Fall Athletic Awards Announced

On December 4, Athletic Director Mark Conroy announced the fall season athletic awards at a special Wednesday assembly. In his recognition of the 10 programs, Mr. Conroy shared highlights and recognized the award winners, which were announced during banquet nights in the week before Thanksgiving.

“I wanted to thank all of those of you who wore the blue and green this fall for competing so hard and so well,” Mr. Conroy said. “Your sportsmanship was outstanding.”

Below are details for each team, including the award winners.

rockwell2DSC_0005Girls Cross Country
Led by Coaches Greg Tuleja, Michelle Lawson, and Jane Lucia, Williston girls cross country had a terrific season and finished with a record of 10-2.  As usual, the team enjoyed wonderful team spirit as 34 girls participated. According to Coach Tuleja, highlights included closely contested wins over Division 1 opponents NMH and Miss Porters, and a great late season race at Suffield in which the team defeated four out of its five opponents.  This was only the second time in history that the team achieved double figures in victories with its 10 wins.

Most Valuable Runner Award – Julie Lord ’16, Rachel Rockwell ’16

Most Improved Runner Award – Natalie Aquadro ’17

Sportsmanship Award – Ashley Fitch ’15, Maddy Scott ’16

Boys Cross Country
Under the direction of coaches Christa Talbot, Allison Evans, and Peter Gunn, the 2013 boys cross country team enjoyed another very good season and finished with a record of 8-6.  Highlights of their season included a narrow 23-26 victory over Worcester, and two thrilling victories over Suffield: 29-30 and 27-29.  (The low score wins in XC!)  The team secured a winning record when it swept the six school meet held at Suffield on the last Saturday of the regular season.  Coach Talbot notes that all of the boys demonstrated great improvement during the season and benefited from excellent senior leadership.  Individually, two boys finished their career by making the honor roll; this recognizes the fastest finishes ever on our home course. Christian Knapp earned 11th place while Matt Cavanaugh earned 14th.

“Alan Shaler” Most Valuable Runner Award – Christian Knapp ’14

knappDSC_0170Most Improved Runner Award – Nick Hill ’17, Tyler Greenwood ’17

Sportsmanship Award – Nick Pattison ’14

Varsity Field Hockey
The Varsity Field Hockey team, led by Coaches Logan Brown and Kathy Noble, had an excellent season, finishing with a record of 11-5-1.  The team won all of its Class B games during the regular season including exciting victories over Suffield, Berkshire and NMH.  This dominant season within our class earned Williston the Western New England Class B title for the fourth year in a row!

Additionally, the team played a strong group of Class A teams very tough including tough overtime losses to Hotchkiss and Loomis.  The team’s outstanding season earned them a No. 3 seed and an opportunity to host No. 6 seed BB&N.   As it had done a number of times during the season, the team rallied from behind—in this case a two goal deficit—to win 5-2 and advance to the semi-finals, where the team lost to eventual champion St. Mark’s 3-1 in a hard-fought game.

Three girls earned postseason recognition.  Seniors Maggie Fitzgerald and Catie Laraway were both to the Western NE All Star team while Catie and Morgan Fisher were both named to the NEPSAC Class B All-Tournament team.  For Catie, this capped an outstanding career in which she broke the school records for goals scored in a season and in a career.  Catie finished with an amazing 85 goals in her career.  The previous record was 60!  Congratulations again Catie!

Most Valuable Player Award – Catie Laraway ’14

Most Improved Player Award – Meg Szawlowski ’16

Sportsmanship Award – Kaylee Largay ’14, Julia Valine ’15

larawayDSC_0201JV Field Hockey
The JV team, under Coaches Klumpp and Anderson’s guidance, played competitive field hockey all season highlighted by four shutout victories over Miss Porter’s, Kingswood, Ethel Walker, and Renbrook.

Most Valuable Player Award – Lindsay Whipple ’17

Most Improved Player Award – Fiona Li ’15

Sportsmanship Award – Caroline Channell ’18

Varsity Football
Competing in the 10 school Colonial League, Varsity Football had an excellent season finishing with a 6-2 record narrowly missing out on a postseason bowl berth.   Williston remains the only school in the league that has yet to have a losing record during the nine years the league has existed.  This year’s Wildcat squad, led by its 18 seniors, was the highest scoring team in school history averaging over 45 points per game.  The highlights of their season included going undefeated at home at Berube Stadium, defeating Gunnery 49-22 to retain the Miller Cup, beating local rival Wilbraham & Monson during Family Weekend and finishing the season with a hard fought 46-20 victory at Tabor Academy.

