As the cold winter months near an end, Mt. Hebron and the other schools in Howard County get ready to begin their spring sports seasons. The spring sports in Mt. Hebron include baseball, softball, boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, track and field, and tennis. All of these sports look to build off of last year’s success and and work their way towards a State Championship title.

The boys’ baseball team has been on a roll the last few seasons with an appearance in the State Championship two years. The team is led by seniors Jack Schroeder, who has already committed to play at Virginia Commonwealth University, Jalen Bowen, Daniel Brouse, Joe Herlihy and Liam Hall. Each has played on the varsity team for the past three years with the exception of Schroeder, who made the varsity team as a freshman. The group looks to continue the hot streak and pick up where they left off last year with something no Mt. Hebron baseball team has ever accomplished in school history: a State Championship.

Schroeder stated, “The goal here is definitely a State Championship. We want to get over the hump we’ve been on the last three years. As for this team, I believe we have the talent to do it. It’s just a matter of improving every day and getting better up to the point of playoffs, where we’ll hopefully translate that.”

The league has also instated new pitching restrictions, which will limit the amount of pitches thrown per appearance.  This means that for as many pitches thrown, there is a certain amount of rest required before the player can pitch again.

The Mt. Hebron softball team returns with a few top players from last year’s team, including senior Rylee Kinsella, who has committed to play at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Other leaders from last year include seniors Alexandra Marasa and Iman White, junior Megan Holquist, and sophomores Kieran Davis and Eliza Munns.

Marasa explained, “This year has definitely started out different than past years because we lost four great players and leaders from last year. We’ve been making a lot of adjustments to a new coach and a new group of girls, but we’re very optimistic.”

“Our big goal this season is to be faster. We’ve done a lot of conditioning and more running this year. We want to be a speedy team, so it can give us an edge and could come into play during a close game,” Marasa added.

Tennis also looks to make a deep run into the playoffs this season with many different leaders and role models who look to carry the team on their backs. One of the top leaders from the girls’ side, Kiran Pant, was the Shorewomen’s “number seven” singles player a year ago when posting a 3-2 singles mark in the five dual matches she played in.

Junior Alex Nazaire explained, “I think this year we have a lot of talent with the incoming freshman, so I feel like we’re going to have a lot of depth in the double area and [with] Michael Kimak. I feel like he’s developed a lot, and he’ll be a great singles player for us.”

“I feel myself playing boys’ doubles for the rest of the season and going into the playoffs playing mixed doubles. I’m not sure if I’m going to be playing in the singles mix, but I’ll be ready for whatever it is,” Nazaire added.

The outdoor track team is coming off a strong indoor season and are looking to run a strong season on both the girls’ and boys’ side. Key runners for the boys include seniors Nathaniel Hatcher and Rickie Williams, juniors Faisal Alamad, Cody Paul and Kingsley Simons. Runners who will be making a huge impact on the girls’ side are sophomores Jaiden Ritter, Sydney Robinson and Blaire Ridgely and junior Ebere Ugorji.

After coming off an impressive and successful indoor season, the girls look to reclaim their status as one of the top teams in the county, region and state during the outdoor season. The boys look to regain their confidence that they have had in years’ past. It’s going to be a team effort as the Vikings hope to bring back some hardware and banners in the 2017 season.

The boys’ lacrosse team looks to build off of a strong 2016 season after reaching the 3A State Championship game. Last season, they knocked off rival River Hill, 6-0, to capture their first Regional Championship title in school history. But most of the leaders from last season’s team graduated, including Howard County’s player of the year goalie Casey DuBois.

Senior Nolan Aberdeen said, “The expectations are the same every year for the lacrosse program: we want to compete for the County Championship, then the Regional Championship and ultimately the State Championship. The key contributors will be Simon Perna and Jake Edmondson on offense and Peter Karmilowicz and Brennan Olds on defense.”

The girls’ lacrosse team had a very successful team last year that saw many top players leave for college. Like all of the other sports, the girls look to build off this success and make a deep run in the playoffs.

Junior Kaitlin Rice, who has committed to Duquesne University, stated that the keys for the season are “transition and the draws.”

“If we can’t get the ball down the field or win the ball off the bat, it’s going to be hard to get opportunities to score,” Rice explained.

If the Vikings can be effective in these areas, they should have a prosperous season.

All of the spring teams look to build on their current success and will keep the one common goal of a State Championship title in mind. As the spring gets ready to head into full swing, look for top notch action from all the sports teams as they fight their hearts out and put it all out on the line.