Varsity Cheer
Coaches Sheila Saunders and Bryanna Simpson led the cheer team to another high-flying season. Senior captains Bailee Wilson, Andrea Garcia and Olivia Song and junior captain Ava Johnson fired up the team to a score of 115.3 points to capture the Division 1 Championship over Damascus and Sherwood. The Bulldogs also lifted each other to a 4A West Regional Championship and ended the season with a strong finish by placing fourth at states, marking the third time in the past four years the team competed in the state championship.
Varsity Cross Country (5-3)
Coach Paul Jacobson, alongside senior captains Nate Swanson, Stephan Volkov, Ethan Hahn, Noor Aly, Aimee Tukey and Emi Bernstein led the cross-country team to a strong season. The boys ended the regular season with a record of 2-2 while the girls finished 3-1.
Swanson made history as the back-to-back MCPS Boys Cross Country Champion for both the county and region, cementing himself as a WCHS Cross Country legend in his final season. The boys and girls both earned third place in the Regional Meet at Lakelands Park. At the State Championships, the girls came in sixth place and the boys placed fifth.
Varsity Field Hockey (11-1)
After last season’s record-breaking year, Coach Cay Miller won the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) 2023-2024 “Coach of the Year” award. Senior captains forward Julieta Matus and defender Jenna Pigott and sophomore captain midfielder Junia Whang pushed the team to a record of 11-1 in the regular season. Whang led the team with 23 goals, while Pigott, sophomore defender Leah Offutt, senior forward Claire Gallagher and freshman midfielder Callie Lee tied for second with seven goals each. Goalie Ella Datch led the team on the defensive front with 24 season saves.
The Dawgs fought their way to a 4A West Division championship, beating Quince Orchard 2-1. They moved on to a 4-0 win over North County in the quarterfinals and advanced to state semifinals, but fell to Broadneck by a score of 3-2. Whang earned the MCPS Offensive Player of the Year and went 1st Team All-County and 1st Team All-Division along with Pigott. Offutt, Lee and Gallagher made 2nd Team All-County and 1st Team All-Division, while senior defender Mia Inglisa and junior forward Naomi Wollman made 2nd Team All-Division.
Varsity Girls Flag Football (2-6)
This year marked a groundbreaking year for girls interested in football with the first-ever WCHS Girls Flag Football season. The Dawgs finished with a 2-6 regular season coached by James Taylor and Emmalee Kenny and captained by juniors wide receiver Maya McGraw, cornerback Parker Jennen and freshman quarterback Senna Lee. They lost to Richard Montgomery in the first playoff game of the season. While they exited in the first round, the team still marked the beginning of a new era for girls in sports at WCHS.
Varsity Football (5-4)
Led by Coach Joe Rydzewski, who was named NFHS 2023-2024 “Coach of the Year,” and captained by seniors quarterback Vasi Hallas, wide receiver Drew Menick, offensive lineman Chris Tran, defensive back Allen Huebl, and offensive lineman Rehoboth Adekunle, the Bulldogs came back from an 0-2 start to the season to ended the regular season 5-4.
Senior wide receiver Sammy Schafer led the offense with 465 receiving yards, junior running back Noah Zhang finished with 491 rushing yards and Hallas had 15 total touchdowns.
The Dawgs won their opening playoff game against Clarksburg 24-10, but fell to Quince Orchard 49-0 in the regional semifinals.
Varsity Golf
The golf team was led to another unparalleled season by 2023-2024 NFHS “Coach of the Year” Robert Tarzy. Senior Captains Victoria Diaz and Daniel Lee and junior Zoe Cusack putted their team to a 15-0 regular season record. The team became Yachmetz Division Champions with a total of 307 points and drove their way to becoming State Champions with a total of 598 points, defeating River Hill by just 3 strokes. This earned the program its 16th State Title and an impressive showing by Cusack earned her the title of State Champion. Junior Belen Rabade finished fourth overall while Diaz finished sixth and sophomore Nirvaan De Silva finished ninth for the boys.
Varsity Pickleball (6-0)
Another groundbreaking sport this season was Pickleball, with Coach Benjamin Woods leading the team to its first regular season record of 6-0. Freshman captains Layla Firouz and Michael Suteerachai and junior captain Ryan Shenker hit their way to being division champions as three of the team’s doubles pairings were sent to the playoffs for their respective levels.
Varsity Boys Soccer (9-1-2)
In his first year as the WCHS Varsity Boys Soccer coach, Stephen Hauschild led the Bulldogs to a 9-1-2 regular season record and a Division Championship. In a thriller game, the boys won on penalty kicks against BCC to move on to the regional finals by a score of 3-2. Captained by seniors midfielder James Yoon, defender Andrew Wang, midfielder Nacho Olaberria and defender Gus Elrich, they finished with a loss in the regional finals 3-0 against Walt Whitman.
Senior Max Saavedra led the team in goals and assists, while senior forward Aiden Abergel and Olaberria followed in assists. Goalie Bobby Cohen had 8 games with no goals allowed, and
Saavedra made first-team all-state with Elrich as an all-state honorable mention. Saavedra, Elrich and Olaberria were first-team all-county, senior midfielder Tomas Ronzoni was second-team all-county, and the team earned the Number ten spot in the Washington Post rankings.
Varsity Girls Soccer (7-5)
Led by Coach Haroot Hakopian and senior captains defender Ruby Siegal, defender Aida Sadjadpour and junior captains midfielder Laila Foose and defender Sofia Grundy, the team finished with a 7-5 regular season record. The girls defeated Gaithersburg in the Region Quarterfinals 8-0 but fell to Walt Whitman 6-2 in the Regional Semifinal.
Grundy was the leading scorer with seven goals, made the second-team all-state and went first-team all-county. Sophomore forward Sydney Mednik had nine assists and was nominated for all-county. Senior goalie Sarah Galbraith started 10 of the 13 games and had 57 saves.
Varsity Girls Volleyball (10-4)
For the third straight year in a row, Coach Cindy Hillard and senior captains outside hitter Sonia Breslawec, libero Kareena Rathnam and defensive specialist Sherry Ye led the girl’s Volleyball team to becoming the 4A West Region Champions. After finishing their regular season 10-4, the Bulldogs fought hard in the postseason but eventually fell to RM 3-2 in the state semifinals with a tight score of 15-12 in the fifth set.
Finishing her final season at WCHS, Breslawec led the team with 244 kills and holds the career kill record at Churchill with 823 kills. Charlotte Deraleau led the team in assists with 572 for the season, and to lead the team on the defensive front, Rathnam passed a 2.01 on serve receive, had 252 digs and had 57 assists converting 28% of her attempts to kills.
