Both teams proved worthy of their ranking, but it was the Fighting Irish who escaped with a 23-21 victory, their third victory over the Abes in the past two seasons, including a 28-20 decision in last year’s 3A state quarterfinals.

For six days in July, five O’Dea students joined with 250 other student leaders from across the state to learn more about their leadership skills and how to become more effective leaders for the four Houses of O’Dea. After being nominated by the House leadership team, Isaiah Artis, Hank Przelenski, Mishael Powell, Jack Markowitz, and Andrew Morrissey – all current House student leaders – traveled to Randle, Wash., from July 12-17 to attend the Mt. Olympus Leadership Camp sponsored by O’Dea. The annual camp is run by the Association of Washington Student Leaders (AWSL). Our leaders have already put their newfound skills to use this summer in planning for the year’s upcoming House events, and we anticipate even more leadership from this talented group in the months ahead!

Max DePina, O’Dea Alum Class of 2011, was recently recruited to play on the United States National Australian Football team known as the USA Revolution. In August, he and his 29 teammates will be representing our country in the 2017 International Cup held in Melbourne, Australia. Max started playing Aussie Football in 2014 for the Seattle Grizzlies. In 2015 he was named Rookie of the Year and was the leading goalkeeper. The following year he was awarded best player at nationals. Congratulations, Max! The O’Dea community is proud of you!

Congratulations to Tony Flor ’17 on being named the Seattle Times’ Male Athlete of the Year! Tony was the Metro League defensive MVP in football and as a captain helped to lead the Irish to the State Championship game. He was also an All-American playing defenseman in lacrosse. Tony helped build the lacrosse program as a freshman, and in just its fourth year O’Dea made the State Championship game. His accomplishments both in and out of the classroom have been truly remarkable.

To read the featured article in the Seattle Times, please click here.

The Fighting Irish finish up an undefeated weekend by beating Jesuit of Oregon in the War of the Border Tournament. Nice work boys!