With the winter sports season starting, the LHS sports are starting to kick into gear. Basketball, boys swim and wrestling are all ready for successful seasons. We have to appreciate all the work and dedication put into their passions during the fall season.
This last fall season was filled with unforgettable moments and outstanding performances across all teams. From thrilling victories on the field to the determination shown at every practice, our athletes represented Libertyville and showed what it meant to be a Wildcat.
Now, as we move into winter, there’s a lot to look forward to. The new season brings fresh opportunities for our athletes to push themselves and continue improving. However, we should appreciate the triumphs of our fellow Wildcats .The season showed how much pride and commitment our athletes have, and it set the bar high for what’s to come.
Football
The Wildcats entered the season with a new head coach and lost some key players that graduated last year. However, expectations were high as many top-tier pieces were still on the roster.
The season started off well with a win against Lemont High School. After that first game however, the Cats went on a three-game losing streak, all against playoff teams. The season needed to turn around if they wanted to make it to the playoffs.
Establishing who would be the good leaders and step up during the season was pivotal for Head Coach Tim Budge early on.
“Our captains [and] our leadership council…did a great job of keeping us together,” Head Coach Tim Budge said.
After falling to 1-3, the Wildcats persevered and strung together a four-game win streak, the Cats had some optimism about making the playoffs once again, especially after beating their rivals, Lake Forest, who they lost to in the playoffs last year.
“We were able to identify some areas that we just really needed to improve,” Head Coach Budge said. “We just started executing better on offense and defense.”
The Wildcats were able to rally and end the regular season with a 5-4 record and get fourth in the North Suburban Conference.
In the first round of the playoffs, Libertyville, as the 15th seed, faced off against the second overall seed, Central High School (Burlington). It was a hard-fought game, and the score was kept close with Libertyville maintaining the lead for most of the game. But, unfortunately, Central was able to turn the corner at the end of the fourth quarter, securing the victory for Central 21-17.
“The guys did a great job of laying the foundation for the success we can have going forward,” Coach Budge said.
Overall, the first year for Budge as the head coach was a great first step and just the start for years to come. Coach Budge and everyone else are certainly looking for even better years to come.
Girls Swimming
After making state in seven different events last year, hopes were high coming into this fall season. Though individual swimmers had specific goals, there was always an overarching team goal that everyone put in effort towards.
“[The team tries to] win as many meets as possible [and] try to win the conference,” Head Coach Greg Herman said.
Having everyone buy into the team culture and traditions was essential to make sure the team stayed together and were encouraging to each other. Everyone on the team had shown significant amounts of improvement from the start of the year to where they finished the season.
“There’s no substitute for that leadership,” Herman said. “My captains all have kind of different strengths, that they work together to build a great team of leadership”
The Wildcats went 5-1 in their dual meets, only losing to Stevenson High School. The work put in during the course of the season paid off well at the North Suburban Conference meet and ended up getting second place. Annie Lock had a great performance, getting first place overall in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.44 seconds.
Sectionals for the Cats were great as well, with many of the girls qualifying for state either in individual or in a relay.
The girls making state were senior Annie Lock, junior Courtney McCall, sophomore Maddie Moss, freshman Hannah Hoover and freshman Piper Stephens. They will be swimming the 50 Free (Lock), 200 Free (Moss, Hoover, McCall, Lock) and 400 Free (Moss, Stephens, McCall, Lock).
“We had a great sectional and I think we’re gonna have a great state,” varsity swimmer and junior Elle Klotz.
Overall, it was a very successful season for girls swimming and a showing of team culture. The athletes’ dedication, growth and support for one another truly defined their success in and out of the pool.
Girls Golf
Golf had a good season as well as the Wildcats won the North Suburban Conference.They managed to pull off the win at the Class 2A Girls Golf Regional by beating the second-place Mundelein High School by just over 35 points. At regionals, sophomore Kenzie Christie was a medalist with a score of 80. The performances by her and the rest of her team were enough to advance to sectionals.
At sectionals, the Wildcats finished eighth with a score of 352 points. The top scorer was senior Claire Weadick and she finished with a score of 84 points, Claire’s teammates recognizing her leadership on the team.
Before this, there were many great performances from the regular season. In a victory against Mundelein High School, Weadick and junior Rylie Danforth each had a personal best score with 39 and 45, respectively. Sophomore Abby Feltz had a score of 36 in a win against Lake Zurich.
Overall, the girls had a great season with many stellar performances from many people on the team. The Wildcats look forward to having an even better season than this one in the coming years.
The fall season has already come to an end for the majority of sports and Libertyville Highschool can’t wait to see what they can do next year when the teams come back looking for even more success.
