Spring is not too far on the horizon, and Easter isn’t the only highlight of the season. Oakton’s Track and field, Soccer, Lacrosse, and Tennis teams are warming up for a competitive season. With many challenges ahead, they’re working to make Oakton proud. 

Brie Bray (10), who played forward on JV last year, says that she wants to see the team beat Madison this year. “JV’s record last season was 10-1-1, only tying and losing to Madison,” says Bray. As for the team as a whole, their mission is to bounce back from covid restrictions and “build more of a team atmosphere.” Bray explains that due to Covid, the team was disconnected. “We couldn’t do many things as a team, so we were kind of separated by who we were friends with prior to the season.” Optimistically, she sees this happening. “I think the new season will look a lot more normal since vaccinations and boosters are available, so we won’t have to be as covid conscious as we were last season,” says Bray. 

Oakton’s Lacrosse team hopes to see growth, according to Emily Hildreth (11). Hildreth played defense for JV last year. “Every year, the team gets so much better. I think this year we’re going to have a really strong team, so I want to see us play our hardest and best every game,” Hildreth says. She believes this will be Laccross’s best season yet, nevertheless their most challenging. “I think this season will be a lot of work. Every player is determined to be the best for the team and to grow,” she says “I also think this is going to be a good season for Oakton. We have a lot of good players who want to win.”

Winning states last year, Oaktons Tennis team doesn’t plan to slow down; in fact, they plan to win states once again. Isabelle Nguyen (11), who played 2nd for Varsity last year, says it’s her hope for this season. “Our goal is to have an undefeated season,” Nguyen says. “We have the same team; I hope we can repeat winning states,” she stated while explaining that the Tennis team has accomplished undefeated seasons previously and was a hair shy of accomplishing this last year.  “We almost had an undefeated season, but we lost to Madison because one of our top 3 players was out sick,” Nguyen explains, “We don’t know of any schools with such a deep lineup as us, but if there is any, I hope we can beat them for the state ring.” 

As for Track and Field, newer members are what Anika Gandhi (9) is looking forward to. Gandhi runs for JV.  “I believe the ultimate goal is to expand our team and make it to districts or further,” says Gandhi. She expects an interesting season due to new members as she stated, “a lot of new people who are very good have joined the team now.”  Oakton’s rooting for you!