News

On Saturday, Nov. 5, three varsity teams battled in state-championship-level competition and came out on top. The girls cross-country team raced its way to a third consecutive state-championship title, and the boys team secured a fourth-place finish. From the girls team, the Knights had four runners in the top 10—junior Caroline Hood crossed the finish line second overall; sophomore Zahara Bernal fourth; freshman Harriet Blaha fifth; and sophomore Olivia Resnick 10th. Meanwhile, the varsity volleyball team faced Lovett in the final round of the GHSA Class AAAA state tournament and won 3-0, notching an unprecedented sixth-straight championship victory. What a spectacular end to the season for these dynamite teams—congratulations, Knights!

On Friday, Oct. 14, senior Trovon Baugh was presented with his commemorative 2023 Under Armour Next All-America Game jersey. Each year, Under Armour selects more than 100 of the nation’s best football players to spend a week training and competing at the highest level before participating in the Under Armour Next All-America Game. Baugh will represent Pace at the 15th annual event on Jan. 3 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

A four-year varsity starter and two-year team captain, Baugh has been a stand-out for the Knights since day one. He has been named GHSA Preseason All-State for the past three years, and received All-Region and All-State recognition following his sophomore and junior seasons. Bough was honored as a Freshman All-American and was named to the Touchdown Club of Atlanta’s Preseason All-Star Team. He was the Knights’ 2021 Offensive MVP and represented Pace on the 2022 Northside Super Six Team. He follows in the footsteps of Pace alumni Andrew Thomas ’17 (NY Giants) and Jamaree Salyer ’18 (LA Chargers), also Under Armour All-Americans. Baugh also received Pace’s 2022 Crissa Noelle Hawkins Scholarship Award, given to two outstanding members of the junior class in recognition of outstanding character, citizenship, scholarship, honor and athletic achievement.

September was a successful month for Pace Debate, and October shows no signs of differing. On Saturday, Sept. 17, the dynamic duo of freshmen Noah Eisenman and Reese Honeycutt went undefeated and won the rookie division of the Johns Creek season-opening debate tournament.  

A week later, at the Sept. 24-25 Marist Online Season Opener, freshmen Arnav Maddineni and Zaki George finished in first place in the junior varsity division; Maddineni finished as the third speaker; George was fourth. Freshmen Payton Wood-Fortas and Saya Brahma teamed up with sophomore Caileigh Pinsker to win the rookie division. In the varsity division, seniors Luca Tanasa and Kabir Singh finished in ninth place. 

Over Oct. 8-10, the team competed at the New Trier Trevian Invitational debate tournament in Chicago. Powerhouse pair sophomore Stephen Yang and junior Will Cannaday placed 17th against 80 of the top policy debate teams in the country. This continues a string of recent successes for the duo, as they were third place at the University of Kentucky tournament. Additionally, high-school debate coaches across the country are polled annually to rank student policy debaters, and Yang and Cannaday were ranked 29th in the nation—a fitting finish to an outstanding start to the season.

Prepare to be inspired on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2-4 p.m. at TEDxPaceAcademy 2022: The Game Behind the Game. A first in TedxPaceAcademy history, the event’s speaker lineup features all Pace students, with the exception of alumnus Drew Schiffer ’19. Joining Schiffer, Camille Caton '23, David Fu '24, John Hardesty '26, Leah Negero '25 and Amina Zubairi '25 will explore what “The Game Behind the Game” means to them. This free event will take place in the Zalik Theater, and refreshments will be provided. Don’t miss it!