Spring Sports Overview

Following a successful winter season that saw both Squash and Wrestling claim MIAA championships, the spring sports were ready to leap into action. Track, Baseball, Lacrosse, Golf, and Tennis looked to maintain their winning traditions. Many of these programs are quite young, composed of a majority of freshmen and sophomores, which shows exciting promise for Gilman Athletics for years to come.

Going into the outdoor season, Varsity Track looked to be on the hunt for another regular season championship and to improve from last year’s second-place finish. This year’s MIAA championship saw senior Jemmel Green complete a distance sweep of the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m, a difficult feat considering the depth of the field. He broke the school record in the 3200m and placed second on the all-time Gilman list in the 800m and 1600m. The Hounds went on to finish third with strong performances in the shot put and triple jump. Captain Derrick Su remarked, “Overall, we had quite a strong showing throughout the entire season, but the loss of Cam Brown ‘25 really hurt our championship chances.”

Despite losing a large portion of their point scorers, the Hounds have young talent in the form of Moses Kim ‘28, who qualified for the prestigious New Balance Nationals. Looking to next season, Track will look to dethrone the current reigning champion, Calvert Hall, who seek to maintain their position atop the MIAA.

The varsity baseball team, captained by Krish Rangarajan ‘25, Toby Rosenband ‘26, and Jute Taylor ‘26, had a hard-fought season plagued by injury. They went 3-12 in conference play with notable wins against eventual MIAA champions John Carroll (5-4) and McDonough (9-4). Krish remarked, “This season, we really struggled with consistency and routine play-making on defense. Injuries forced different players into positions that they were unaccustomed to playing, forcing them to learn on the fly.” On a more positive note, Krish notes that despite their offense not being the best in the league, it was one of the most consistent. In addition, injuries allowed younger members of the team to step up and fill positions, with Cole Newcomb ‘27 and Henry Warnack ‘27 playing crucial roles in various games. Overall, this year, while not the greatest in terms of team performance, saw many individual standouts, including Jackson Cheatham ‘25, who was key for the Hounds’ defense throughout the season, and Jack O’Sullivan ‘28, who made a major impact in his first season of varsity baseball. Baseball looks to rebuild and grow next year and make a run for the playoffs in hopes of capturing the championship backed by strong senior leadership and developing underclassmen. 

Varsity tennis, captained by Peter Eiswert ‘25, George Khairallah ‘25, Alex Nabit ‘25, and Pranav Parikh ‘25, looked to build upon last year’s success, which saw them capture their 9th MIAA championship in 12 years. They kicked off their season with a strong performance at the All-American Tournament in California, where they achieved their highest placement ever of 12th out of 16 teams, beating many nationally ranked squads. 

Tennis played strong in season, facing tough opposition in their matches against both Calvert Hall, whom they split the two-game series with, and McDonogh, to whom they lost both games. Alex commented, “Out of the four years I’ve been on Varsity, this year has definitely been the most challenging we’ve ever had. Calvert Hall was really dominant during the semi’s and they were able to sweep us. ” Underclassmen have been critical to their campaign this year, with five of the eleven current starters either being freshmen or sophomores. Players to look out for next year include Kiran Milak ‘27 and the Gong brothers, Nathan ‘27 and Jason ‘27, who made an impact on their first seasons playing Varsity Tennis. Heading into next year, the Hounds look to return with the majority of their varsity starters, with the possibility of some promising JV players to move up in order to maintain their tradition of MIAA dominance. 

Led by a strong contingent of upperclassmen, Varsity Lacrosse, captained by Zachary Parks ‘25, Griffin Graham ‘25, Harrison Schline ‘25, and Jay Rodgers ‘25, were in for a tough battle for a playoff berth. Starting off the season with their annual lacrosse trip to Florida, the Hounds faced tough opposition against St. Andrews and St. Thomas Aquinas, losing both games in what Rodgers called a learning experience for the team. Rogers stated, “Overall, the Florida trip was an amazing experience for our team to bond and grow, [it] really gave us some momentum going into the regular season.” Unfortunately, the lacrosse team fell short of their goal of making the playoffs following their last-second loss to St. Paul’s, 13-14. 

Key underclassmen look to return next year, with Tommy Malfa ‘27, Jax Winstead ‘27, Grayson Jones ‘27, and Logan Gordon ‘28 serving as major contributors this season. Despite these setbacks, they look to be a strong contender next year with an extremely strong rising senior class composed of pivotal junior playmakers such as Cabot White ‘26 and Leo Eiswert ‘26, who both made a considerable impact on the team this year. 

Varsity Golf teed the season off early with individual tryouts in February to determine this year’s roster. A strong senior roster captained by #1 Drew Klein ‘27 and #2 Lucas Carrion-Mong ‘25 started their season with four tough losses in conference play. Despite these initial setbacks, the Hounds would go on to win four of their next five matches and create strong momentum going into the individual tournament. One highlight of this win streak was beating Spalding, with Sawyer Enright ‘25 sinking a twenty-foot putt to secure the win. In spite of less success than expected, Drew remained optimistic, “Team morale has been great. I think that we were able to do a really good job of staying optimistic throughout the season and growing together as a team.” Building upon last year’s individual MIAA success, they sent Drew, Lucas, and Gavin Root ‘25 to the second round of the MIAA tournament, an increase from last year’s two qualifiers. The future for the golf team is promising, with sophomore standouts Will Ketterer ‘27 and Drew showing excellent form for the Hounds this season. Lucas remarked, “Ketterer really stepped up for us this year during the last couple of games, and I’m really excited to see what he can do next year.”

Despite many teams falling short of their goals, the season was still an electric one regardless of sport. Hard work, grit, and commitment were the true stars of the season, with every Hound putting in their best effort no matter the outcome. Ending the year with combined historic performances across a variety of sports, the Gilman community should be proud with the successes of all three seasons.