The Falcons had a big year in 2016, including state championships for both the girls soccer and volleyball teams, as well as the ladies track squad.

Several other sports made it into post-season play, with individual awards aplenty being passed out to Fountain Hills High School athletes throughout the past 12 months for all-section and all-state honors.

Following is the second in a two-part series looking back at the past year in high school sports.

Volleyball

To say it was a standout season for the high school volleyball team would be something of an understatement.

Going 9-1 in sectional play, 36-9 overall, the Lady Falcons ended their impressive run through 2016 with a state championship, the first earned by the program in 19 years. Along the way, the team and individual members managed to break a few big school records, too.

Beginning the season with a 3-1 win over Payson in late September, the Falcons crammed almost all of their losses into the early third of the season, mostly in tournament play.

They were untouchable through the final half of the season, winning match after match on their way to a co-section title. That wasn’t enough accolades for these ladies, though, as they still had their eyes set on that elusive state title.

In early November, the Falcons finally did what no other Fountain Hills volleyball team has been able to do in nearly two decades, besting Benjamin Franklin, Sabino and Valley Christian in the early rounds of the state tournament before going on to topple Northwest Christian in a clean sweep to earn their crown.

Track

The high school track team had another big year in 2016. While the boys had a good run through the season, the girls soared especially high, nabbing new school records and the first state crown for the program in school history.

At state a number of school records were broken in the process, including Erika Yost in the 100m run (12.84) and 400m run (59.31) and Kelsey Schultz in the 300m hurdles (45.78).

The girls’ 4x100 team of Alaina Olmstead, Leah Carillo, Trista Smith and Erika Yost also broke the school record at 50.43, with the 4x400 team of Kelsey Schultz, Alaina Olmstead, Sierra Jarriel and Erika Yost topping the school’s best performance with a showing of 4:04.4.

Leah Carillo also broke the high school record in the triple jump at 34 feet 11.5 inches, while Trista Smith earned the same honor in the pole vault at 12 feet 6 inches.

A number of local ladies placed high at state, earning all-state recognition, including Erika Yost, Alaina Olmstead, Leah Carillo, Tiffany Frasca, Amara Feyrer-Melk, Trista Smith, Sierra Jarriel, Kelsey Schultz, Madison George, Alexandra Coons and Danica Kerr.

Of those competing at state, a trio of events produced state champions. Trista Smith claimed gold in the pole vault, with Kelsey Schultz doing the same in the 300m hurdles. Also finishing in first at state was the record-breaking 4x100 team.

Baseball

Going 4-4 in section play and coming out 21-8 overall, the Falcon baseball squad had a solid season stacked up against some pretty daunting odds.

Playing in a unique section shift, the Falcons had to take on much larger teams from much larger schools this past year. According to head coach Mike Briguglio, the guys did a good job of holding their own.

He gave the example that the Falcons bested Casa Grande this past season, who went on to win the section. The Falcons were that team’s only section loss on the year.

The Falcons actually started the season with a monstrous winning streak, earning 11 victories in a row. The middle of the season saw the local squad trading about an even number of wins for losses before going on another five-game winning streak near the end of their run.

Fountain Hills bested Peoria 13-2 in the final regular game of the season to end section play on a high note. The Falcons went on to best Lee Williams in the opening round of the state tournament, 5-3, before falling to Kofa in round two, 4-0.

Softball

The 2016 softball season was full of ups and downs for the Lady Falcons, according to head coach Bill Nye.

The season started out with a couple of hard losses to Saguaro and Snowflake before the team bounced back to go on a five-game winning streak to build up some momentum.

The tide turned quickly, though, with an equal number of losses to follow. From there, the season bounced back and forth as the team spent half of the time struggled with errors and the other half nailing all of the fundamentals. As Nye pointed out many times throughout the 2016 season, the Falcons could hang with pretty much any team they came up against when they were having one of their “on” days.

In the end, the Falcons came in at 2-8 in section play and 8-18 overall.

Sand volleyball

The Falcon sand volleyball team played an even season for 2016, finishing 6-6 in section play and 6-7 overall, making their way into the state tournament before exiting in the opening round.

All things considered, head coach Peter McGloin said that the local squad managed to bounce back from a slow start, putting together what he considers a successful run.

“We started 0-4 and then went 6-2 to end the season and squeak into the playoffs,” McGloin said. “One of those two losses to end the season was against the eventual state champ, Scottsdale Prep, and that was as close as it could come, losing 15-13 in the last set of a duel that was completely tied up the entire time.”

In other words, though the Falcons had some issues taking flight this season, they had little trouble soaring once they got off the ground.

Ana Jackson and Alyssa Barbagallo had an especially solid run, going 9-1 over the season as a team. Barbagallo’s final record for the season was an impressive 10-2, with Jackson close behind at 10-3.

Football

It was a roller coaster season for the high school football team, but head coach John Flynn said that, in the end, the Falcons grew as a team, stayed dedicated to the program and their school work, and are already focused on coming back bigger, faster and stronger in the fall.

The season began with a home game, though it was hosted out of the Northern Arizona University Skydome. A 48-13 loss to Northwest Christian, the Falcons did not get their first win of the season until late September, when they trounced Chino Valley 42-6.

With a 3-7 overall record and going 2-3 in section play, the Falcons played a somewhat lopsided season on the scoreboard. When they won, though, they did it big, going on to beat North Pointe Prep 55-13 and ASU Prep 61-7. As an added bonus, all three of the Falcons’ wins were in front of the hometown crowd.

The season drew to a close in late October with a loss to Yuma Catholic in the final game of the regular season, with no state showing for the Falcons this year.

Cross country

Looking back on the 2016 cross country season, head coach Todd Brecto said that the Falcons have a lot to be proud of following another three months of tough competition.

The Falcons began their run through the season in early September, taking part in the Chandler Invitational. With only a couple of home meets spread across the season, the Falcons spent most of their time on the road, typically finishing high in front of away crowds.

In the end, both teams qualified for the state tournament with the girls taking second in the section and the boys claiming third. Following the state meet, the girls wrapped the season at 16th place overall with the boys finishing 22nd.