Looking back, 2019 seemed to be a year of new life for many of the teams in the Fountain Hills High School athletic program.

There were plenty of individual achievements to go around but almost every sport laid down a foundation this year that will hopefully help each program grow stronger in the future.

What follows is The Times’recap of eight sports from the second half of 2019.

Track

Like some of the other sports programs this year, Fountain Hills track faced the issue of having a limited roster.

But even with a smaller number of athletes hitting the track, the Falcons still qualified five individuals to the state meet; Madison George in the pole vaulting event, Brant Ralph for the discus and Darrean Smith, Porter Sweet and Stephanie Lies for the javelin throw.

Of those five, both Stephanie Lies and Madison George were state champions for their events.

Golf

The 2019 golf squad was, again, a small group of golfers but, despite their numbers, the golf team ended up placing in the top 10 at the end-of-season state tournament.

Under the guidance of new head coach Jody Wilson, a core group of five underclassmen golfers were able to come together as a team and finish the season in sixth place.

According to Coach Wilson, the highlight of the season is how young her athletes are. For example, the top golfer for the Falcons this season was Alex Schafer, a freshman who ranked 15th in the state. Talent like that could mean a bright future in the coming seasons.

Boys volleyball

The second new sport to be added to the FHHS athletics department in a year, the boys volleyball team came together about as last-minute as possible.

That’s something to keep in mind when considering the team’s debut 4-13 record.

Many local players had never played the sport before and, with only a week together as a team before the season started, the Falcons had to learn the game on the fly.

For head coach Halle Harker, this meant that she just had to change how the team viewed success. Rather than base success on wins, Harker based it on her team’s excitement for the game and their eagerness to get better and better each day.

Beach volleyball

This season, for the third time in row, the Lady Falcons made it all the way to the state finals. And even though they did not pull off another championship this year, there is no denying that beach volleyball had an incredible season.

For one, the FHHS beach volleyball squad started the season in the middle of a winning streak that dates back to the 2017 season. In fact, that 33-win streak only came to an end with the Falcons’ final game of the regular season against longtime rival, Valley Christian.

The Lady Falcons would go on to have a couple close calls in the playoffs but ultimately ended up in the championship game against Mesquite.

Unfortunately, the Lady Falcons dropped the first three sets, costing them the win, but the Falcon teams in the one and two slots both came out to win their sets.

Football

For football head coach Jason Henslin, the 2019 season was full of small moments where, had they gone the other direction, the overall results would have been far different for the local squad.

As it shook out the Falcons went 4-6 this season with the team struggling to keep the momentum between wins.

Some bright spots in the season, however, were two Falcons breaking school records. Boden Davidson broke both the record for most touchdowns in a season and in a single game.

On the defensive side, Hafeez Momoh, along with being one of the state’s top tacklers, broke the school record for most tackles in a season.

Girls volleyball

Girls volleyball was another sport this season that received a new coach. In this case it was former Falcon volleyball player, Tia Kannapel.

Kannapel was able to guide her new team to a relatively successful 10-14 season, which despite having a five-game losing streak in the middle, was bookended by winning streaks.

Kannapel said her focus next season will be the teams’ mental fortitude.

“We had moments where we showed amazing mental toughness then had some moments where we would come out flat and unable to push through,” Kannapel said of the 2019 season.

Cross country

The cross country team, like many other local teams this year, had the added challenge of dealing with a limited roster of athletes. This made it difficult to compete at regular events.

With only 11 runners it was tough for Fountain Hills to rank against larger programs, but Coach Nick Goodman didn’t let that affect how he ran the team.

Looking to the future, the current large Fountain Hills Middle School cross country team hopefully means that FHHS cross country will get stronger and stronger by the year.

Swim

Only in their second year of competition the aquatic Falcons had a strong season that saw two swimmers place in the state meet.

Connor Reiff placed ninth in the 100m freestyle and seventh in the 50m freestyle. Grace Clark competed in the 100m backstroke, placing 15th, along with competing in the 100m freestyle, placing 14th overall.

Head coach Patti Schultz said she is hoping to see more of her swimmers at the state meet as the young team gains even more experience.