The 2023 – 2024 CSD winter sports season has come and gone and it’s time to look back and recap. Four winter sports teams (swim/dive, indoor track, cheer and men’s/women’s basketball) took to the court, track and pool to train for success. Through highs, lows and a lot of hard work, it was a season of memories for winter Spartans.

Cheer

The basketball cheerleading team trained long and hard to faithfully support both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, and before that the football team. From performing stunts to ramped up halftime shows and new cheers, this team covered all the bases. 

They now enter the rare time of year where they are not technically “in season” although they continue to train.  

Tryouts for next year’s team will be held this spring and then it’s all pre-season training until football starts up next fall.

“The things that I enjoyed the most were working with my team during our practices to learn new skills and stunts and incorporating them into our dances,” said basketball cheerleader Natalie Calarco (‘25).

Women’s Basketball

CSD’s women’s varsity basketball team finished their regular season with a 6-point win against rival Pine Lake Prep at their away game on Feb. 16, 2024. Their record for the regular season was 22-1 with a 96% win percentage and their conference record was a clean 14-0. 

They then entered the first round of the CSAC Conference Tournament seeded 1st. Their conference season ended with an 11 point loss to Lincoln Charter in the Conference Championship game.

“What I’ve enjoyed most this season is definitely the vibes of the team,” said basketball player, Regan Downey (‘25). “We are having fun and working hard together, and it feels like they are my family.” 

Men’s Basketball

CSD’s men’s varsity basketball team also finished their regular season on Friday night, Feb. 16th, with a 17-point loss to Pine Lake.  However, they still maintained a winning regular season record of 13-10 (56% win percentage), and a conference record of 6-8.  

They, too, entered the first round of the CSAC Conference Tournament seeded 6th.  Their conference season ended with a 12 point loss to Corvian in the 2nd round matchup.

Both basketball teams will get another chance to play in the upcoming state tournament.

Swim/Dive

CSD’s swim team had their hard work pay off, too.  

At their 2A Conference Meet on Jan. 20, 2024, both the men’s and women’s swim teams placed 2nd.  

At the Regional meet on Feb. 3rd, 2024, the women’s swim team finished in 2nd place and the men’s team finished in 3rd place. Overall, the swim team came in 3rd place in the region.  

At the State Meet on Feb. 9, the men’s team came in 6th place and the women’s team came in 10th place. 

CSD’s three divers also all came in the top 5 at both Regionals and States with Tayler Curlee (‘24) placing 1st in both meets. Tayler will dive for Liberty University next year.

“What I enjoyed most about my swimming season this year was just having fun,” said junior swimmer, Julia Weber (‘25). “While I still worked hard and set goals for myself to achieve, I also had fun and focused on being in the moment with my teammates.  In the future when I think about swimming, it won’t be the times I made, it will be the memories I made along the way.”

Indoor Track

CSD’s indoor track team had a successful season with many State Championship qualifications. The indoor track state meet was on Feb 10, 2024, and CSD’s competitors included the girls 4×4 and 4×8, Jasmine Miller (‘24) in high jump, Taylor Worley (‘25) in the 1000m, and Lily Miller (‘24), Taylor Worley (‘25), Marin Sullivan (‘24) in the 1600m and 3200m events. Of these events, the girls’ 4×8 finished 4th at States after running the 3rd fastest time in CSD’s history.

“This season I have really enjoyed making memories with my teammates on the bus or at dinner after meets,” said indoor track athlete AK Pharr (‘27).  “I have really got to know them all so well and I think we will stay friends for a very long time.”

Although none of the indoor track boys qualified for the State Championship track meet, all the seniors finished their last indoor track and field season with a good couple months of training for either spring track or other spring sports.

The winter sports season came and went in a flash. CSD’s winter athletes not only promoted school spirit across the state in the pool and on the track and court they also made some great memories and new friendships in true Spartan spirit.