The academic team recently finished its regular season with a nearly perfect record. Their varsity, or A-team remained undefeated until their final two games.

“We just finished our regular season and finished with a 10-2 record. That’s the A team in A versus A matches,” said head coach Christopher McGrath.

The B, C, and D-teams also reflected the team’s winning efforts, ending with a combined record of 75-9.

McGrath was pleased with the performance of his team this winter.

“It was a good season overall. The depth of our team and the strength of our team compared to other teams in our district is something to behold,” said McGrath.

Academic team assistant coach Patrick Bradley was pleased with the performance of his B,C, and D-teams.

“Last night our B-team beat the William Byrd A-team. And I think seeing D-team beat so many B, C, and A-teams from other schools was really neat,” Bradley said.

Both coaches are excited about the young talent they recruited to help them win this season. McGrath and Bradley recognized sophomores Will Hanstedt, Tieran McClure, Miranda Johnson, Harry Richter, Cameron Gavaler, and Gina Decanini for their strong season.

“I would say those six [have done well]. They all had impressive first seasons,” said McGrath.

Bradley was unable to nominate an MVP for the season as he was impressed by the entire team. He will not give away that title before the end of the post-season.

“We’re not finished yet. We still have some matches and it will be interesting to see who steps up in the conference and regional championship. But certainly all the members of the A-team are in a position to claim that status,” said Bradley

The team started its post-season competitions on Jan. 23. The first step was the conference championship. The ‘Cats placed first in the Conference 31 tournament. They managed to end the tournament without losing any matches. Senior team member Carl Sukow finished as the second leading scorer for the competition.

Some of Sukow’s fondest memories from his time on the team are of the questions he was asked while competing. He has also enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere the team created.

“There was a question about John Cena. Definitely John Cena,” said Sukow. “It’s pretty chill. It’s fun because it is not as intense of a sport as others so you can just go out there, play the game, hit the buzzer, and have fun.”

The team’s next tournament is the regional championship.

“[T]he region tournament, which we will qualify for, is going to be at Fort Defiance High School on February 11,” said McGrath.

The coaches expect the team to do well in this tournament and hope to make it all the way to the state finals.

“I think that we have a good chance at getting to the state championship. That would mean coming in first or second at the regional championship, and I think that’s a possibility. The past two years I believed we’ve finished third in the regional tournament, so I think we have a fair chance at getting to states,” said Bradley.