A number of boys earned postseason recognition for their outstanding play during the season.  Seniors Ledell Robinson and Anthony Cruz were both named to the All New England team by the NEPSAC coaches.  Ledell and Anthony were joined by Sam Blake and Marquis Francois on the All Colonial League First Team.  Earning Second Team All-League honors were seniors Scott Hendrick and Alex Massengill, junior Stephen Goldsmith and sophomore James Griffin.  For Ledell, this was his second time being named to the All New England team.  His accomplishments this fall are worthy of special mention – Ledell ran and threw for over 2,000 yards and 31 touchdowns combined.  He tied the school record set by Arwin Gbolie back in 2001 by scoring 20 touchdowns in 8 games.

“Jim Purce Memorial” Most Valuable Player Award – Ledell Robinson ’14

robinsonDSC_0045“Edward Stimets Jr. Memorial” Defensive Excellence Award – Marquis Francois ’14, Stephen Goldsmith ’15

“Lindy Hanson Memorial” Offensive Excellence Award – Anthony Cruz ’14

“Richard R. Francis” Most Improved Player Award – Gabriel Breton ’14

Sportsmanship Award – Eton Chen ’14, Alex Massengill ’14

Mills Kicking Game Award – Zach Pyser ’14

JV Football
Williston’s football program enjoyed an excellent fall.  The highlights of Coach Thompson and Doubleday’s JV Football team’s winning season included a convincing victory over Pomfret and a season ending shutout of Loomis Chaffee.

Most Valuable Player Award – Ian Ostberg ’17, Caleb Holmberg ’16

Most Improved Player Award – Quinn Johnson ’16, Cody Cavanaugh ’17

Sportsmanship Award – Matt Channell ’17

parkerDSC_0210Girls Varsity Soccer
The Girls Varsity Team, under Coaches Erin Davey and Monique Conroy, had another very exciting season competing with most of the top teams in New England.  Behind sophomore goalie Olivia Berk-Krauss, the team proved very difficult to score on giving up only 10 goals total during their 15 regular season games.  This included shutout victories over KO, Cushing, Kent and Suffield. Besides some great performances in tough 1-0 losses to the top two teams in NE Choate and Loomis, the two biggest highlights during the season included a 2-1 victory over Taft scoring with a minute left in the game and a thrilling 1-0 victory under the lights over rival Wilbraham and Monson.   The team’s strong regular season earned them another bid to the NEPSAC Class B tournament where they lost to a tough Groton team.

Senior captain Gia Parker capped off her great career by being chosen again to compete in the Western New England all-star game held in early November.  Gia was also named to the NEPSAC all star team.

Most Valuable Player Award – Gia Parker ’14

Most Improved Player Award – Gabby Jones ’18

Sportsmanship Award – Ana Fokas ’14

Alumnae Award – Maddy Hatch ’14

Girls JV Soccer
Coach Johnson and Baldwin’s JV team also had a very good season.  The highlights of its season included four shutout victories over Kingswood, Wilbraham & Monson, Pomfret and Suffield. 

Most Valuable Player Award – Kira Wilson ’16

Most Improved Player Award – Martha Dolan ’14, Myro Marioghae ’15

Sportsmanship Award – Caroline Borden ’16

Girls Junior Soccer
The girls soccer program enjoyed another very successful fall season.  The Junior team, led by Coaches Kay and Seamon, lost only one game this fall going undefeated in its last four games giving up five goals total.

Most Valuable Player Award – Abbie Coscia ’19

Most Improved Player Award – Claire Harrison ’19

Sportsmanship Award – Catherine King ’19

jamesDSC_0255Boys Varsity Soccer
The varsity boys soccer team enjoyed another very competitive season against a very tough schedule.  The team finished with a 6-7-3 record to rank in 18th place out of the 51 schools that play soccer in Western New England.  The team finished its season strong with only one loss in its last five games.  There were several highlights during their season including shutout victories over Westminster, Millbrook, Canterbury and Suffield.  Probably their best overall performance was in a narrow 2-0 loss to eventual NEPSAC Class A champion Berkshire.

Two boys earned postseason recognition.  Sophomore Aaron James and Senior Caleb DeMello were named Western New England All Stars while Caleb and senior goalie Bailey Gawron were named NEPSAC All Stars.

“Alfred J. Ekblom Jr.” Most Valuable Player Award – Aaron James ’16

Most Improved Player Award – Matt Cullen ’15

Sportsmanship Award – Anthony Aquadro ’15

12th Player Award – Marcus Gould ’15

Boys JV A Soccer
Coach Whipple and Harper’s JV A team played tough competitive soccer all season highlighted by victories over Pomfret, Millbrook and Cushing.

