Whitman racked up the awards this fall season, with state champions in multiple sports. Newly added to the collection are the MCPS Fall Sportsmanship awards. The girls’ soccer, girls’ volleyball, cross country, girls’ tennis and golf teams received the award.

MCPS has a comprehensive evaluation system to determine the recipients of the award. Each game, game administrators such as officials, referees or umpires, fill out an evaluation form, which takes into account the sportsmanship of the spectators, players and coaches. The administrators rank each category on the level of sportsmanship shown for each team.

“It feels great that we got the recognition because we put lots of effort into our sportsmanship,” cross country captain Alex Roederer said. “Although you want to win every race, it’s more about having fun”

The cross country team shows sportsmanship by talking with other teams before races and showing all competitors respect, Roederer said.

Whitman puts a big emphasis on sportsmanship and tries to inculcate sportsmanship values into its athletes.

“[Sportsmanship] is very important to me and the administration,” athletic director Andy Wetzel said. “We talk to our coaches about it all the time to reinforce. It is also a focus when we are hiring new coaches.”