He laid on the court in tears. Teammates gathered around him, trying to offer him comfort as they swallowed their own anguish.

“Remember this court,” his coach had said. “Remember this feeling because we’ll be back next year. I want you to remember what this feels like because when we win, you’ll remember what it felt like to get there.”

Three years ago, Mihir Kumar, men’s tennis co-captain and senior, stepped onto the high school tennis courts as a freshman, knowing the rules of the game like a second language.

It was here that he rose to the position of number one singles player. It was here that he nurtured the dream of winning individual state and a chance to carry a team on his shoulders. It was here that Kumar learned what it meant to be part of a team, to have teammates catch him when he fell and to see his failures as their failures. And it was here that he recovered from the devastating loss that denied him the championship that would leave his mark on this school.

For Kumar, the school’s long-standing tradition of fostering excellence at times added to the pressure to win, to succeed, to excel.

“You want to be one of those people,” he said. “You want to be recognized. At this school, when you see so many others enjoying success, you think back to your sport and your team. To be so close and to not have that is incredibly difficult.”

Success is by no means a rarity at Carmel. This year alone, seven sports teams won State Championships while 50 students qualified as National Merit Semifinalists, a record high for the school. Carmel’s Dance Marathon shattered the previous year’s donations by raising $261,229.48 for the kids at Riley Hospital.

At a school where winning may feel like the norm, losing can at times seem like a distant possibility, one that isn’t even on the horizon. On countless occasions, students have muttered in passing, “Oh, of course they won. It’s Carmel.”

And in such an environment, the pressure to avoid losing and the devastation of perceived failure can result in the unexpected.

But according to principal John Williams, winning should never serve as the sole motivator at Carmel. Rather, it should prove to be the byproduct of the school’s efforts and resources.

“We are clear to our coaches,” Williams said. “We celebrate success, and we honor their commitment. But never should winning take precedence over our values. If kids only measure success by winning, then we’ve failed our job.”

All I Do Is Win

With 26 state championships under the belt of the women’s swimming team, the team’s success embodies “Carmel-level” success. Each year, they return from the State Final victorious with another trophy in their hands.

And with so much achievement in the past, senior Margaret Ramsey said she feels that losing isn’t as clear while she’s in the water.

“To be honest, it’s kind of a distant possibility,” she said. “We try to focus on getting better each time and getting our personal best instead of focusing on the win, but it just kind of comes along for the ride.”

But upholding such success may one day reach its pinnacle. At some point, the swimmers may not come home with another championship. And for Ramsey, the idea is a difficult one to digest.

“I honestly think it’ll be a shock,” she said. “I know it’ll be hard for the girls to be part of the team that didn’t win a championship. But I think Carmel will handle it with grace and poise. There’s always next year and we’ll come back with a vengeance.”

Ramsey said the pressure is there, serving as a constant reminder in the form of record boards and a school’s expectations.

“Each year, it’s harder to succeed and it’s harder to move forward,” she said. “But we do. And I think that’s what speaks volumes…And I think it extends to more than just winning.”

Back with a Vengeance

After an undefeated season in 2008, the men’s tennis team climbed the bracket with high hopes. But at the Regional, scheduled at North Central, the team’s lineup changed, as did the circumstances. In the end, it came down to Kumar’s court. And in the final set, the youthful prodigy faced a crushing defeat with the score of 6-0, leaving his team short of a state title.

“That was the year I wanted it the most because I had never played before,” Kumar said as he recollected the match. “I just remember the whole team saying, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it.’ But really, in my mind, it was my fault.”

The loss proved to sit on his shoulders long after the season as he struggled to rebound.

“It stuck with me for a while, I think,” he said. “This was during the fall of my freshman year. You know, I had really good results the summer before. But the winter after, I struggled, which I think had to do with that match. It was always in the back of my mind.”

The pressure Kumar felt, he said, originated from his drive to constantly better himself. But another factor and source of pressure was Carmel’s custom of breeding success.

