Women’s volleyball
A new face has entered the women’s volleyball program with new head coach Mrs. Mary Hemer
’09. She is joined by varsity assistants Mr. Josh Noblet ’00 and Mrs. Lori Price. Mrs. Katie
Kluger is the head JV coach and her assistant is Miss Jazzmine McDonald ’13. Mrs. Angie
Kubacki leads the freshman team with Miss Lauren McIntyre ’07 and Miss Jennifer Norton to
assist.

Last year the team went 24-12 on the season. Key returning players include enior captains Mia
Dittoe, Jami Hansen, Mae Hendrick, Anna Neale, JoJo Suppiger and Anna Trieloff.
Although Dittoe is not committed for volleyball in college, he will attend the College of
Charleston for softball.

Hemer said in an emailed interview that this is a great team. “They work really well together and
want to succeed as a team first (over individual success), which is really important. Their
camaraderie as a team, and ability to be coached and make changes honestly is what stands out
as our best strengths at the moment. We have a myriad of performance goals that the girls set
as a team that we are working towards in our practices and matches.”

Hemer also said the team spoke together before season and set their overall season goal to
have a long run in the postseason tournament and ultimately win State. Hemer said, “So the
girls set their sights, and my coaching staff and I are working to set the pace in order to get
them there.”

Women’s soccer
Coming off a State championship in 2018, the women’s soccer team is hoping to repeat its
13-4-4 winning season under Head Coach Mr. Mark Behringer ’84. He is entering his 24th year
of coaching the program.

He is joined by Mr. Kevin Collins as varsity assistant, and the JV team is led by Miss Tawni
Tickery and JV assistant and goalkeeper coach Miss Madeline Weber.

The team captains of this year’s team include seniors Marcelle Blanchet, Carson Kwiatkowski
and Bridget Stratman.

In an emailed interview, Behringer said, “A strong leadership group of 9 seniors have set their
sites appropriately high as evidenced by their choice of the theme “Fighting for Four” indicating
their desire to add a fourth State championship trophy. The seniors will be displaying Christian
servant leadership as they continue a family culture that will encourage all players to contribute
all they have to offer on and off the field. It will take everyone in the program supporting each
other to be successful.”

According to Behringer, the 2019 schedule will be one of the most challenging in the state and,
more difficulty, in the region. “The ladies will sharpen their skills and togetherness by
challenging many of the top teams in the state. After preparing throughout the regular season,
the team will seek City, Sectional, Regional, Semistate and State Championships!” said
Behringer.

Cheerleading

This is the first season that head coach Ms. Kennedy Drago takes her place as head coach of
the Irish cheerleading team. She is joined by Mrs. Kristen Zupancic ’10 as varsity assistant coach. Mrs. Amber Terron lead the JV squad, and Ms. Lauren Streiff ’12 coaches the Freshman
team.

Last year the varsity team competes at the UCA Miami Valley Regional Competition in
Centerville, Ohio and placed second. As well, the Varsity team went on to compete at the UCA
Bluegrass Regional in Lexington, Kentucky and placed ninth and received a bit to compete in
Orlando for the UCA High School National Cheerleading Championship. They competed in the
Preliminary Round in the Championships.

Drago said that although there are no team captains, the Seniors have stepped up and done “an
exemplary job leading both by example and howling the younger athletes the ropes on how to
do things.” Senior Maddie Alerding is main base, Jonalyn Jacob is senior top girl and seniors
Maddie McClure is and Ashley Richards are side base.

In regards to the season, Drago believes the squad will be strong. “I am extremely excited to not
only get the opportunity to help my athletes grow as cheerleaders but also as individuals
throughout this year. At the end of the day, I want the girls walking away after this season
having a stronger love and appreciation for their school and each other.”

A strength of the team, according to Drago, is how open the team is to changes and trying new
things. “They are tremendously hard workers, and all want to succeed together as a team. We
are excited to enhance our game day atmosphere and traditions this year, as well as focus in on
competition work.”

This year, Drago is adding a new competition team this year that will compete a game day
routine. “Our goal with the game day competition team is to take this learning opportunity and
have a successful new competition team that can be built upon in years to come. Our goal with
the Nationals competition team is to put out a routine that we are proud of and to give it our all
the entire season.”

Women’s cross-country

Head Coach Mr. Mark Doctor has had 15 years of experience with the cross country team, three
as an assistant and 12 as head coach. He is joined by Mr. Brian Gross and Mrs. Shelbi
Smeathers.

Last season, the team was the large school division champion in the Midwest Catholic
Championships. The team also qualified for State and senior Gillian Cridge and junior Audrey
McKinney qualified for the State championships.

