It was a much-needed feel-good moment in a not-so-feel-good time.

Throughout the five seasons that Lily Berger ran point for Collegiate’s varsity girls basketball team, she was known for her abiding passion for the game, her willingness to pay the price to achieve excellence, and her team-first mindset.

The long winter athletic season has finally come to an end, so let’s pause for a moment and take stock of several of the many high points that occurred despite its on-again, off-again nature compounded by the often-capricious Central Virginia weather.

Welcome, folks. Please meet the latest class of Unsung Seniors, five Collegiate athletes who made invaluable albeit understated contributions to their teams during the winter of 2024-2025.

Winning is Plan A.

Same old, same old works just fine for Coach Mike Peters and Collegiate’s varsity girls swimming and diving team.

Seems appropriate, don’t you think, that after the sometimes icy, often frigid, and rarely idyllic weather through which Collegiate’s track team trained this winter, the Prep League and League of Independent Schools championship meets would be contested on a high-30s Saturday afternoon as a steady rain drenched Central Virginia.

They’re the few, the proud, the Cougars.

One simple phone call. 

There was a time when Bridget Blaszak’s athletic life centered around competitive swimming and Irish dancing.