Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Winter Sports Recap

By Lam Ngyuen '14 and AnneMarie Brook '15
with special thanks to the SHS Yearbook staff

Girls Basketball

            The Lady Knights are having a very successful season this year, ending the regular season with a winning record of 20-5. Under the guidance of head coach Kate McDonald, senior captains Jenna Scully, Leilani Naone-Carter, Maiya Rawlinson, Latasha Sparrow, and Danielle Mundell proudly lead this team. All the players have pushed themselves, showed heart, and hustled regardless of the circumstances and have made this year definitely one to remember. Congratulations to the Lady Knights on a great season!


Swimming

            The swim team capped off another great seasons by achieving many personal and team accomplishments. Through their hard work and dedication, the swimmers fulfilled their high expectations and set the bar even higher for next year. There were also several exceptional swimmers who qualified for the South Jersey Coaches Invitational at GCIT. Matt Dieterle, Erin Green, Ben Muska, Dan DeRemigi, Alex Sims, and Brigid Tolomeo all stepped up and took the roles of captains. The team had a strong core of seniors including Ben Muska, Matt Dieterle, Alex Sims, and Emily Krowicki. However, even with losing several key components, the team carries outstanding young talent so the future is looking very bright. Congratulations on  an outstanding season and good luck next year!

 
Winter Track

The Sterling Boys and Girls Winter Track & Field teams enjoyed a very successful season.  The team competed against the best talent in New Jersey every week at the Bennett Indoor Track in Toms River New Jersey.  Through hard work and commitment, each individual continued to improve through the treacherous winter months.  From the 55 meters, to the 2 mile, to the shot put, the team consistently performed at a high level each week.

The team was led on the Boys side by Sean Macpherson, Matt Dockery, John Macaluso and Mawusi Mears.  Other contributors included Zach Patten, Logan Pierson, Jon Glimp and Chris Brennan.

The Girls Side was led by seniors Emily Daiutulo, Amy Lombard, Arianna Melton, and Imani Bass.  Juniors Julie Stratton, Candace Daywalt, Justine Thomas and Rachel Adamski also enjoyed much success.  The Girls continued to set the bar for hard work and dedication and proved that they are a team on the rise.

Congratulations to both the boys and girls on a great season!!

 

Cheerleading

The Sterling High School Cheerleaders proudly encouraged school spirit and enthusiasm in support of Sterling High School and its athletic teams.  We have cheered at all football games as well as all home girls’ and boys’ basketball games.  The team has shown impressive improvement throughout the two seasons as they continue to strive for excellence.  Congratulations to all seniors, especially our own Valencia Bey, Genessis Garcia, and Crystal Wagner.


Wrestling
The Sterling Wrestling program is continuing to turn some heads. Head coach Will O’Donnell is in his 2nd year at Sterling High School.  He has continued to push his wrestlers each year and it has paid off.  The wrestling team finished the season with a record of 8 and 11. This year's team is very young, and is graduating 1 wrestler in Louis Berrios.  There are many Juniors and Sophomores in the varsity line up.  The team is led by Junior Captains Cordell Conley (120), Ryan Grover (132), Jurgen Bocaj (182), and Brian Mahadeo (195).  They are relying on our strong Junior leaders to help rebuild the program and have a successful and fun season.

There is also a strong sophomore class helping the sterling wrestling community such as Logan Casey (138), Lorenzo Bey (132), Tyrek Cosby (160) and Chris Wintemburg (160).

There is a lot of good young talent who will be looking to make a name for themselves in the District and Regional Tournament. This year’s team has exceeded expectations and had many big wins especially over teams like Cherry Hill East, Gloucester City, and Palmyra.  With such a young team, we look for big things in the future.

Boys Basketball
The 2013-4 Boys’ Basketball season did not go as the players or coaches had hoped.  After winning 20 Games and reaching the Group II Finals last year, the Knights found themselves with many new faces and challenges with another difficult schedule. 

Coming into the season, Coach Atene knew he had offensive fire power with sharp shooting Sr. Jarod Mullica, crafty Jr. Ryan Smith, and speedy Jr. Jelani James.  He also knew he had two very talented sophomores in Devon Tuten and Kevin Gilligan along with student-athlete standout Sr. Tommy Sheehan joining the mix. 
The boys started the season at home versus a much improved Collingswood team and some late, 4th quarter mishaps proved costly and the team started out on the wrong foot.  This game proved to be the start of a rough stretch as the Knights would drop their first seven games.  They faced some fierce competition from the likes of Haddonfield, Malvern Prep (PA), and Paulsboro, but were unable to earn a win.  Despite their record, our Knights were playing hard and lost four of those games by a total of 11 points, two of which were in OT.  The tough opening third of the season found Sr. Jarod Mullica shooting as advertised, but the talk of the town was the emergence of super So. Devon Tuten.  Both were scorching the nets with averages of over 16 points per game. 

Not long into the new year, Sterling was handed a new beginning.  They won five of their next seven, including wins over Colonial Conference opponents such as Haddon Heights, Overbrook, Collingswood, and Lindenwold.  However, our Knights couldn’t sustain the success.  Despite playing well, including a halftime lead at Haddonfield, the team dropped five of its next seven games.  During that stretch, Jr. Ryan Smith began to find his touch and craftiness that the coaches knew he had, and super So. Kevin Gilligan displayed a toughness and offensive attack that surprised opponents, his teammates, and coaching staff. 

The harsh schedule early on did reward the Knights with playoff contention.  They qualified for the NJSIAA State Playoffs for the 6th time in seven years as the Group II 13th seed. 
 

The Silver Scroll would like to congratulate all of the winter sports athletes and coaches!
 

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