WINTER WRAP: Spartans, Mustangs Earn District Titles
THE 2021-2022 HOOPS CAMPAIGN WAS A STRONG ONE FOR SPRING BRANCH ISD.
Stratford’s boys shared the District 17-6A title with Cypress Creek, going 12-2 in district play. Stratford finished 27-6 overall, falling to Mayde Creek in the Area playoffs.
Spring Woods was 15-15 overall, Memorial went 10-25 and Northbrook finished 3-25.
Stratford was buoyed by a breakout season from junior guard Keanu Dawes, who will be one of the top talents to keep an eye on in the Class of 2023. Senior forward Luke Hatcher also enjoyed a stellar season for the Spartans.
On the girls’ side, Memorial had an outstanding year, finishing with a program-best 27 wins. The Mustangs shared the 17-6A title with Cypress Creek, going 13-1 in district play.
The prolific-shooting Mustangs were led by premier talents like junior guard Riley McCloskey, junior forward Abigail Tomaski, sophomore forward Nicki Polocheck, and senior center Giana Vlahakos. Memorial reached the Area round.
Stratford joined Memorial in the playoffs. The Spartans went 14-17 overall, 8-6 in district play, to make the postseason for the first time in seven years.
Stratford finished as an Area playoff finalist after routing Bellaire in its BiDistrict playoff game.
Spring Woods went 7-21 overall and Northbrook finished 9-22.
SWIMMING
SPRING BRANCH ISD SENT A STRONG CONTINGENT OF COMPETITORS TO THE UIL CLASS 6A STATE SWIMMING MEET THIS SPRING.
The district’s stars in Austin were the Memorial boys 200-yard medley relay team and Memorial sophomore Kassidy Kitchel.
The Mustangs’ 200 medley relay finished ninth overall with a time of 1:35.32. The team consisted of senior Luca Burns, sophomore Reid Vandervoort, senior Amaury Jayr and junior Oliver Grossman.
Kitchel finished seventh in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:04.21. She also finished 14th in the 100-yard butterfly with a mark of 56.28 seconds.
Burns also finished 15th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.91 seconds. Memorial’s 400- yard freestyle relay team of Jayr, Grossman, Burns and junior Romain Joubert finished 11th with a time of 3:08.20.
SOCCER
STARTFORD REPRESENTED SPRING BRANCH ISD WELL ON THE PITCH, WINNING THE DISTRICT 17-6A GIRLS TITLE IN DOMINANT FASHION.
Stratford went 13-1 in district play. The Spartans won six consecutive games entering the postseason. Once there, Stratford defeated Westside (12-0), Katy (5-0), Tompkins (3-2) and West Brook (1-1 (4-3 PKs) to advance to the Region III-6A Championship match. Stratford fell to Ridge Point and finished the season 20-4-4.
In 28 matches, the Spartans allowed 18 goals while scoring 77.
Memorial also booked a trip to the playoffs as the No. 3 seed out of 17-6A. The Mustangs went 11-3 in district. Memorial fell to Seven Lakes in the Area Round.
Spring Woods finished its season 8-14 overall, going 4-10 in district play and finished fifth in district. Northbrook went 8-11-3 overall.
On the boys side, Northbrook was the lone Spring Branch ISD representative in the playoffs. The Raiders finished fourth in district, going 6-5-3. They finished 8-10-4 overall.
Memorial, Spring Woods and Stratford all fell short of the playoffs. Memorial went 6-7-8 overall, Spring Woods went 7-10-5 overall and Stratford finished 6-11-4.
