Boys Cross Country
Record: 1st in NCS / 1st in DAL / 1st in State
Best Moment of the Season: STATE CHAMPIONS!
After finishing 2nd in both NCS and DAL last season, boys cross country also entered this year with great hopes for similar records. As proven by the first DAL Center Meet, which took place at Hidden Valley Park in late September, they did not disappoint despite multiple injuries across the teams.
“We were expected to lose to Miramonte’s varsity team, but we ended up beating them,” said junior Taejin Chung. “I feel like with that win, we showed how we were able to overcome those expectations and set goals for ourselves moving forward.” The race grew tight between Campo, College Park, and Miramonte, but strong finishes from sophomore Jack Durden and senior Siddharth Iyer, with both finishing 4th and 5th respectively, sealed the difference between the teams.
The frosh-soph and JV boys teams also made enormous progress, as demonstrated by the efforts of sophomore Josiah Beardsley, junior Cody De La Cruz, and freshman Caden Ehrhorn, all of whom set individual records for school history in either the first DAL Center Meet or the October Rough Rider Invitational. Team connections also remained just as strong, with sophomore Clark Gregory commenting, “My favorite moments of the season were the bus rides after meets, when we’re not stressed about racing anymore, or after our league championships when most of us went to Chipotle and were just hanging out.”
Girls Cross Country
Record: 1st in DAL / 2nd in NCS / 6th in State
Best Moment of the Season: Winning DAL Center Meet #2
Despite the loss of multiple seniors from the previous season, the girls cross-country team has not only overcome all expectations, but also improved exponentially. Especially with a smaller team, connections between athletes are stronger than ever. “Motivation has just really been at an all-time high,” said junior Anjali Rao. “Everyone has improved a lot across the board.”
The second DAL Center Meet, which took place in Concord at Newhall Park, saw the sharpest increase in improvement and encouragement. Even with sidelined key athletes such as senior Helen Shephard, who said, “it was a tight race that day, but our team of five girls pulled through, and everyone PR’d by one or two minutes. It was just really special to watch all those girls step up, and a great way to end our regular season.” While JV finished the season 24-0 overall, both the frosh-soph and varsity girls teams were able to jump back into league title contention and achieve firm victories.
“A big challenge for us was the amount of injuries that our team had,” said sophomore Amalia Contreras. “Despite that, it’s pretty remarkable with all the progress we’ve made.”
Football
Record: 5-5 (regular season) / 2nd in NCS
Best Moment of the Season: Stomping the Mats
The Campolindo football team finished up a regular season of highs and lows on Friday, November 8. The season started off in a struggle, but the Cougars managed to bounce back with the victory against Miramonte at the end of the season, leading the team into NCS playoffs. Junior quarterback Reid Habas admitted that the challenges encountered this season “made us closer and better as a team, and we played really good opponents that helped prepare us for later on in the season.”
Campolindo is known for having a consistently overachieving football program for the small school that it is. Campo football has won multiple state championships and countless NCS titles. This season was seen as a rebuilding year for the program, as most of the players on the varsity team are juniors who needed some time to adjust to the level of play at the varsity level. But even despite the fact that this was supposed to be a down year, the Cougars were runner-ups in the NCS finals proving that despite all seeming odds, hard work and dedication can surpass presumed struggle.
Flag Football Recap:
Record: 7-13
Best Moment of the Season: The matches against Miramonte
As one of the newest sports recognized within the CIF as of last year, flag football celebrated their first year as a sport in California as well as Campo athletics. The team finished their league in 4th place this season, and feel pretty satisfied overall. While still new in practice, players state that the sport has cultivated a welcoming community which will continue to strive, grow, and improve each season. “I think it was a really good season. It was a lot of fun,” said senior captain Grace Allen.
Allen has been a part of the team for two years, and while this is her last season playing flag football she shares that the team has big plans in the upcoming season. “…the goals are to expand the program more because it’s definitely a new program,” Allen stated when asked about the team’s goals in the upcoming year. “…[Another goal is] to probably advance farther along into the DAL championships and into the division finals.”
For those interested in joining in the upcoming year, Allen adds that flag football is a great community which is open to student-athletes of any skill level.
