As a whirlwind celebration swirled across the center court at Lakeway’s World of Tennis last month, the just-anointed state singles boys champ Russell Bader fielded a flurry of questions from the media.

Yes, the Westlake senior knew that he could capture the Chaps’ first Class 5A boys singles title. No, he didn’t realize that he scored the final 11 points in a thrilling three-set tiebreaker win over Harlingen South’s Tomas Stillman. Yes, the win helped ease the pain of two consecutive empty trips to state in doubles play.
One television wag then asked a couple of innocuous questions that often baffle newcomers to the Austin sports scene.

“Russell, what is it about Westlake? Why do you win everything?”

Bader glanced up, shrugged and offered a slight smile.

“I guess we’re just used to winning,” he said, simply.

But then Bader furrowed his brow, caught a breath and thought a little more. He thought about the senior-led football team, which extended nationally ranked Euless Trinity into overtime before falling in the Class 5A Division I championship game. He thought about classmate Sara Shaw, the state’s volleyball player of the year and linchpin of the state-finalist Chaps.

Bader thought about another senior, Samantha Tucker, who won two gold medals at the state swimming meet. He thought about the boys soccer team, which followed seniors Dillon Short, Bailey Hinners and Dylan Shomaker into the state tournament.

He thought about other classmates: hoopster Cody Doolin, Westlake’s all-time leader in points and assists; Courtney Duever, who led the Westlake girls into the second round of the basketball playoffs; Sawyer Morris and Peyton Burns, bronze medalists at the state wrestling meet; Hannah Slovacek, a four-year member of Westlake’s softball team; Miles Hanson, Chris Watkins, Jon Darilek and Davis Breedlove, the senior core of the district-champion baseball team; golfers such as Kaylin Terry, Alex Ellis, Daniel Northington and Paul Otte, who would all lead Westlake’s golf teams to a championship sweep later in the week.

Bader grew up with those kids. He’d seen them race across the playgrounds of elementary school and hone their skills in middle school. He witnessed them blossom at Westlake, where college offers followed years of hard work and its subsequent success.

As the TV cameras rolled, the soft-spoken Bader expounded on what made Westlake so good in 2009-10.

“This was a special senior class,” he said. “These seniors just wanted to win.”

And they did, with aplomb. In the process, the senior class of 2010 laid claim to producing the best season in the 41-year history of Westlake High School.

The numbers compiled in the UIL’s annual Lone Star Cup competition back up that boast. Westlake will tally 94 points when the UIL completes its score, which will top the school’s previous best mark of 90 set in 2006-07 and 2008-09.

Sure, the Chaps won’t win the Lone Star Cup like they did in 2002 with 84 points (a deep and versatile athletic program from The Woodlands will win its third straight Cup). However, no other Westlake senior class has ever graduated with as much hardware.

The Chaps won district titles in 10 of the 13 UIL-sanctioned team sports. They captured state championships in two of those sports, reached the state finals in two others and added one more state-tournament berth for good measure.

In addition, Westlake captured five combined state medals in the UIL-sanctioned individual sports of wrestling and swimming.

The school’s Lone Star Cup tally didn’t include Bader’s spring tennis championship, because the competition only awards points in the fall’s team tennis season.

Volleyball coach Al Bennett, Westlake’s longest-tenured head coach at 22 years and the school’s assistant athletic director, believes that this season’s success is unsurpassed.

“It’s been a special year,” he said. “I’d have to look at some numbers, but I do think this is probably the best year that Westlake has ever had.”

Those numbers have been crunched by the UIL since it created the Lone Star Cup in 1997-98, but a glance at Westlake’s illustrious past also confirms Bennett’s belief.

Prior to this past season, the 1992-93 school year stood out as Westlake’s finest. The school, competing in Class 4A, won state championships in team tennis and girls basketball, and Elizabeth Schmidt added an individual singles title in spring tennis.

That year also had some near-misses for the program. Jonathan Creath reached the finals of the boys singles bracket at the spring state tennis tournament, and the boys golf team finished seventh at state. The 1992 football team reached the Region IV finals, where it fell to Gregory-Portland 21-16.

But in 2009-10, the hits kept coming for the Chaps. And that’s why the legacy of Bader and his classmates will always linger in the memories of the Chap fans – and the Westlake trophy case.