids that were obsessed with tennis were talking about it nonstop. ‘Oh, what’s your ranking?’ ‘Where do you want to go to college?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my God, like, I don’t want that.’ If I hadn’t gone to Florida, I wouldn’t have realized [that I didn’t want to play tennis] until I got to college, and then that would have been really bad.”

Now, Carson said he regrets not quitting tennis soon-

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er. He said he eventually realized that, for many years of his younger life, tennis was not his passion; it was his shield.

“It’s tough,” Carson said. “I definitely feel like my sport ruined my childhood. I regret spending so much time on tennis, having quit everything else and refusing to do other things. There was a good two or three year period of my life where I used [tennis] as a full shield for depression. I wouldn’t go out on weekends, because I’d have tournaments every day, all the time. I was really unhappy, and I just kind of [played tennis] because I thought that I liked it. I was too scared to quit.

I was also just too scared to face what would come after tennis.”

Carson said he spent many hours wondering what he would pursue in college without tennis.

After reflecting on his experiences with depression, anxiety and athletics, Carson said he found a new outlet: sports psychology. Carson founded the L.A. chapter of The Hidden Opponent, a non-profit designed to provide mental health resources to student-athletes.

“We’re trying to destigmatize mental health in the athletics world, because there’s a lot of ‘just suck it up,’ or ‘you’re okay.’ Many kids think that they have to have depression, anxiety, OCD or some [diagnosed] illness to feel like their struggles matter. Obviously, my experience is very different, but everyone’s experience is different. The most important thing, in my opinion, is that kids have a passion for their sport internally.

And that’s what’s driving them because, if it’s coming from someone else, it doesn’t really help.”

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BIG RED FALL 2021 • 25

STARS

By Charlie Seymour

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ibero Kelsey Kim ’24 is one of three sophomores on the varsity girls volleyball team, which was ranked the sixth best team in California on MaxPreps. The team won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division I State Championship against Hillsdale High School on Nov. 19. With four seniors set to graduate, Kim has the potential to expand her role next year as the team looks to build off this past season’s success.

Kim said she started playing volleyball in elementary school because she hoped to follow in her father’s footsteps and found the sport entertaining.

“I started playing volleyball when I was eight at my current club, San Gabriel Elite, because my dad played in high school and college,” Kim said. “[Volleyball] also seemed like a really fun sport overall because of how close the teams are and how much joy they put into every play.”

The girls volleyball team finished the season with a 30-8 overall record and a 6-2 Mission League record. Kim said she attributes this success to the players’ relaxed mindset and enjoyment of the game.

“One thing that sets our team apart from other teams is the amount of fun we have while playing,” Kim said. “It’s pretty clear to everyone in the game and everyone watching the game that we love to have fun and get hyped while playing instead of being tense and uptight.”

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idan Greenfield ’24 stepped into the starting quarterback role after Henry Wendorf ’23 went down with a season-ending knee injury vs. Pasadena High School. Greenfield played nine of 12 games this season, totaling three passing touchdowns, 430 total passing yards, 25 completions and 42 throws. Greenfield rushed 29 times for 216 yards and four touchdowns, and caught seven passes for 111 yards. Greenfield joined the school’s football program in eighth grade.

“I started playing football in fourth grade, but I only intended to play flag because my mom hated the idea of tackle football, and I had other sports I was more invested in throughout my elementary and middle school years,” Greenfield said. “However, I played tackle in eighth grade as I wanted an opportunity to experience it, and really have never looked back since.”

Greenfield said he attributes the team’s success this season to team chemistry.

“The football team has been so consistently successful because of how close we are and how we prepare [for each game],” Greenfield said. “We might not have the most players in the world, but we have players that are willing to sacrifice for each other and coaches who prepare us throughout the whole week, so by game day, we can just have fun and play hard for each other.”

The team’s season ended with a loss to Tahquitz High School in the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Division 12 playoffs. The team finished with a 5-6 overall record and a 2-2 Del Rey League record.

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ater polo side attacker Dean Strauser ’24 joined the varsity team as a sophomore and quickly worked his way up the ranks of the program. Strauser was integral to this year’s team, which ranked fifth in the nation on MaxPreps and finished with a 24-9 overall record and 4-0 Mission League record. The team’s season ended with a 9-8 loss to Newport Harbor in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) SoCal Division I playoffs Nov. 18. Strauser will be one of the stars the program looks to for leadership next season.

Strauser has played water polo since he was nine years old.

He came to the school and joined the program as a freshman.

Strauser said he attributes the team’s success to the coaching staff, rigorous training and match schedule.

“The water polo team is consistently successful because of the resources we have as well as our coach, Brian Flacks,” Strauser said. “He always pushes us and wants the best for us, and I think this is a leading factor to our team’s success.”

Strauser said the values the coaching staff and teammates instill in each player on the team will continue to contribute to the team’s strength for seasons to come.

“We all work hard and pick each other up when we are struggling or not playing well,” Strauser said.

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CAA Division I commits Bella Ganocy ’22, Ella Ganocy ’22 and Fiene Oerlemans ’22 led the field hockey team to a 14-2 record and victory over Huntington Beach High School to clinch the Sunset League Tournament of Champions. When these commits embark on their college careers, the team will look to rising star right forward Nalah Cohen ‘23, who flourished as a key contributor on the team, scoring three goals and one assist this season.

Before playing field hockey, Cohen played for the school’s soccer program. Cohen said the skills she learned playing soccer have helped her quickly improve her field hockey abilities.

“Playing soccer since the age of seven has helped me with my field vision,” Cohen said. “It’s important to be able to scan the field and recognize open passes, and this skill helps when [I need] to get around the opposing team.”

With 10 seniors on the varsity team, this year’s squad had a strong cohort of leaders to guide younger players. Cohen said aside from its core of skilled upperclassmen, the team thrives because of its players’ shared synergy.

“The atmosphere of the sport and how we play as a team has helped the field hockey team succeed this season,” Cohen said.

Cohen said she hopes to fill the shoes of her graduating teammates next season and continue the team’s motivating spirit and camaraderie.

“I hope to be a good team leader and to continue perpetuating the positive environment of field hockey,” Cohen said. “Positivity on and off the field makes a large difference in teams being able to succeed.”