Girls Golf
Record: 5-4
Best Moment of the Season: Four NCS Qualifiers
Despite being one of the smaller sports programs at the school, the Campolindo girls golf team continues to be one of the most consistently successful. Along with improving on the previous years’ record, the team set multiple team records, and sent multiple athletes to the Division 2 North Coast Section (NCS) championship tournament and one athlete to the NCS Division 1 championship. Senior Jasmine Malekafzali, a team captain, said that this season was “definitely one of our best ones.”
The way the postseason works for girls golf is that a certain number of athletes qualify for the NCS postseason based on their performance at their league championships. Campo sent sophomore Alina Wang, freshman Pearl Pahwa, freshman Zoe Luu, and Malekafzali all to the D2 NCS championship. Malekafzali finished in the top-18 of the D2 championships, which meant she got to compete for the Division 1 championship. She said this accomplishment was the individual highlight of her season. The team now looks forward to next year. With three out of four of the NCS D2 qualifiers being underclassmen, the team’s future looks bright.
Harrison Fuller
Girls Tennis
Record: 20-4
Best Moment of the Season: Beating Miramonte
The Campolindo girls tennis team had a successful season, scoring 10-12, with many eventful moments this year. Senior Karina Morgan, who has been a part of the team for all four of her years at high school said that her favorite matches were against Miramonte because the “Miramonte matches were very competitive, and we had a lot of spirit cheering on the team.”
The girls have faced many struggles, including California’s extreme weather, but they persevered through them all. Junior Stella McLeod said, “when it rains you can’t play tennis, so we’ve had to learn to adapt to certain weather.” The girls grew closer together with wins against rivalry teams and team spirit days, adding to the community of the Campo tennis team. They had a successful season that ultimately came to an end after a hard NCS meet.
Girls Volleyball
Record: 29-10
Best Moment of the Season: Finishing 1st in league
Campolindo Girls Volleyball had a season to remember, finishing with a 29-10 record and securing first place in league. Although the season seemed off to a slow start with a notable loss against longtime rival Acalanes, preliminary challenges against difficult teams aided the team in finding later success against Acalanes at home. “We kind of made a decision at that point where we were not going to represent ourselves that way,” Junior Mia Walloch said. The team played a total of thirty-nine games this season, claiming first place in league and making the semifinals in state, making this season’s run one to remember.
Boys Water polo
Record: 18-10 / 3rd place NCS
Best Moment of the Season: Beating Miramonte TWICE
The 2024 season was one of the most highly anticipated seasons in recent memory for the Campolindo boys water polo team. And even with the expectations set high, the Cougars smashed them through the roof, or the pool, rather. In Campo’s first season under new head coach Brodie Jasper, the Cougars beat rival Miramonte for the first time since 2021, not once, but twice. They also reached as high as 6th in the national rankings.
Senior Hayden O’Hare said the highlight of his season was going undefeated in league play. The Cougars went 5-0 and won the Diablo-Foothill Athletic League, their first time doing so since 2021. The team accomplished this in large part to the strong senior class leading the way, three of whom are committed to continue their water polo careers in college. But despite four key senior starters leaving after this season, O’Hare believes the Cougars will continue to have success next year and into the future. “I think our team has a lot of young talent on it and I think that they’re going to do a great job carrying on [the team’s success] next year and hopefully winning NCS.”
Girls Water Polo
Record: 19-6
Best Moment of the Season: Win against Miramonte @ Acalanes-Miramonte Meet
Girls water polo is a successful team at Campolindo with many wins under their belt. This year, the girls finished their season with a record of 19-6, but ended their season after a loss against rival Miramonte. The girls water polo team finished second in the Diablo Athletic League (DAL) and finished second in the North Coast Section (NCS).
Despite facing many challenges this season, the team has shown dominance with their amazing performances. They had a triumphant victory against their rival, Miramonte during the Acalanes-Miramonte meet. Senior Avery Sullivan said the main challenge she observed was “making sure we maintain the balance between school and sport and learning to compartmentalize our anxiety and stress.”
The strength and bond of the girls water polo community has kept their spirits high throughout many challenging times. Junior Lily Schmidt said “ this is the first year where our team has been really, really close to each other.”
*all rankings mentioned in the article are from December 3, 2024. Rankings may have changed since then
