Athlete of the Month: Zoe Kabelac

 

On a team of girls who moved on to the regional semifinals, it’s almost impossible to stand apart from all the other players, but in such a team Zoe Kabelac has done the impossible to shine in a group of standouts.

Ironically, Kabelac started playing lacrosse when she was in sixth grade at Bullis because, at the time, she was too intimidated to play softball because of the coach. She has continued to play lacrosse as well as soccer in her freshman and sophomore year, and then field hockey her senior year.

“Zoe is an all around athlete,” junior Bea Matthews said. “She is capable of taking the ball from each end of the field continuously, which is hard. She is hard working and always strives to be a better player.”

According to head coach Christen Pena-Ariet, Kabelac is a dangerous player because she is able to shoot with both hands and has the skills to play every position well.

Other than the Bulldogs, Kabelac plays with club team FS Lax. With the Bulldogs, Kabelac practices season round and participates in off-season practices every Sunday. Not only does Kabelac lead her team on the field, but she also leads off the field when she uses her leadership skills in practices to add fun and entertainment.

“I’d like to think I lead the team as I try to score, pass the ball on attack and help in transition,” Kabelac said. “I also like to think I add fun to practices with dancing, singing and joking around when it is appropriate.”

For the 2010 season, Kabelac scored a total of 55 goals and had two assists, but her greatest accomplishment was last season, when she was the Montgomery County’s top scorer and was nominated for the 2009 All-Met team. Kabelac also was selected to be on the D.C. Metro team at the U.S. Lacrosse Women’s Division National Tournament.

“It felt good to be on All-Met,” Kabelac said. “Montgomery County is getting better because [of] the mix of private school and the talented public school players.”

Her goal for the remainder of the season is to score one goal during every offseason game.

This fall Kabelac will be attending University of Maryland, College Park where she hopes to play lacrosse at the club level.

“I hope she continues to have fun and if she wants to play lacrosse go for it,” junior Jamie Oppenheimer said. “She always has a positive attitude on and off the field. During practice you always hear her voice providing support and encouragement.”

 

Athlete of the Month: Chris Verboncoeur

When senior captain Chris Verboncoeur won both the 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter butterfly at the County Championship Feb. 18, it proved that he truly leads the swim and dive team by example.

Verboncoeur started swimming when he was 6 years old and currently swims with the Rockville Montgomery Swim club.

“I have improved drastically for the past two years as I gave all my other sports up to swim full time,” Verboncoeur said.

Over the last two years Verboncoeur has been training rigorously to hopefully qualify for the Olympic Trials as he practices for about two hours three to four times a week both before and after school.

“Swimming affects my everyday life because it is everyday except for Sundays,” Verboncoeur said. “My ultimate goal is to qualify for Olympic Trials and I have not yet, but I’m not too far off.”

Because of his natural athletic ability, Verboncoeur was skilled in both basketball and football, but decided to drop them to focus on swimming.

“I chose swimming because I really wanted to compete in a sport in college,” Verboncoeur said. “Realistically, swimming was the only sport I could see myself competing in.”

Verboncoeur’s motivation to win and his intimidating size and speed led him to win almost every event he swam. Verboncoeur earned the honor of First Team All-Gazette, which caught the eye of some college coaches.

“He swims the two most exciting events and he almost always wins those events,” head coach Rodney Van Tassell said.  “Aside from being the best swimmer, he is very competitive and determined to win.”

Verboncoeur has been talking with five NCAA Division I schools and hopes to swim in the ACC next winter. He will be one of 17 seniors leaving the swim and dive team next year. 

“I don’t want to think about it,” Van Tassell said. “We will be missing him a lot and we’ll have enormous shoes to fill next year. Whichever school gets him will be lucky because he still has room to improve.”

Athlete of the Month: Jake Eskin

Senior Jake Eskin may not be alumni Chase Hicks or Elijah Gore, but neither is he trying to be. Whereas Hicks and Gore dominated in the post and made flashy plays using their superior athleticism, Eskin has let his fundamental basketball and phenomenal shooting ability quietly make him one of the county’s elite players.

“I have worked extremely hard in the offseason on my game and skills, but I believe that attacking the basket is the strongest part of my game,” Eskin said. “It allows me to get to the hoop, take open jumpers and dish to my teammates.”

This season, Eskin has done it all, leading the team in scoring with 17 points per game thanks to everything from three-point shots, drives to the hoop, drawing fouls and even the mid-range game. But perhaps the most important aspects of his game are his ability to distribute the ball and the leadership ability he exhibits on the floor.

On a team with five sophomores and just two seniors, Eskin has gotten everyone involved. His ability to maintain the team’s composure has aided contributions from unexpected sources.
“When Jake is seeing the entire floor and because he is drawing a lot of attention from opposing teams, he really opens the floor up for some of our guys,” coach Matthew Miller said. “The other thing he does is keep [his teammates] focused on what we need to do next. Sometimes we need that voice on the court that gets the team re-focused when things are not going well.”
Eskin fell into Miller’s lap this offseason when he transferred from Northwest. It was unknown how the team would respond to the transfer, but after the success with Gore’s transfer a season ago, they didn’t have much to worry about.

“We have been very fortunate to have Elijah and Jake the last two years, who not only were impact players, but fit right in with all of the other guys,” Miller said. “Every guy on this team feels like Jake has been here all along and that’s a tremendous compliment to both Jake and the rest of the guys for allowing the transition to be rather seamless.”

Just as Gore turned CHS from a very good team to one of the most dangerous teams in the county a year ago, Eskin has turned a Bulldog team that was thought to be a potential doormat this season into a potential playoff threat that no one will want to face.

 “He always keeps you focused and the whole team on the same page,” senior Michael Ely said. “Without him, we wouldn’t be successful at all.”

Athlete of the Month

Senior Bryan Crutchfield runs the forty yard dash in a blazing 4.94 seconds, he is a member of the prestigious 700 pound club, and at 6’2’’, checks in at a whopping 145 pounds. He has never made a tackle, thrown a pass, rushed for a gain or scored a touchdown, yet CHS football would be in a lot of trouble without him.

Crutchfield is entering his second season as the Bulldogs’ special teams specialist after being named All-Gazette second team last year for his outstanding field goal and extra point kicking. This year however, Crutchfield also takes on a new role as full-time punter.

 “On fourth down now I know I’m going in,” Crutchfield said. “Before when I wasn’t a punter, it was always, are we in field goal range? Are we gonna go for it? Is [senior quarterback] Alex Kantor going in? But now I know I’m going and I know I’m in charge of the special teams unit.”

Even though Crutchfield’s kicking has elevated him to superstar status as a football player, he would never have played the game if he was not snubbed from his middle school soccer team.

“I played soccer for almost 10 years,” Crutchfield said. “I ended up not playing Hoover soccer so my dad said ‘well you’re not gonna make soccer, so let’s try your luck with field goal kicking’.”

While Crutchfield is one of the most accomplished on the team in terms of awards, respect is not always easy to come by as a kicker.

“We used to make fun of him a lot, stuff like, ‘you’re a kicker, you’re the scum of the earth’,” senior Danial Dadkhoo said. “But now he’s pretty good, so we don’t really say anything.”

 Few players face late-game, pressure-situations that a kicker like Crutchfield does, yet he manages to come through in clutch situations time after time thanks to his superb mental approach to the game.

 “I try not to think about anything actually,” Crutchfield said. “People say it must be very nerve racking but you learn to control the nerves, you get used to it. Truthfully when I’m out there my mind is just focused on the sweet spot of the ball and nothing else, people could be screaming out who knows what and I wouldn’t hear it.”