Volleyball:

Chapman Panthers volleyball team had a legendary run this fall. The ladies finished out their season undefeated region champions, only to end their season at the upper state game.

“We have worked hard since day one and our hard work payed off,” head coach Jennifer Bogan said.

The ladies followed their undefeated region season with winning all three rounds of playoffs, earning a spot in upper state.

“We had a great group of girls who work hard everyday chasing the same goal. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Bogan said. “They just have to work on getting down on themselves when they mess up.”

This year the team will be graduating five seniors including: Brie Mabry, middle hitter and captain; Kellie Mitchell, middle hitter and captain; Gracie Tucker, right side hitter; Isies Moore, outside hitter; and Jozi Schwartzbauer, setter and hitter.

While a majority of the team will be graduating, the goals for next season are still set high.

“We plan to work hard, become region champions, make it to upper state and win,” Bogan said.

The team’s top returning players include Lexi Irby, Raegan Metcalf, Jenna Calloway and Tinsley Blackwell.

Bogan also says she would like to thank the student section and how amazing they have been this season.

Competition Cheer:

The cheer team has worked hard throughout the year to support the football team, and competition cheer has strived to better themselves throughout their season. Their region record will be determined by their highest score at Qualifiers in November.

“Overall this season has been a learning and growing year,” coach Taylor Till said. “We faced multiple cases of adversity before we had our first competition, but we were determined not to let that be an excuse for us.”

The girls have worked hard this entire season, bettering themselves and the team.

“This season has been all about learning how to operate as a team. We put a lot of emphasis on building each other up, working together to make our routine hit, and celebrating with each other when we accomplish our goals,” Till said. “We have a lot of talent when it comes to stunting. One of our weaker areas is tumbling. We don’t have a lot of girls who can tumble this season but we make up for it with our stunts and motions.”

Highlights from this season are the Dorman Cheer Classic competition.

“We won the Dorman Cheer Classic,” Till said. “Last year we came in second, so it was really exciting to be able to come back this year and take first place.”

The team will be graduating six seniors this year including Mallory Carr, Destinee Bacote, Graci Lovett, Drew Ellen Vaughn, Katie Brooke Bagwell and Hannah Splawn.

“It always takes a couple of weeks for the underclassmen to grow into their new leadership role after they become to upperclassmen when the seniors leave,” Till said. “We will lose a lot of really talented bases and a flyer. The seniors have set a high standard for our team this year, and we are looking forward to seeing this standard stay in place for years to come.”

However, they have a lot of strong sophomores and juniors that will continue into next season and work to better the team.

“Next season we know we have to work hard in the off season to get some more tumbling. That’s a big part of our scoresheet and we would love to see more people tumble,” Till said. “Our expectation is always for our girls to work as hard as they can to be the best that they can. We need to move on to harder stunts next season and we need to make it known that Chapman Cheerleading is a force to be reckoned with.”

Positivity has been a huge focus for the team this year.

“We focused this season on being positive in the midst of your circumstances. Go up to any cheerleader and tell them to ‘feed their positive dog’,” Till said. “It’s kind of turned into an inside joke on the team, but sometimes they remind me to feed my positive dog and that’s when I know they are buying into it!”

Football:

This year football has been pushing towards a second state ring with a 10-0 record, region championship and one playoff game finished.

Head Coach Mark Hodge says that the team has performed exceptionally well and he’s been, overall, super happy with them.

“The team has had a lot of accomplishments in itself,” Hodge said. “We’ve had a lot of player accomplishments with a lot of school and player records broken this year.”

The team has shown their strengths but Hodge says there are always things to work on.

“We have the experience. We have a lot of seniors that are three and four year starters and our speed is a strength,” Hodge said. “Our size is sometimes a weakness. We’re limited on size and at times we need to be a little more physical.”

This year 22 seniors will be graduating from the team and Chapman.

“We have 22 seniors leaving,” Hodge said. “Colton Bailey as quarterback, DJ Twitty at running back, Patrick Phongsat and Richard Tucker at receiver, Shaundre Miller and Chandler Adams at secondary, and a bunch of other guys on both sides of the ball.”

Hodge said the transition will require the underclassmen to step up.

“Losing 22 seniors is going to make us a lot less experienced next year but hopefully the underclassmen will step in and continue to perform at the same level,” Hodge said.

The expectations for next year are just as high as this year’s, but for now, the team is focusing on the upcoming playoff games.

“Our expectations are always to be great regardless of the year, but we’ve still got potentially five more games if we play well this year,” Hodge said. “We do focus some on next year but mainly focus on right now and getting better right now that will help next year.”

While there may be a big group graduating, there are plenty of underclassmen to step up and take their place.

“Mikele Colasurdo and Ben Rollins, Dante Smith, three offensive linemen back, Timothy Ferguson and Eli Whittemore as linebackers and Jaylan Smith at secondary are all returning,” Hodge said. “We’ll lose a lot but we’ve still got a good amount coming back.”

Football is currently in the playoffs and will go up against Chester this Friday, Nov. 10, here at Chapman.

Tennis:

Chapman Girl’s tennis team worked tirelessly this fall, building their strength as individuals and as a team, finishing out their season with a 4-6 region record.
According to Head Coach Caleb Crittendon, the girls had a strong season, growing no matter who they faced.

“We came out with a hot 5-1 start to the season and then hit a little slump midway,” Crittendon said. “We ended up making it to playoffs and lost a tight match to Seneca in the first round.  We showed a lot of potential this season and finished with a 9-8 record.”

“Our team is solid when it comes to the fundamentals,” Crittendon said. “They know the game really well and play with a great competitive spirit. They are very motivated and tightly knit as a team. Our weakness is that we are young and need to work on consistency and winning the mental battle.”

This year only one senior will be leaving the team.

“We are losing Tori Bolton who has been a part of the team for 3 years. Her maturity and sense of humor will be greatly missed!”

However, the team’s top three players Molly Foxworth, Sarah Margaret Reid and Alex Kinlaw will be returning, pushing the team to perform even better next year.
Crittendon said. “As a really young team that won’t be losing any starters, I expect us to be a very competitive team next year.  We lost some very close matches this year, and I know that is a big motivation for our girls to work hard this offseason and continue getting better.”

Cross Country:

This fall Chapman’s cross country team has proven to push themselves to greatness.
“Everyone did amazing,” Head Coach Rachael Edwards said. “Each student improved by at least a minute or more over the season. Boys finished 13th in the Upper State and girls finished 10th.”

One of the major highlights from this season include Noah Owenby’s run.

“Noah Owenby finally ran a 17:59 and placed sixth in our region,” Edwards said.

While the team is strong, Edwards said they could be even stronger with practice during the summer.

“Our strengths are their willingness to run hard and do the workouts to the best of their ability,” Edwards said. “Weaknesses are that they don’t want to put that same effort into running over the summer in the off season. The teams that beat us train during the summer.”

The team will be losing three seniors this year and will greatly be missed.

“With the boys we will be losing Noah Owenby but there is a strong boys team willing to make up for Noah’s absence next year,” Edwards said. “Caroline Felkel and Starla Sprouse will be leaving the girls this year but I have several young girls who are going to get some of their friends involved next year.”

Next year the expectations are set high and follow through with top returning players.

“I expect both teams to qualify for State next year. It’s my goal for every year. This year I’m taking the girls and next year I plan to take the boys too!” Edwards said. “We will have Konnor Harris and Sofia Woodard returning that will push this team.”

Edwards is extremely proud of the girls who qualified for State this year.

“The last time the girls qualified for State was in 2007 when Chapman was a 2A school,” Edwards said.