Augusta Prep's high-level success
Augusta Preparatory Day School athletic director Tom Holodak recently said that an amazing 75 percent of Prep's students participated in athletics.
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Augusta Prep's Katelyn Gibbs snatches the basketball away from Augusta Christian's Larrie Reece during a game. Both the boys and girls basketball teams made it to the state playoffs.
Photo by Mike Howell
"We are very proud to have such a high participation rate," Holodak said.
The Cavaliers probably need that level of participation considering the Upper School only has about 170 students.
Holodak says he has to hope that most students play more than one sport to fill out rosters at a school that has an SAT average of around 1300.
"We can't afford to specialize," he said.
The level of success the Cavaliers enjoyed during the 2003-2004 school year was even more astonishing considering the small amount of students.
Prep brought home a team state boy's tennis to go with a slew of region championships and state playoff runs.
The Cavaliers had tremendous success in both boy's and girl's tennis this season.
Not only did Prep win the boy's team title, the Cavaliers won three of the four individual state championship titles.
Cary Gibson won the girl's single state title and was named All State for the second straight year. Martha Burton Nally and Kathryn Stone won the girl's doubles state crown and the boy's team of Shiv Sharma and Peyton Bell replicated the feat. Neal Shine made it to the boy's final four before losing to Augusta Christian's Troy Freeman. Harley Nalley and the doubles team of Michael Crossland and Cary Goldsmith also qualified for the state playoffs.
The tennis team lost coach Mark Farmer to Forsyth Country Day in Winston-Salem, N.C. but will promote assistant Chris Dickson to the head job.
For the second straight season, the volleyball team won the region title and made it to the state final three. Juniors Katelyn Gibbs and Mary Hannah Lynn were named All State.
Lea Xenakis led the girls soccer team to its second straight final four with a 15-4-2 record. The Lady Cavaliers dominated most opponents, outscoring the opposition 128-18 this season. Xenakis notched 50 goals and 31 assists and was named All State and to the The Augusta Chronicle All-Area First team with sophomore Monica Ploetzke. Callan Cudd, also All State, and Callie Sadler joined them as second team members.
In a school that regularly earns bragging rights for the number of its students' academic awards, Xenakis was the only Augusta Prep student - among boys or girls - to secure an athletic scholarship. She signed to play soccer at Berry College near Rome, Ga.
Augusta Prep's Thomas Knerr leaps over the Bulloch Academy goal keeper after an attempt on goal. The Cavaliers finished second in the region and made it to the state quarter-finals.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
The boys soccer team posted back to back 10-win seasons for the first time in school history last fall. The Cavaliers finished second in the region and made it to the state quarterfinals before falling to North Cobb Christian. Thomas Knerr, David Knerr, Patrick Welch, Jason Trefz and Ian Evans were all named All Region and Welch made the All State team.
Abby Alexander led the cross country team to a third place finish in the state and finished fifth individually garnering All State honors for the second straight year. The boy's team won the region title and finished fourth in state, landing Connor Mahoney and Alex Crean on the All State team.
While both the girl's and boy's swim teams finished eighth in the state, the junior varsity teams both won the state titles for the second straight season.
The reigning state golf champs came up short in second, falling five shots behind state champion Stratford. Alexander Abate shot a 69 and was named All State. The Cavaliers did win the region title and Rob Bennett won region medalist honors for the second straight season.
Other accomplishments:
Tim Shafer led the baseball team to 8 wins in 2004, double the team's win total in 2003.
Both boys' and girls' basketball teams made it to the state playoffs and both lost in the first round. Glenn Miller, Patrick Welch, Abby Alexander, Katelyn Gibbs, Caroline Hull and Mary Hannah Lynn all made their respective All Region teams.
Thirteen athletes qualified for the state track and field championships.