Most Valuable Player Award – Joey Teresi ’16

Most Improved Player Award – Verdi Degbey ’16

Sportsmanship Award – Terry O’Brien ’15

Boys JV B Soccer
The best record this fall belonged to the JV B Boys Soccer team led by Coaches Bagley and Niedzwecki.  The team managed to finish its season undefeated at 8-0-2.

Most Valuable Player Award – Erik Ostberg ’14

Most Improved Player Award – Pun Shusang ’15

Sportsmanship Award – Waleed Eltigani ’15

Boys Junior Soccer
Coach Garcia and Luikart’s Junior team also enjoyed a strong season with its sweep of Wilbraham and Monson as noteworthy. 

Most Valuable Player Award – Sebi Herrera ’17, Itai Zilberstein ’19

Most Improved Player Award – Bryan Soder ’18

Sportsmanship Award – DJ Poulin ’19

calderoneDSC_0280Girls Varsity Volleyball
This fall, due to a very large turnout, the girls volleyball program fielded three teams. The varsity team led by coaches Chambers and Rutherford welcomed a number of novice athletic players to the team.  As was expected the team improved steadily throughout the season and demonstrated great team spirit.  Coach Chambers singled out newcomers Dina Dahdul, Natalia Baum, Sarah Marion and Mary McCarthy for their huge strides of improvement.  Senior Shaina D’Souza was also recognized as one of the best servers in our league with over 25 aces.  The team is excited to build on their experience next fall with 10 returning players.

Most Valuable Player Award – Elizabeth Calderone ’14

Most Improved Player Award – Natalia Baum ’15, Mary McCarthy ’15

Sportsmanship Award – Alysha Wong ’14

Girls JV Volleyball
The JVs were led by Annie Schneider.  Both lower level teams included a number of new players who improved throughout the season.  The highlight of the JV season was a 2-0 sweep of Stoneleigh Burnham.

Most Valuable Player Award – Neysa Tapanes ’16

Most Improved Player Award – Vivien Shao ’16

Sportsmanship Award – Gillian Peters ’14

Girls Third Volleyball
The thirds team was coached by Ken Choo and enjoyed a successful season.

Most Valuable Player Award – Kai McCalla ’17

Most Improved Player Award – Jaiying Tang ’17

Sportsmanship Award – Emily Grussing ’15, Janyce Carey ’15

fryeDSC_0316Boys Varsity Water Polo
This fall’s water polo program was led by Head Coach Bill Berghoff and assistants Kate Biddiscombe and Adeleen Brown.

While small in number the team played competitive water polo all fall and enjoyed some terrific wins including defeating both Hotchkiss and Canterbury decisively and enjoying an exciting 14-11 Family Weekend victory over Hopkins.  According to Coach Berghoff, the biggest highlight of the season was a thrilling 10-8 victory at Choate against last year’s NE finalist.   For his outstanding play during the season, sophomore Calvin Frye was selected to the All New England team.

Most Valuable Player Award – Calvin Frye ’16

Most Improved Player Award – Jesse Ware ’14

Sportsmanship Award – Ben Moffett ’15

Equestrian Team
Williston has a number of students who participate in horseback riding each season at Fuller Horse Farm in Westhampton under the direction of Carolyn Fuller.  A number of these students compete as an equestrian team each year, representing Williston in various riding competitions.  This fall, our team of Alyssa Cote, Olivia Foderaro, Rachel Lloyd, and Lacey Gillis competed very successfully at a number of different shows.  The highlights of their season included finishing in 3rd place out of 9 at Mt. Holyoke College, winning the Reserve Championship at both Heritage Farm and Stoneleigh Burnham and winning the outright championship at Biscuit Hill.  Due to this outstanding fall season, the team has qualified for the Regionals which will take place later in the year.  Individually, Alyssa, Olivia, and Rachel have all qualified for Regionals as well.

Most Valuable Rider Award – Rachel Lloyd ’14

Most Improved Rider Award – Olivia Foderaro ’14

Sportsmanship Award – Alyssa Cote ’14

Crew

This fall, led by David Sanders, 18 of our students participated in Northampton Youth and Community Rowing. The students went to the Connecticut River every afternoon.  Hamp Crew finished off its 2013 fall season on October 27 with the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs, NY.  The novice girls four posted a 6th place finish at the event; freshman Caroline Musicant coxed and fellow freshman Ellie Pitcher rowing in seat three.  That same four also finished first at the New England Junior and High School Regional Championship Regatta. Sophomore Sofia Triana coxed the varsity girls eight to a third-place finish.

The team was also excited to compete in the world’s largest and most recognized two-day rowing event, the Head of the Charles in Boston, MA.  The varsity boys eight in that regatta included juniors Josh Simpson and Chase Tanguay, and senior coxswain Anton Wozniak.  Congratulations to all of the rowers on a great fall season!

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.