Doctor said the Irish return 12 of the top 14 runners from last year’s team, which finished the
season ranked in the Top 25 in the state. “We also have several very promising freshmen who
could make an impact this year. The team will be led by Cridge, who was all-State as an
individual last year, in addition to being a national Champion in the Triathlon, McKinney who is
an individual State qualifier in cross-country and indoor track, and (senior) Gracie Carr, State
Finalist in Indoor and Outdoor Track,” said Doctor.

According to Doctor, the team’s biggest strength is the amount of experience that the athletes
have at high levels of competition. “Our goals for the year include winning the ‘trophy meets’:
All-Catholic, Midwest Catholic and City, and advancing to the State championships as a team. If
we can stay focused and healthy, a podium finish is possible for this team,” said Doctor.

Men’s tennis

Head Coach Mr. Mark Noe is entering his 18th year coaching the men’s tennis team, or the Irish
netters as their Twitter account calls the squad. Noe is joined by Mrs. Renee Noe, head
Freshman/Gold coach; and Mr. Eli Eckhart and Mr. Luke Wojtalik as assistant varsity coaches.
Last season, the team went 11-7 and in 2018 won the City championship.

The team is led by returning juniors Andrew Davey, Ethan Eckhart, Isaac Michael, Alex Pohl
and Levi Wojtalik. Eckhart is the team captain.

The netters are a young team with no seniors in the starting line-up. “At this point we are
currently ranked 20th in the state polls,” Noe said in an email. “We have a lot of work to do and
some skills need to be polished. Our competition is very tough. The Irish play the toughest
schedule in the state. Over half of the teams we play are ranked in the Top 10. The most
important area to improve beyond our tennis strokes is the mental toughness. We are not quite
there yet. I look forward to seeing the athletes improve and continue to grow as young men on
and off the court.”

Noe said that the team is improving and is playing with class.

Football

Following an even record last season of 6-6, the varsity football team, led by Mr. Bill Peebles
’88, is hoping to improve its record along with traveling further in the tournament. The team has
already started the season 2-0 following on the road wins against Noblesville and Moeller.
Peebles is entering his second year as head coach, and is joined by the following coaches: Mr.
Eric Allen, Mr. Adam Barth, Mr. Tim Barthel, Mr. Bob Brady, Mr. Darrick Brownlow, Mr. Matt
Canaday, Mr. Josiah Daniels, Mr. Dino Farrell, Mr. Howard Fogel, Mr. Frank Karczewski, Mr.
Bob Koers, Mr. Dustin Land, Mr. Mike McGuigan, Mr. Matt Panzer, Mr. Mike Prior, Mr. Scott
Richards, Mr. Tony Salati and Mr. Joe Sander.

The team captains for this year are all seniors: Danny Brady, Orin Edwards, Tex Elliot and
Shiloh Means. Senior Q Cannon is also an honorable mention because he has committed to
play at Wesern Michigan next fall.

Women’ golf
Mr. Eric Bruns is in his second year of coaching the women’s golf team along with Mr. Sean
McGinley. The team is coming off a 13-5-1 record last season along with repeating being
Sectional Champion for the 13th year in a row.

Key returning players include seniors Bella Bunting and Natalie Schorr, juniors Caroline Buhner
and Allie Moretton and sophomore Olivia Schilder.

Bruns said that despite only three players returning this season who have had significant
playing experience in varsity matches, “one of those players was injured all last season and
another her season was shortened by an injury last year. Needless to say, we will be
inexperienced and relying on a lot of new players. Thankfully, we have a lot of new players, both
from the Freshman Class, as well as new players who played other sports in the past.”

Winning the Sectional title again would be great again, according to Bruns, which would tie the
state record for most consecutive sectional titles in girls golf. However, Bruns said the team has
some work to do on their games to get there.

Men’s soccer
The men’s soccer team is hoping to have a successful of a season as the last under third-year
head coach Mr. Paul “Whitey” Kapsalis. He is joined on varsity by Assistant Coach Mr. Joel
Russell. The JV team is led by Head Coach Mr. Pat McGuinness and assistant Mr. Brandon
Eley ’14. The C team is coached by Mr. Rod Stuart ’84.

Last season the team won the City championship and Sectional title for the second consecutive
year, as well as advanced to the Regional final of the State Tournament and their goal this
season is to repeat those titles.

This year, the captains are seniors Matt Welch, Brent Gleason and Ethan Caldwell. Kapsalis
said that Welch and senior Nick Victor were key returners as  midfielders and Gleason as a
defender.

“We are very excited about the upcoming season,” said Kapsalis. “We return some veteran
presence with young talent and a group of guys that continue to believe in themselves. We offer
a veteran defense with great goalkeeping experience and explosive offensive weapons in the
attack. If we can gel as a unit, play good, disciplined defense all over the field and capitalize on
scoring opportunities, it will make for a great season and we will be a tough opponent in every
match we play.”