Pantheon Of Proud Panthers 2010-11
Monticello Celebrates Its Senior Athletes And Coaches Award Recipients At Annual Senior Athletic Sports Night Presentation
By RICHARD A. ROSS
Monticello Senior Awards Night Recpients: Patrick Ripa receives the Mayor's Trophy from Monticello Mayor Gordon Jenkins. Ripa was a four-year member of the baseball team and one of its two captains. He qualifed for states in alpline skiing and played keeper in soccer. Below from left to right are the recipients of the Masters of Sport and Doctors of Sport plaques. At the bottom are the winners of the Coaches Awards and the Bachelors of Sport winners. Names of all are listed at the bottom of the blog.
MONTICELLO, NY—As the largest school district in Sullivan County and one with a storied history in the realm of athletics, Monticello holds a unique place. Attracted by an unending series of compelling stories surrounding its athletic exploits, sportsinsightsny.com spent much time this year documenting the Monties’ iconic moments in words and images which can be found aplenty on this website.
On June 3 the annual Senior Athletic Sports Night Presentation, teams and individuals received accolades for their fine efforts during the 2010-11 school year. Athletic Director Doug Murphy welcomed the audience. This writer followed with a brief talk that touched on the lifelong value of engaging in sports and the harbingers for success outlined by the late John Wooden in his famous Pyramid paradigm.
A musical slide show followed orchestrated by sportsinsightsny.com that chronicled the highlights of all of the teams during the fall, winter and spring seasons.
What followed next were the presentation of the Coaches awards by Mr. Murphy for the recipients from each of the teams. Academic excellence was up next as scholars who made the Superintendent’s List and the Principal’s list were called forth.
The senior plaque honorees including the Bachelors, Masters and Doctors of sport were up next followed by the senior award winners from each of the teams. All of the award winners are listed on the pages at the bottom of this blog.
The final award of the night was the Mayor’s Trophy presented by Monticello Mayor Gordon Jenkins. This year’s recipient was Patrick Ripa, a veteran of boys soccer, a state qualifier in alpine skiing, and Co-Captain of the baseball team on which he served for the past four years.
Here are some of the highlights mentioned by the coaches pertaining to this year: Boys soccer: Coach Marranzana thanks to parents and supporters of the team. He quoted Emerson, “There’s no end to the sufficiency of character.” Girls soccer: Coach Bill Stento recalled the team’s first home night game in 18 years and the little sister program started to link the varsity and modified teams in a more cohesive program builder. Girls basketball: Coach Karen Atack expressed her thanks to assistant Dan Orlan and praised the efforts of her team. Volleyball- She went on to extol her seniors one by one. “You’ll always be a winner in my eyes,” she concluded. Alpine and Nordic skiing: Coaches Steve Duarte and Jim Davis lauded Patrick Ripa’s quantum leap that took him to states in alpine skiing as a runner up. Football- Coach Matt Buddenhagen cited the three years of hard work that the seniors onstage put forth giving special props to Brandon Corley who was the number one recruit of Ithaca College. Buddenhagen’s alma mater. Corley is the fist member of his family to attend college. Chandler Willliamswill be heading to Cortland. Bobby Wagner received props too. Wagner is bound for Westfield State to play baseball. Buddenhagen referred to Jesse Kapito as a “coach of the future.” Other seniors commended included Gio Laguna and Brandon Reese. Fall cheerleading- the team was lauded for its sportsmanship, perseverance and determination. Boys basketball- Coach Chris Russo extolled his team which went 12-8, 4-2 OCIAA and made it to the Class A semifinals following a dramatic win over Wallkill in the quarterfinals. The Monties won the third annual Coaches vs. Cancer Classic over Liberty. The event raised over $3100 dollars for the Catskill Regional Oncology Unit.
This was the second consecutive year in sectionals with its first sectional win in five years.The team also won the Wallenpaupack tourney for the second consecutive year. Russo sang the praises of his senior players including Kenny Sanders Jr, Juan Pena, Austin Billig, Jesse Kapito and Billy Cargill. The team shot 33 percent for three point range and qualified for the state completion. Cargill scored 20 versus Sullivan West and was the starting point guard in the semifinal loss to Cornwall. Sanders scored 20 points or more in seven games and averaged 14.1 with eight rebounds per game. He poured in 23 vs Wallkill and 28 at Cornwall. Pena became a defensive specialist who keyed on the opposing team’s best player. He had 27 steals. Kapito recorded a double-double and a triple double this season. He set a school record with a career total of 101 three pointers shot at 35percent accuracy.
