by Juliana Yao, Staff Reporter

The past three years have posed obstacles for sports teams. COVID-19 limited sports seasons for the past two years, and this limitation extends to this year with restrictions on masking. 

Despite the pandemic’s difficulties,’Stoga sports teams have maintained their legacy. Senior captains will be able to look back at their high school experience and appreciate how sports impacted their lives. 

Many senior captains began playing their respective sports at a young age and joined the Conestoga team when they first entered high school as the next step in their sports careers.

“I had been on a swim team since I was six years old and I’ve always known that I wanted to be a part of the ’Stoga team,” said captain of the girls’ swimming team, Kallie Whittaker. “On top of that, I heard so many good things about the program from older kids on my club and summer teams.”

The seniors on the team were undefeated for their entire high school careers. They also won the Central Leagues and Districts, and they qualify for State Finals each year. Swimming with Conestoga’s team  helped Whittaker in her high school life by creating a support system for her.

“Playing sports at ’Stoga, especially as an underclassman, introduced me to so many incredible role models. I always knew I could look up to the older girls if I needed help with anything,” Whittaker said.

With a similar level of success after reaching the state semifinals last year, the boys’ tennis team qualified for states again this season. For captain Drew Casparius, the best part of playing tennis was the competitive nature of the sport and the ability to form new connections with his teammates.

“I’ve met a lot of different people that I don’t think I would’ve normally met, especially outside of just my grade and it’s just good in general because I enjoy playing tennis,” Casparius said. “It’s just a great way to take a little stress off after the day to do something I love and also meeting people from other schools.”

Assuming the role of a captain comes with  great effort,[] adding to the already large list of tasks in students’ lives, says Jack Barausky, captain of the boys’ rowing team.

“I would say being a captain is definitely hard work. You are expected to always go the extra mile and there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on,” said Barausky.

Yet, according to Casparius, the experience of leadership and responsibility is valuable and memorable for many senior captains. 

“(The) biggest perks (of being a captain) are just being a leader, being able to give back and do things for the team, and being able to be there as a resource,” Casparius said. “But in general, being a part of a team and meeting everybody (is) the best part (of being a captain).”

Juliana Yao can be reached at [email protected].