With their seasons underway, a number of Patrick Henry High School winter sports teams are looking to secure league and CIF championships this season.
In girls’ basketball action, the Lady Patriots finished 11-10 a season ago, finishing 1-10 in their non-league schedule. The team went 9-0 in league play and won the league. Patrick Henry won its first-round CIF playoff game before losing in the second round.
Head Coach Derrick Carter said the team is looking to several players to lead the way this season.
“Senior Chancis Allen is the backbone of our team,” Carter stated. “She’s a great teammate and leads by example. She’s an outstanding defender, on both sides of the ball she puts pressure on the other team, never shy’s away from a challenge and always makes plays for herself and teammates.”
Carter also noted junior Maddox Weisskopf, stating, “She’s a great teammate and provides instant offense and competes her tail off on defense.”
Carter highlighted senior Mackenzie Nabors, noting, “She’s a great teammate. She’s our do it all player. She plays good defense, rebounds the ball well and runs the floor for easy points.”
Senior Michaela Maier also received praise from her head coach. “She’s the enforcer of our team,” Carter commented. “She locks down on defense and grabs every rebound. She’s very vocal on defense and makes sure people are doing their defense assignments.”
When asked how the season should go, Carter noted, “I expect our season to go as far we allow it. I believe in this team so much. It’s a true family atmosphere with our team and we’ll never back down from a challenge. Our goal is to compete as hard as we can in each game and have fun doing it. Of course our other goal is to win a CIF championship, but we take it one practice and one game at a time.”
Rugby program adds new coach to the mix
* In rugby action, head coach Greg Chronopolos sees good things ahead for both the girls’ and boys’ teams.
The boys’ team finished 9el out of 16 teams a season ago in the Southern California Youth HS 7’s Division. “We were the last team to qualify for the postseason tournament and place six out of the nine teams entered,” Chronopolos stated.
Among key players this season, Chronopolos highlighted senior Zach Witztum (wing/scrum half) noting, “Zach brings good senior leadership skills, quick with the ball in hand and very passionate about the game.” Also gaining mention from Chronopolos was junior Conner Nicks (prop/hooker/center), who he labeled as a hard runner, great in contact, and a very tough kid; sophomore David Jetter (prop/center) who he noted has a nose for the tryline; freshman Adrian Pham (scrum half, fly half), who was tagged as a talented and skilled player with a high rugby IQ and tough.
“We need to get out and run,” Chronopolos remarked. “The boys are going to be outsized by many of our opponents, so we need to be smart and pick our spots. No predictions on wins and losses but I think we’ll surprise a few teams out there.”
On the girls’ side, this is the first time in two seasons that there is a team at the school.
“This will be their fourth year competing in maybe the toughest 7’s division in California if not the U.S. (SoCal high school women’s 7’s),” Chronopolos commented.
The team has a new coach in San Diego native Karmin Macedo.
Among the players Chronopolos believes will be keys includes senior Katy Liddell (center/wing) who he defined as a team leader with good ball skills and quick around the pitch; senior Jordan Ogilvie (prop) who is a quick study of the game and looks to be an impact player; senior Kianna Kotas (prop/center) noted as being very athletic. Freshmen Allison Kesling and Carmen Haugland-Taitano were both labeled as being the future of the club.
“We’re very proud to have both men and lady ruggers competing this winter,” Chronopolos added.
Wrestling team has 10 returnees from season ago
* The wrestling team under head coach Sam Litvin has 25 wrestlers with 10 returning from last year. As of last week, the Patriots were 2-2 with wins over Mar Vista (60-18) and West Hills (40-32) and losses to Torrey Pines and San Marcos.
As for last season, Patrick Henry went 14-5 during the season, placing second in the league, fourth in City standings and 12el overall in CIF. The Patriots had six CIF placers with three Masters qualifiers and three alternates.
