Spring sports previews

To read spring sports previews of boys and girls lacrosse, softball, boys and girls swimming and track and field, click here.

Badminton

During preseason, badminton practiced four to five days a week for about two hours so players can focus on building different skills.

“Footwork [and] conditioning [are] what we’re doing right now,” said head coach Linda Brown. “When we get in the gym, we’ll continue with the conditioning, but we’ll do a lot more drills appropriate to moving on the court in sequence.”

With the season starting, Brown has various goals for the team.

“A goal would be to beat Mills,” Brown said. “They’ve been the league champs for the last three years. I think the goal is [also] for everybody to have fun. For some people, this is the first time they’re doing an athletic sport. This could easily be a lifetime sport for a lot of students, so [I want to] make sure that they get a good base on what badminton is and how it’s played.”

There are also some promising new players that Brown is excited to see play.

“Chin-Ray Kong is good and William Ye is good [since] … he trains outside in a club,” Brown said. “They are the two top players.”

The team’s next home match will be against Menlo-Atherton on March 9 at 4 p.m.

Reporting by Neeha Kumar

Baseball

Baseball (2-2 overall) prepares for their upcoming season after placing sixth in the Peninsula Bay League last spring. With a new head coach and the loss of nine seniors, the Dons head into the season with a fairly young team and high aspirations.

In preparation for league play, the Dons practice every day but Sunday for two and a half hours. As with any young team, head coach Don Hahn hopes the seniors this season can step up as leaders to help achieve their ultimate goal: Central Coast Section playoffs.

“I think the seniors stepped up and took control of the team [last year],” Hahn said. “Clearly we had some games that were one way … but the seniors really took off last year and hopefully they do the same thing this year.“

After a strong start last season, the team seemed to take a turn for the worse toward the end of league play.
“We could have focused more,” said senior catcher Jaylen Baquiran. “Toward the end of the season, we were slacking on stretching and overall as a team we were just not hitting it as well as we should have.”

With that change in mindset, the Dons continue to work for that CCS title. They have their next home game against Hillsdale (2-0 overall) on March 11 at 2 p.m.

Reporting by Quinn Shirley

Boys Golf

After being the league champions for the last three years, boys golf is heading into their season with a strong reputation to maintain. Last season, the team was the top seed in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division after a 31-game winning streak. Head coach Guy Oling is confident the Dons will be able to defend this title with the help of several key players such as senior Sam Higaki and junior Leo Wang.

A particular highlight from last season was then-junior Higaki’s four-under 31. That score contributed to the Dons’ 183-237 victory over San Mateo on April 7, and was the lowest score an Aragon player has attained in the last two decades.
Unlike other sports, boys golf only has one division in the Central Coast Section, making qualifying a challenging but attainable goal. With one big 207-250 win already under their belt after a match against Aragon’s top competitor, Menlo-Atherton, the Dons head into their season on a high note.

Each match consists of two teams of six, competing against each other to see who achieves the lowest group score. Oling identified the competing six as seniors Alex Tu and Adil Grover and juniors Noah Finberg and Leo Bartlett, led by Higaki and Wang. As with any team though, a little healthy competition pushes them to be their best.

“I do want to stress that I have six, seven other golfers who will be challenging for those positions,” Oling said. “I’d like to see a couple of the sophomores and other golfers step up and move into the top six.”

The team’s next league match is against Woodside at Half Moon Bay on March 15.

Reporting by Quinn Shirley

Boys Tennis

The boys tennis team is working hard and practicing during pre-season, looking forward to what their season will bring.

“What I hope they get out of this is a passion for this [sport] when they leave the program,” said head coach Dave Owdom. “We would love to win the league. [Menlo-Atherton] has won the league for like 10 years in a row.”

Last year, the tennis team had an overall record of 10-6 and made it to the Central Coast Section championships, but lost to Menlo in the round of 16 before they could advance. With new and returning talent coming together this year, the competition for the starting lineup has increased.

“I have a good problem and a bad problem,” Owdom said. “Good problem: I have a lot of talent. Bad problem: They cannot be in the starting lineup so I feel bad for … some of these players. If they went to a different high school, they might be in the starting lineup, but [since] they’re playing here, they’re not going to make it because [some] other guys are better.”

The team has their next home game against San Mateo on Tuesday, March 14 at 4:30 p.m.

Reporting by Neeha Kumar

Boys Volleyball

Boys volleyball (1-0 overall) started their pre-season even with many players missing due to being in winter sports or having injuries. They continue to practice five days a week for around two hours each day to get themselves prepared and in shape for the upcoming season.

“We warm up at the beginning of practice and then we go into service teams drills, where we have three people on the other side and the rest of the team is serving at them,” said junior center and right side hitter Z Carracedo. “Eventually they will rotate through and we will go into some hitting lines … then we will start running rotational plays.”

Many of the players on varsity boys volleyball this year are also club players.

“For club, the games are more intense and tiring because throughout the day there’s an entire tournament,” Carracedo said. “We would be playing four games a day. That doesn’t compare to one game per day [at Aragon]. Having that … game experience from club really helps … for [Aragon games].”

The next boys volleyball home non-league game will be on March 9 at 5:30 p.m. against Balboa.

Reporting by Neeha Kumar