Bronwyn Davies comes from a baseball family. Her father coached her brother’s baseball teams before they entered high school. Both of her brothers played baseball for CHS, and one of them even tried out for the University of Tampa baseball team. So it’s no surprise that the only girl in the family eventually picked up the bat and glove as well. She’s done pretty well for herself, as over the years, she has devoted much of her time to softball both for CHS and her club team.

“I started playing in the fourth grade, and I started playing fast pitch in the seventh grade,” Davies said.

Davies began pitching and fell in love with the position along with the sport. She revels in the pressure that goes into being a pitcher and has developed an impressive understanding of the game. Davies has made good contributions to CHS softball throughout her years on the team.

“She played a key role by drawing a walk in our big win over Northwest,” head softball coach James Collins said.

Davies knows how much time and work is necessary in order to get good results. She plays softball throughout the year. She plays with a club team that goes through the summer and then into the fall, and then she plays for CHS in the spring. Throughout the winter, she extensively works on her pitching (she practices her fast ball, change up, riser, drop and screw ball) until the CHS season starts up again.

“I practice a lot,” Davies said. “Pitching is really complex for a number of reasons, and I like that when you’re a pitcher you always have something to do, and the game really depends on how well you do on the mound.”

While many people often disregard softball as a sedentary sport that does not involve much physical exertion or the use of many muscles, Davies could prove them wrong in an instant. As a pitcher, she is required to train her muscles in a particular way in order to maximize her speed when throwing.”

“Being a pitcher is hard physical work,” Davies said. “You have to build your muscles so that you can push farther and harder off the rubber and snap the ball as hard as you can to make it go faster.”

Despite Davies’ love of the game, rather than play collegiately, she has decided to play club softball in college. She cites her family as her biggest influence throughout her softball career. Although her softball career will come to an end as the spring season closes, she still holds the sport close to her heart.

“I always loved softball,” Davies said. “I like the intensity.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to go out,” Milkman said. “I’m glad I now do not have to look back to my high school hockey years and say ‘What for?”

Milkman, who moved from Rochester, NY in the seventh grade, started playing hockey when he was 8 years old.

“Playing hockey wasn’t really a choice; it was just something all the kids did,” Milkman said. “Hockey is the fastest game in the world and it’s intense, and the only way to win is by playing like a team.”

At a young age, Senker and his father attended Washington Capitals games where he fell in love with hockey. Senker started playing when he was 6 years old as it seemed almost natural for him because both his sister, 2008 alumna Rachel Senker, and his father both have played the sport.

Both Senker and Milkman played hockey for the same Montgomery Blue Devils club team, and when it came time to try out for the Bulldogs, head coach Ray McKenzie saw potential in both  the players.

“All I knew from the outset was that Matt and Curtis were good hockey players who could develop into great high school players,” McKenzie said.

From their many years of experience on the ice between the Bulldogs and their club team, Senker and Milkman have grown into the great high school players that Mckenzie had expected to lead the team by example and set the standards high for the team’s underclassmen.

“Senker is a quiet leader,” senior Matt Spivak said. “He definitely is the leader of the defensive side and always makes the smart and easy play, never trying to do anything too special. Curtis is definitely our vocal leader always getting everyone pumped up before the game and helping us keep the intensity during it too.”

Although both boys had the same goals of winning a state championship and the characteristics of  strong leaders and players, Senker and Milkman are different in many aspects from one another.

“Matt is quiet, reserved, [and] doesn’t say a whole lot,” McKenzie said. “Curtis is the opposite, always cracking jokes, chatting away about anything and everything he thinks. He does a good job on keeping everyone loose. They complement each other very well in that regard.”
This season was the first for both Senker and Milkman to have the team go past the first round of the playoffs.

“This whole season was the best memory,” Senker said. “Beating Wootton was one of the best things and it was our first playoff win against Wootton.”

According to McKenzie, without the help of Senker and Milkman, the Bulldogs would not have won the championship this year.

Senker, who has been captain for two consecutive seasons, finished the regular season with seven goals and 11 assists. During the postseason, he scored a goal in every one of the playoff games, to score a total of five goals.

Senker has remained a consistently, well-rounded defenseman, and even won the Robert D. Roseman Player’s Player award last season. This season he earned honorable mention for the All-Gazette ice hockey team.

According to Senker, he felt great and was surprised that he won the award because it is typically awarded to a senior on the team. The award is voted by the team for a teammate who they believe has the most character on and off the ice.

Milkman was the second highest scorer during the regular season with 15 goals and 13 assists. During the playoffs, Milkman had four assists.

Next year, Senker will be attending University of Maryland, College Park where he hopes to play club hockey. Milkman is still uncertain about where he will study, but also hopes to continue playing hockey.

“It is a thrill for me to have watched them grow from kids into men,” McKenzie said. “To see them mature along the way, and to have it all end with a state championship for them as seniors, I could not be happier for them. They put the hard work in and deserve the success they achieved.”

Senior point guard Leeda Jewayni made the varsity girls basketball team as a freshman and has been a constant contributor all four years.

“As a four-year varsity player, she shows a maturity others don’t,” head coach Katelyn McMahon said. “On the court she is expected to run the offense and cover the other team’s best guard. Off the court, she does a good job of meshing all four grades together.”

Jewayni was influenced to start playing basketball when she played with her uncles. Her first organized basketball came when she joined a team in second grade.

I have four uncles that all played basketball,” Jewayni said. “They would teach me how to shoot. But my dad was really the one who supported me in pursuing competitive basketball teams like the AAU Flames in second grade, and that launched my basketball career.”

This year, Jewayni is a key factor for the team, averaging nine points a game. McMahon credits her success to her ability to drive on offense, strong ball handling skills and great court intelligence.

“Leeda is one of the physically strongest guards in the county,” McMahon said. “She is the most versatile guard we have.”

Her main goal for this year is to lead the team further in the playoffs than it went last year, where it lost in the regional quarterfinals.

However, Jewayni will not pursue collegiate basketball in her future. With her family moving to California, and Cal-Berkeley as her top choice, she has a limited interest in playing.
Though she may be leaving the East coast, her legacy as a leader and pivotal player will continue.

“Leeda brings leadership to the team,” senior Molly Coleman said. “She always helps us on defense. We all look up to her.”

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.”

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.”

“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.”

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.”