According to Litvin, key wrestlers to watch this year include senior Elijah Vinoray (220 pounds), who was third at CIF in 2021, second at League, City champion, ranked top 20 in California last year; freshman Ethan Vinoray (108 pounds), senior Mikey Krause (113 pounds), who was a 2021 CIF runner-up and placed second at League; junior Alex Adler (120 pounds), is a two-time CIF placer and Masters alternate; junior Francisco Saroldi-Gonzalez (125 pounds), a CIF placer and Masters qualifier; and senior Dominic Perez (195 pounds), a Masters alternate.
“Our team goal is to place Top 3 at CIF as a team, Top 10 at Masters, qualify at least one wrestler for state and place at state,” Litvin commented. “Our program goals are to start a Middle School program and a girls wrestling program by 2023. Wrestling is a great sport that is international, has no regard for class or race, gender or body type. It is neurodiverse and builds grit and confidence. We hope to have community support as we host four more home meets at Patrick Henry.”
The Patriots have home meets remaining with Point Loma (Dec. 14), Mount Miguel (Dec. 20), Scripps Ranch (Jan. 11) and Mira Mesa (Jan. 18).
Soccer teams look to get back to CIFs
* In boys’ soccer action, the Patriots were 3-9-5 a season ago and reached the second round of CIF’s.
Head Coach Seth Tunick pointed to key players this season as senior center-midfielder Sean Boyd (Good senior leader and his experience will be key for team since they have a bit of a young team); senior center back Ryan Lefler (Will anchor defense and provide much needed strength and leadership in the defense); senior winger Dominic Moreno (Provides speed on the outside).
“This is my first year taking over as head coach but I’ve been in the program for the last seven years as junior varsity coach and varsity assistant,” Tunick stated. “Over half our team are first-year varsity players. Our goal is to simply make CIF playoffs and improve with every game we play. We have a lot of hard-working players with very good attitudes and those attributes will help us succeed and get better as we go through the season. We had 106 players try out this year with about 45 of them being freshmen. Both our jayvee and freshmen teams have some very good talent and the program will see some very good players coming through over the next few years.”
* In girls’ soccer action, head coach Jason Renfro has a team that went 9-6-5 overall last season and 4-2-2 in league play. The Lady Patriots lost in the CIF quarterfinals.
According to Renfro, some key players this season look to be junior goalkeepers Grace Miller and Kendall Baldwin; senior defenders Melia Gianulis, Samantha Bancalari and Francesca Sclipei; junior defenders Zoe Crickard and Katy Hinkin; midfielders Avary Simko (senior), junior Avery Slinger, sophomore Chloe Tran; up top senior Sarah Konig, junior Caitlin Cogan, and sophomores Briahna Gieger and Kathryn Mokhov.
“The most difficult part of high school is the first month,” Renfro commented. “We have half our team still out playing club, so we are bringing up lots of freshmen to fill out the roster. The club season has really taken its toll on quite a few of our players. Early on we will be doing our best to instill our system to quite a new bunch and with this opportunity the hopes are a few will shine and maybe have the opportunity to make their mark at varsity. Each season our goals are to get everyone healthy from the rigors of club and prepared for league play in January.”
Renfro added that the team will be playing in two tournaments and these will allow the players to begin to gain chemistry with one another and for the coaching staff to establish a rotation of players.
* In roller hockey action, head coach Chuck Russell’s squad went 6-10 a season ago, losing to Bonita Vista High in the first round of the playoffs.
Among the key returnees this season according to Russell would include senior goalie Luke Shanks, senior defender David Weiss and sophomore defender Mason Savell.
“We have an excellent opportunity to improve on last year’s record with a core group of key players returning for the 2022-2023 season,” Russell commented. “The North County League is highly competitive. We will face strong opposition from Scripps Ranch, Del Norte, Cathedral Classic and Westview High Schools.”
– Editor’s note: All PHHS winter sports varsity head coaches were asked to provide information for this article.
