Since its founding in 1964, WCHS has always been recognized as a strong athletic school. Today, it is classified by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) as part of the second region of the West Division for 4A schools, which are among the top 25 schools with the largest populations in the association. The main competitors for WCHS in each sports season include division rivals Bethesda Chevy-Chase, Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard, Walt Whitman and Walter Johnson, but with the changes made in the 2024-2025 school year, WCHS sports will never be the same.
All WCHS Varsity Sports teams will now be competing against Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Walt Whitman, Thomas S. Wootton and Walter Johnson’s Varsity teams, in this competition. This competition will be used to determine the best Varsity athletic program in MCPS. The winner of the competition and the title of the best Varsity athletic program in MCPS will be based on the win-to-loss records in the competitions between these participating schools throughout the 2024-2025 school year. Since this is a brand-new competition for MCPS athletics, many students are curious as to how it started.
“There is a natural rivalry between our school and the other ones in this competition, and my thought was that we need to have a little fun with this for our kids,” the competition’s founder and WCHS Athletic Director Jesse Smith said. “We see something similar with a few other schools in MCPS. [For example], we already have the Congressional Cup for football, so why not do something for the entire athletics programs with all of these schools? After a few years, I was finally able to get all of the schools to agree to this competition.”
As this competition will become a yearly event and will soon have an official name, many WCHS athletes are determined to excel this year and maintain their winning tradition. Even though every year is different, success can be sustained for generations through good coaching and good team ethics. Additionally, as with previous seasons, the opponents for games are determined by win-to-loss records from the year before, making each year crucial to succeeding in this competition.
“They chose the teams that the cross country team races for dual meets this season based on our rankings in the meets from last year,” WCHS Varsity Cross Country and Varsity Track and Field coach Paul Jacobson said. “So, the results of dual meets (win or lose) this season add to our Varsity scores for the competition. [That is why] we encourage teammates to help push each other during workouts, because running with a good core of runners creates a culture of success. When runners advance in their times, it is because the people they run with push them to improve, and the new runners do the same thing to the next group of young runners.”
WCHS owes its athletic recognition to the dedication and success of its athletes. Despite the hard work of the many JV and Varsity athletes, few teams receive the recognition that they deserve. Many teams do not attract the typical crowd that Varsity Football has every Friday Night. The hope is this new competition will help bring more attention to the less popular sports as they aid in helping the school succeed in winning this competition.
“I think they added [this competition] because now some of the lesser known sports that are really good get to help the school succeed,” junior and WCHS Varsity Field Hockey player Nora O’Connor said. “Additionally, I think it will bring more light to sports that succeed but typically don’t bring crowds in like field hockey or bocce. I think it also adds more school spirit, which really makes the school have more camaraderie and [makes us a] more competitive school because it will bring the school together in competition.”
Many athletes and coaches value competition because it becomes a motivation to improve and win as a team. When an athlete is competitive they are looking for that opportunity to score the next goal or pass the next person in their race because they want to win so much that they are willing to do whatever it takes. For this reason, it will be essential for WCHS to harness this competitiveness during their games in order for them to do well in this competition.
“Competitiveness is essential for a team, but there are both positives and negatives to competitiveness,” Jacobson said. “ Competitiveness can encourage athletes to get better results and to be better athletes, not just for themselves, but for their team. On the other hand, competitiveness can sometimes make teammates go against each other in sports like cross country and track. Therefore, it is important to have a balance when being competitive.”
Similar to the other schools that are a part of this competition, WCHS boasts one of the best athletic programs in MCPS. Though Walter Johnson is ranked No. 4 out of 25 schools in a Niche ranking titled, “2025 Best Schools for Athletes in Montgomery Country,” WCHS is close behind at No. 11, followed by Walt Whitman at No. 12 and Bethesda Chevy Chase at No. 14. Therefore, this competition presents a competitive opportunity for WCHS to earn more accolades if they were to beat other top athletic schools in MCPS.
“[WCHS] for the most part has been at the top of the mountain overall compared to these schools,” Smith said. “But every year is different and they all have fantastic athletic programs. I expect this year to be a very close competition for all of our teams, which will make it very exciting.”