He said, “That was the first time I had been in such a situation. You’d think high school tennis isn’t that serious, but really, it was a lot of pressure for me.”

But Kumar eventually recovered. And although his individual matches at the State Final fell short during his junior and senior year, the team managed to return home triumphant. In his junior year, Kumar returned to North Central, with the memories of the events that transpired two years before vivid in his mind.

“I remembered what that feeling was like,” Kumar said. “I kept that in mind. And I managed to win the match.”

Noble Goals

Carmel stands as one of the largest hosts of a Dance Marathon in the nation, outnumbering others in both participants and donations. Each year, the total swells to a new level, often bringing some of the dancers to tears. But the possibility of the cards raising next winter and showing a lower number than that of the previous year is always a thought, one that worries some members of the student government.

Allison “Allie” McCan, 2012 Dance Marathon chair and senior, said there is an unspoken agreement in student government.

“I think it’s kind of an unwritten policy (to raise more money), especially being the chair,” she said. “Everyone wants to beat the total from last year. It’s unspoken, but at the same time everyone says, ‘We need more money. We need more money.’ And that’s not what this is all about, but there is a bar that everyone tries to hit.”

Yet, according to Sarah Wolff, sponsor of Cabinet, a line distinguishes sports and Dance Marathon. While a sports team’s prerogative lies with the game score, Dance Marathon is driven by another motive. Regardless of the total and the number on the check, Wolff said her Cabinet members are focused on helping the kids.

“I continuously reiterate that it isn’t about how much you raise,” Wolff said via email. “It is about how much effort you put in and what you are doing it for. In this case, not an award or State Championship or to meet Carmel’s high expectations, but rather to help someone in need.”

Still, for McCan and her fellow Cabinet members, each year involves brewing questions like, “What if we don’t earn more than last year?”

McCan said, “There’s a doubt every year when we say, ‘You know what? We might not hit it.’ But that becomes a point to say it’s okay if we don’t. I think it’s grasping the concept that we didn’t reach our goal and that’s okay.”

In the eyes of Wolff, the thought that young children fighting for their lives can receive help from caring students is a far better one than the number on the check.

But the day comes, as it has for the past seven years. And on that day, the money is no longer the problem. Rather, it’s a reminder of a year’s worth of effort, they said.

“Leading up to (Dance Marathon), everyone in here wants to beat the total,” McCan said. “But the day of the event, I don’t feel like one person in this room cared more about the total. The kids know what this is about. It really is ‘For the Kids.’”

Their Time to Shine

Before the team’s recent triumph, 35 years had passed since the men’s basketball team was last honored for a State title on the gym floor at an all-school convocation. That could have soured this year’s team from persisting. But it didn’t.

For senior Benjamin “Ben” Gardner, the pressure resting on their shoulders merely served as motivation for the team to win.

He said, “Once everyone started winning this year, it gave us some motivation. We thought, ‘Why not? Why can’t we win?’”

His coach agrees. Scott Heady, head coach of the men’s basketball team, said of the school’s high expectations, “There’s no question that it’s motivation. I think in all aspects of Carmel, whether it’s academically or athletically, it’s the

expectation to (excel).”

2011 was a year of close games for the team. It was a year with outcomes resting on just a few possessions. But quitting was not in the team’s vocabulary. If anything, Heady said that last year’s mistakes taught his players how to grow as a team.

“This year, I think our guys learned from that. It wasn’t going to be about getting it close. It was going to be about getting the job done,” he said.

In a facility celebrating such success, Gardner said hearing of other’s titles can certainly create strain for those without one.

“Of course you’re happy for those people, but it puts a little more pressure on my team,” he said. I think sports teams sometimes only view a successful season by the State Championship they won. It’s hard to get people to come to the games. If you haven’t won in previous years, nobody will come.”

According to Williams, a fine line rests between not winning and not succeeding, and he said he hopes students can differentiate between the two.

“You know, administrators often emphasize getting an A,” he said. “We preach that. If you get an A, you’re smart. And I think that translates to sports. If you win, you’re a winner. And that’s a terrible thing to teach.”