California girls' lacrosse team chooses prom preparation over championship game
Members of the Agoura (Calif.) High girls' lacrosse team played all season to reach the Southern Section championship, but they had waited four years for their senior prom. So, when they were faced with a choice between the two this past Saturday, they opted for the latter, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Considering the sectional title game — essentially a state championship, since lacrosse isn't officially a statewide sport yet — was scheduled for 11 a..m. and the prom wasn't slated to start until the evening, it sure seems like the eight Aguora seniors could have participated in both. But the Chargers reportedly chose manicure, makeup and hair appointments over the final game of their high school careers.
"You're asking a group of high school girls to choose their last senior prom over a sporting event that can't be moved," Agoura coach Steve Omlor told The L.A. Times. Omlor reportedly pleaded to no avail with section officials about changing the date of the game, forcing the coach to forfeit.
Agoura's withdrawal allowed Oak Park — a team the Chargers had beaten in a double-overtime semifinal — to compete for the title against the Los Alamitos Griffins, who ultimately walked away with a 20-6 win.
According to The L.A. Times, Agoura approached Oak Park about the possibility of combining their teams — presumably to include the Chargers underclassmen in the game they had worked so hard to reach — but Oak Park athletic director Rob Hall naturally dismissed that invitation.
"We didn't entertain that more than two seconds," Hall told the paper.
For the record, a Chicago area girls' water polo team competed in a regular-season match that didn't end until 6 p.m. and still managed to make the prom. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Lincolnshire (Ill.) Stevenson High girls changed in the locker room as their dates waited poolside in tuxedos.
“We took fast showers, blow-dried our hair. We had stations, our moms were set up,” Stevenson senior goalie Anna Ward told the Sun-Times earlier this month. “One was in the corner with curlers, another mom was putting makeup on. Other girls were braiding each other’s hair. It was like an assembly line.”
Apparently, Katy Perry was right along. "California girls, we're unforgettable."
(h/t USA Today)
