TCIS spring sports preview

News and notes on private school spring sports:

Golf

- TCIS tournament champion Norfolk Academy will be led by senior Evan Beck, who won the league individual title by nine strokes last season. Last summer, Beck won the Junior Players Championships in Florida, an event featuring the top 60 ranked players in the World Junior Rolex rankings. Beck has signed with college golf power Wake Forest.

- TCIS regular-season champion Greenbrier Christian went on to capture the Division II private schools state title. Preston Leigh, son of Greenbrier Christian coach and area golfing great J.P. Leigh, took the state individual honors with a 77 at Fauquier Springs Golf and Country Club in Warrenton. Freshman Ashton Newsome should also contend for all-league honors.

- Bishop Sullivan Catholic went 11-2 last season and will be paced by junior Taylor Paasch, who apparently has a good time on and off the course. Bishop Sullivan coach Dick Wrenn says Paasch does “Happy Gilmore” impressions during practice. The Crusaders also feature Elisa Trent, the first girl to play on the varsity team since Angie Baskette, the team’s No. 1 player in 1997.

- Nansemond-Suffolk’s Peter Werszner is the team’s captain for the second straight year and was a medalist twice last season. Senior Achal Patel is also an experienced returner.

- The future is bright at Norfolk Christian, where the golf program includes 47 players in grades 6-12. The roster features 16 girls – two of them varsity cheerleaders – and six new-to-golf seniors hoping to learn the game before college.

- Portsmouth Christian, which won the Metro Conference last year, returns seniors Zach and Curtis Fuhrmann. They’ll be joined by freshman Scotty Capps and eighth-grader Adam Peebles.

- Atlantic Shores placed fifth in the state last year and will feature senior Todd Haynes and freshman Ryan Hatcher.

- Alliance Christian coach Paul Manning believes senior Bruce Sarver, junior David Hunter and freshman Kyle McCaskill could all contend for all-conference honors.

- Norfolk Collegiate’s top players are Robert Powell, Kyle Oliver and Nick Woods.

Boys lacrosse

- Perennial power Norfolk Academy heads into the season ranked No. 1 in the state’s Division I poll and has won two of its first three. Last season, the Bulldogs dropped an 8-7 double-overtime heartbreaker to St. Anne’s-Belfield in the VISAA Division I state title game.

- Cape Henry ranks fifth in the Division I poll. Nansemond-Suffolk Academy tops the state Division II list, with Hampton Roads Academy at No. 7 and Norfolk Collegiate at No. 8.

- It’s a transition year for most TCIS teams as several talented seniors from last season have moved on. The list of departures includes all 10 players on the 2008 All-TCIS first team and six of the 11 second teamers. Nansemond-Suffolk’s Will Crenshaw and Carter Pearson, Norfolk Academy’s Carter Moore, Hampton Roads Academy’s Andrew Maser and Walsingham’s Cameron Setian are the returning all-league performers.

- Cape Henry coach Charlie Lonergan said 25-30 players have graduated from his program over the past two years. The result will be a young squad that must develop over the course of this season. The Dolphins do have experienced leadership in senior captains Daniel Rogacki and Delaney Oksman.

- Norfolk Collegiate returns leading scorer Chad Braden, who had 18 goals and 15 assists a year ago. Junior midfielder Bobby Merryman added 11 assists and junior midfielder Ryan Cota chipped in 10 goals and 20 ground balls.

Girls lacrosse

- Cape Henry captured its second straight TCIS tournament title last season and is the clear favorite to make it three in a row despite the graduation of 2008 TCIS Player of the Year Mary Flowers.

- The Dolphins will be led by senior co-captains Kelsey Scherrer, a returning first-team All-TCIS pick, and Georgia Putney. Other key performers include senior Kristen Meredith, the TCIS tournament defensive MVP, and junior defensive stalwart Maddie Houck.

- Nansemond-Suffolk first-year coach Staci Handley retuns only two seniors but is excited about the development of several underclassmen, including three eighth-graders. Senior Katie Kayes will lead the attack and could rank among the league’s top scorers.

- Norfolk Collegiate will be led by junior goalie Jordan Wilkinson, senior attack Taylor Harding and senior Tori Phillips.

- Norfolk Academy graduated 12 seniors from its 2008 TCIS tournament runner-up, and first-year coach Anita Rackovan says this will be “a complete rebuilding year.” The foundation will start with seniors Annesley Berndt, Izzy Marquart and Katheryn McKee and juniors Hillary Bontempi, Shira Ellenson, Lindsey Clark and Lauren Doherty.