By Alan Goldenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2007

Jim Elder can answer the question that has stumped every high school coach for years: How do you quickly build a championship program?

It's a complicated process, but it began last spring with Elder identifying some of the top girls' tennis players in Northern Virginia who were incoming freshmen. He hoped he could interest them in Flint Hill, which had won just four matches combined in the past two years.

Then came the tough part.

"I found a phone number in the phone book, and made a cold call," Elder said, "and look what we have now."

Buoyed by four freshmen, a sophomore and a senior, the Huskies have an undefeated season, capped by a 5-4 victory over St. Catherine's of Richmond in the final of yesterday's Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament. With five players who are regular competitors on the USTA Juniors circuit, Flint Hill breezed through five of the six 10-game, pro-set singles matches, rendering the three doubles matches mere formalities.

It was a remarkable turnaround for the Oakton school, which went 1-10 last year, relegating the Huskies to the lower-tier 'A' Division of the Independent Schools League.

"It's a dream season to be 16-0," said senior Jen Lavet, who happily accepted playing No. 3 singles this season after holding down the top spot last year. "I heard about the freshmen coming, and I said, 'Keep them coming.' "

Elder called freshmen Kelsey McGillis, Vanessa Vanderdys and Kristen Bishof since they each sought a high school. Then, he was able to sell Flint Hill to sophomore Jacqueline Palmucci, who won the Virginia AAA doubles title last spring with her older sister Lauren, now a senior at Fairfax. The girls all knew one another from the juniors circuit, so they were aware of each other's abilities.

"All it took was one girl saying she was coming, and it just snowballed from there," Elder said.

Finally, his last recruiting pitch was to a girl who spent eighth grade at Flint Hill -- No. 1 singles player, Sonja Meighan.

"I just had to make sure she didn't leave," Elder joked.

Meighan said it was an easy decision for all the girls to play together.

"Outside of school it's so competitive and sometimes it gets stressful," she said. "This is so much more relaxing and we have fun here.

"This was definitely our goal -- to win states."

Flint Hill 5, St. Catherine's 4 Just a Label: Even though Flint Hill was in the ISL A Division, the Huskies still defeated AA Division champion Holton-Arms and two-time WCAC champion St. John's this season. And If That Wasn't Enough: Flint Hill also beat two-time defending VISAA champion Collegiate, 7-2, in last Saturday's semifinals. Flint Hill 5, St. Catherine's 4 Just a Label: Even though Flint Hill was in the ISL A Division, the Huskies still defeated AA Division champion Holton-Arms and two-time WCAC champion St. John's this season. And If That Wasn't Enough: Flint Hill also beat two-time defending VISAA champion Collegiate, 7-2, in last Saturday's semifinals.