With the school year sprinting for the finish line, the spring sports season is moving by quickly.

On the golf links, the Patriots (pictured above) under head coach Gary McMinn stood at 11-1 overall in match play as of late.

“After last year’s excellent performance we were moved up to the Western League where we compete with some of the best teams in the county,” McMinn noted. “The boys have wins against Scripps Ranch, La Jolla and Saint Augustine so far in league play.”

According to McMinn, the team is led by outstanding juniors Taylor Tweet, Ethan Roe, and Owen Carson.

“Taylor has scored under par rounds of 34 in two matches so far this season,” McMinn stated.

Other boys contributing to wins according to McMinn include juniors Wyatt Zeiger, Mark Arzillo, Chris Anguelov; sophomores Tyler Graves and Huy Le.

“The team’s goals are to qualify for the CIF Tournament and better our seventh place finish in the tournament last year.” McMinn added. 

• The Patrick Henry boys tennis team finished its regular season 13-6 and recently sat as the number nine ranked team in all of San Diego County. “We finished 4-6 in the ultra-competitive Western League with wins over Cathedral Catholic, Scripps Ranch and San Diego,” Head Coach Jason Kaplan noted. Henry finished 9-0 in all non-league matches and took home the title at the annual Pete Brown Tennis Tournament for the third consecutive season. 

“Our singles lineup has been led by junior Oliver Kober and senior Drew Miller, while our doubles teams of Ryan Kaplan (junior) and Reece Chateau (sophomore), Lincoln Branam (senior) and Angus Boettcher (sophomore) and Colin Miller (senior) and Gabe Smith (sophomore) have all contributed key wins throughout the season,” Kaplan stated. The individual playoffs were to begin this week with the Patriot singles and doubles players looking to secure positions in the county CIF individual tournament. Team CIF begins on April 15 and Henry will be looking to make a deep playoff run in either the Open Division or Division 1.

• In the inaugural season of girls’ beach volleyball, things have been a hit for the Lady Patriots.

Head Coach Felix Chu noted the team had a combined record of 8-2 on the season as of late.

According to Chu, key players to date have included sophomore Alyssa Chu (Pair 1) and senior Lauryn Mann (Pair 1).

“The inaugural season of beach volleyball at Patrick Henry has been a blast,” Chu remarked. “While all of the players have played indoor volleyball, almost none of them have any experience playing in sand, so it has been a challenge to transition their volleyball skills into a completely different environment. Their ability to adapt has been tested and challenged every time out on the sand courts – the most rewarding part of the season has been watching them meet this challenge and grow from it.”

As Chu noted, the goals all season have been simple:

• Learn through mistakes and be challenged (The goal of incremental improvement through these small “failures”);
• Put in the work and effort (These two elements are always in our control);
• Work together as a team (Find strength and support in each other).

• On the softball diamond, the Lady Patriots headed into recent play for head coach Bud McCombs with a record of 8-6.

According to McCombs, key players to date have included McKenna Gieger (senior, first base/pitcher), Belle Will (sophomore, pitcher/outfielder), Izzy Ervin (junior, second base, shortstop), Zoe Rutherford (junior, pitcher/first base), Brooke Taylor (senior, centerfielder), Leila Ludwig (senior, catcher/shortstop) and Sophia Sanchez (senior, third baseman).

“The team got off to a slow start but has put some pieces into place and is now jelling and playing up to their capability and winning games,” McCombs remarked. “At the start of the season they set goals to win league and make a deep run into the playoffs and win a CIF title.”

• In girls’ lacrosse play, the Lady Patriots under head coach Kenny Hasselbar, headed into the recent spring break with a mark of 3-6 overall, 0-2 in Western League action.

Key players to date according to Hasselbar have included Riley Shepley (2025, attack), Emma Baker (2024, defense), Jimena Palafox (2025, defense), Allison Keeling (2026, midfield/attack) and Kayla Sweatt (2027, midfield).

“We have had a rocky start to the 2024 season,” Hasselbar commented. “Losing 13 players from last year’s roster forced us to go young this year. We have shown tremendous resolve against a challenging schedule thus far, as we play in one of the hardest leagues in San Diego. It has been an uphill climb from the start, but we are slowly starting to get some traction. The coaching staff has high hopes and expectations for the remainder of the season. Our goals haven’t changed since the beginning of the season. Our expectation is to simply get better day in and day out, to be the best version of ourselves at the end of the season. If we rise to our potential and play to our true abilities, then we will be successful. We will not be an easy out when playoffs come around and I look forward to seeing the type of energy that we close these last four weeks of the season with.”

• In the swimming pool, Patrick Henry continues to see improvement as the season moves along for co-coaches Andy Mill and Emileigh Stock.

“The swim team is an individual sport just as much as it is a team sport,” Mill commented. “Where our standings may not be where we would love them to be, our swimmers continue to improve themselves individually. When it comes to our meets our swimmers are racing against themselves, improving their times from previous meets.

As of late, the junior varsity girls and boys were both 4-1, the varsity girls sat at 2-3, with the varsity boys having a 1-4 record.

According to Mill, key swimmers on the girls’ team to date have included sophomore Eva Cruz (freestyle), junior Kaitlyn Copeland (breaststroke), freshman Mackenzie Banning (butterfly) and sophomore Molly Vu (sophomore). On the boys’ side, Mill noted the efforts of junior Xander Stewart (breaststroke and freestyle), junior Hayden Mellinger (butterfly), junior Adrian Pilco Lopez (backstroke) and sophomore Hue Devine (freestyle).

“The season is going well,” Mill went on to say. “Almost every swimmer betters their times each meet, which is huge. Being able to drop time within a week of their last race is super impressive. We have two more meets until City Conference, where we have almost our entire varsity team attending. We are super proud of all our swimmers for making it this far; we hope to get a good-sized group to attend CIF’s.”

• In badminton play, PHHS with head coach Trustin Nguyen at the controls headed into action recently with a 3-2 record.

Some of the key players according to Nguyen have included Abigail Taing c/o 2027 #1 Women’s Singles on the team, Katie Ha c/o 2025 #2 Women’s Singles on the team, Kyle To c/o 2025 #1 Men’s Singles on the team.

“The record (3-2) speaks for itself, as our team suffered two defeats versus Canyon Hills and Scripps Ranch,” Nguyen remarked. “Being one of the youngest teams in the league this year is due to most of our lineup players graduated last summer. My goals for the remainder of the season are to win the remaining five matches so that we can make CIF playoff, and get my players ready for next season.“

Editor’s note: All varsity spring head coaches were asked to contribute to this article.