Wrestling coach Justin Fenichal lauded the efforts of Danny Sze and Andrew Shore. Girls tennis coach Gupta was at states but her team was again cited for its NYSPHSAA scholar athlete recognition. Gupta sent her thanks to the Village of Monticello for the use of its courts at DeHoyos Park.
Boys golf coach Dick O’Neill was at states but sent praise for senior Brandon Rieber, a four year golfter bound for Orange County Community College. Softball coach Shannon Dietrich was proud of her NYSPHSAA Scholar Athlete team and its role in the Strike Out Cancer Fundraiser that raised over 1700 dollars. The Monties were the co-champions of this year’s Benny Chesnick Memorial tournament. Dietrich lauded the efforts of senior captain Caitlin Bonnaci heading for SUNY Cortland, Taylor Welch bound for SUNY Orange, Aisha Brody heading to SUNY Cobleskill, Samantha McCreevy heading to Elmira and Shannon Reese who had the highest on base percentage who is heading to Old Westbury as a walk-on.
Baseball coach Mike Marra, now in histhird year noted that the program generated 24 wins during that time as opposed to three wins in the three years prior to his watch. Marra praised players Kimi San Miguel who supported his team mostly from the bench. San Miguel batted 1.000 (one-for-one!). He is headed to LeMoyne. Shane Espinosz was a solid middle relief pitcher. He is going to Keystone College. Chandler Williams is heading to SUNY Cortland, while Co-Captain Bobby Wagner was Monticello’s first-ever baseball player to make the Empire State Games. Wagner was listed as one of the top 50 prospects to watch in New York State. Patrick Ripa is heading to Clarkson University. Ripa and Wagner carried the team with their fine pitching.
Boys track coach Joe Seidl lauded the increased participation and the team’s second consecutive Division III title. Last year the team was 7-0 winning the first title in 24 years. This year that win streak went to 14-0 with compelling victories over Cornwall and Goshen. Seidl praised Danny Sze, Rachain Wilson for his high jump , 100 and 400 relay efforts. He led off Monticello’s 400 relay at the state qualifier meet. Kevin O’Rourke was the team’s pole vaulting specialist. He won the event in all but one of the division meets. Steve Wilbur was vital in the shot and discus. His win versus Cornwall was critical. H e was abronze medalist at Walton and at the Sullivan Meet of Champions. Brandon Corley’s work in the throwing events gave the team a huge boost. He was fourth in the OCIAA and first in the shot put at the Monticello Games and against Goshen. Matt Rodriguez was a co-captain with Dom Martinez. He specialized in the 200, 400 and 4×400. He was the Sullivan County champ in the 400 and won the 400 and 4×400 relays at the Montie Games. Rodriguez was the top senior point scorer. Cross-country, indoor track and girls track coach Pete Wysochanski lauded his runners, in particular Anna Loor, a four-year competitor and all-year round runner. In the indoor season the big names were Wilson, Rodgriguez, O’Rourke and Wilbur.
Cheerleading coach Kelly Keesler waxed poetic about her team which is about to graduate en-masse. This year marked the team’s great success at cheerleading competitions including a second year in a row in Section Nine large schools division. The Monties hosted their first-ever home competition which was a great success. “One, two, three heart,” cheered the girls onstage. Keesler sang the praises of Amanda Palko, Alissa Hermida, Amanda Jahn, Brittany DeGraw, Brittany Rosario, Brittany Santos, Charlene Dean, Gina Cubilas, Samantha Stawarz, Taylor Welch-O’Connor and Tiffany Mangual-Rodriguez.
Mayor Gordon Jenkins presented this year’s Mayor’s Trophy to Patrick Ripa.
Below is a list of this year’s award recipients.
For an album of photos from the event CLICK HERE:
http://sportsinsights.smugmug.com/Sports/Monticello-Senior-Athletic
