By Rob Potter
FALLSBURG — Coaches, administrators, board of education members, parents and family members gathered in the Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School Auditorium on Monday night for the school district’s 49th annual spring sports awards ceremony.
“Tonight is a night for recognition and reflection,” Athletic Director Janet Carey said. “We reflect on the great experiences we’ve had this school year.”
Several seniors received special awards and dozens of athletes were lauded for their excellent work in the classroom as well as on the playing field.
Seniors Reggie Bici and Brittany Baldwin-Hunter were recognized for being the school’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Scholar Athletes for 2008.
The Rolle Allen Sportsmanship Award was presented to four seniors: Brittany Baldwin-Hunter, Reggie Bici, Demi Cruz and William Miller.
Dayna Halprin was named the Female Career Athlete and Darius Buckner was named the Male Career Athlete.
Darius Buckner also was honored as the Male Athlete of the Year.
Carey noted that she recently learned that the boys’ varsity tennis team was named a New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Scholar Athlete Team for the spring season. The Comets’ tennis team, coached by Carey, had a cumulative average of 93.545.
Five other Fallsburg varsity sports teams earned recognition as NYSPHSAA Scholar Athlete Teams during the 2007-2008 academic year. They were the girls’ soccer, girls’ tennis, girls’ volleyball, girls’ alpine skiing and boys’ alpine skiing teams.
Members of all the district’s spring sports teams were introduced by their coaches and invited to come up on stage to receive the applause of the audience. The coaches spoke about how their athletes worked hard to improve this spring and therefore had some great accomplishments.
The coaches also presented special awards such as Most Improved Player, Most Valuable Player and Coaches Award.
The spring sports teams included:
Modified Baseball (Coach Garber): James Bertholf, Joshua Carter, Braiden Degraw, Dustin Foertsch, Austin Halchak, Daniel Justiniano, Jarrett Madison, Skylar Madura, Corey McKeon, Sebastian Sanchez, Corey Washington, Rakkir Watson, Dykwan Wells
Sportsmanship Award: Corey McKeon
Modified Softball (Coach Lewis): Shorouk Abohussein, Christina Beatty, Kourtney-Lynn Cannon, Marie Countryman, Jazmine Decker, Nicolle Freeman, Marlena Freer, Celia Garcia, Kristene Haas, Alexis McCarthy (scorekeeper), Isabel Mejia, Kierra Miller Ector, Ann Moore, Victoria Piselli, Samantha Rivera, Shavonne Scott, Devyn Sullivan, Jeweliana Trujillo, Sabrina Williams
Sportsmanship Award: Sabrina Williams
Modified Track and Field (Coach Carter-Harris): Bigal Anthony, Devon Clark, Samantha Fontano, Kai Jackson, Elizabeth Lemitelamy, Kelsey Moody, Justine Oswinski, Tiffany Perry, Zaira Pabon, Dakota Raponi, Michael Robinson, Megan Rupert, Samantha Turnquest, Tania Walker, Brandon Wiest
Sportsmanship Award:, Samantha Fontano, Kai Jackson
Junior Varsity Softball (Coach Gallo/Coach Millas): Stefanie Benjamin, Brynn Bertholf, Joanna Blanchard, Tonye Freeman, Megan Gerow, Melissa Jaycox, Arya Mazanek, Susan Moody, Kathleen Orlan, Jamie Parker, Sierra Spechler, Ting Zhao, Rebecca Courtney
Sportsmanship Award: Joanna Blanchard; Most Improved: Ting Zhao
Junior Varsity Baseball (Coach Weiner): Stephen Bedik, Matthew Frunzi, Zachary Ingber, Zachary Jonas, Andrew Juarez, Evan Luczyski, Jonathan Quinlan, Michael Matarazzo, Michael Scuderi, Daniel Seletsky, Ryan Taylor, Steven Teri, Brody Wiles, Jillian Alexander (scorekeeper)
Sportsmanship Award: Steven Teri; Most Improved: Michael Matarazzo
Boys’ Varsity Golf (Coach Barnes): Gregory Bedik, Ariel Borko, Noah Borko, Christopher Elliott, Richard Elliott, Kyle Geraine, Charles Marsden, Aaron Schmitt
Sportsmanship Award: Noah Borko; Most Improved: Aaron Schmitt; Most Valuable: Richard Elliott
Girls’ Varsity Golf (Coach Alger): Brittany Baldwin-Hunter, Sophie Marsden, Amanda McAuliffe, Melissa Melko, Brooke Rappaport
Most Improved: Melissa Melko; Most Valuable: Brooke Rappaport
Boys’ Varsity Tennis (Coach Carey): Reggie Bici, Jerry Dieudonne, Andrew Kolansky, Jesse Miller, Bryan Ruiz-Diaz, Sebastian Sarmiento, Jonathan Schlosser, Christopher Sheridan, Uddhava Stowell, Jeffrey Wakefield
Sportsmanship: Jeffrey Wakefield; Most Improved: Uddhava Stowell; Most Valuable: Reggie Bici
Varsity Baseball (Coach Kenney): Nicholas Carter, Christopher Egenes, Randy Gilmore, Samuel Ingber, Andrew Jones, Michael Melko, Andrew Muthig, Matthew Seletsky, Gregory Simpson, Colin Conway Whittaker, Nabile Javed, Anthony Perrello, Darius Buckner
Sportsmanship: Michael Melko; Most Improved: Gregory Simpson
Varsity Track and Field (Coach James/Assistant Coach Knel): Boys – GodDyhu Anthony, Wesley Castillo, Jerry Dieudonne, Ethan Herrera, Andrew Moore, Kannon Palmer, Jacob Rundle, Oscar Vitali, Jeffrey Wakefield; Girls – Theresa Allen, Generosa Canales, Courtney Dromazos, Collina Igiebor, Bianca Kalmar, Violeta Loarca
Sportsmanship: Ethan Herrera and Generosa Canales; Most Improved: Wesley Castillo and Courtney Dromazos; Most Valuable: GodDyhu Anthony and Theresa Allen
Also recognized were the district’s Spring Scholar Athletes:
Grade 7 – Zaira Pabon, Rakkir Watson, Jarrett Madison, Jeweliana Trujillo, Bigal Anthony, Ryan McKeon, Samantha Turnquest, Christina Beatty, Kelsey Moody, Kierra Miller Ector
Grade 8 – Celia Garcia, Kristene Haas, Corey McKeon, Dustin Foertsch, Isabel Mejia, Charles Marsden, Braiden DeGraw, Samantha Fontano
Grade 9 – Violeta Loarca, Tamara Williams, GodDyhu Anthony, Andrew Moore, Ryan Taylor
Grade 10 – Steven Teri, Jillian Alexander, Christopher Sheridan, Bryan Ruiz-Diaz, Daniel Seletsky, Evan Luczyski, Gregory Simpson, Zachary Jonas
Grade 11 – Generosa Canales, Stefanie Benjamin, Joanna Blanchard, Jeffrey Wakefield, Ethan Herrera, Samuel Ingber
Grade 12 – Andrew Jones, Andrew Muthig
Superintendent’s Honor Roll Spring Scholar Athletes:
Grade 7 – Austin Halchak, Ann Moore, Brooke Rappaport, Kourtney-Lynn Cannon
Grade 8 – Aaron Schmitt, Alexis McCarthy, Gregory Bedik, Shorouk Abohussien, Nicolle Freeman
Grade 9 – Brody Wiles, Arya Mazanek, Jonathan Schlosser, Ting Zhao, Michael Matarazzo, Kathleen Orlan, Oscar Vitali, Susan Moody
Grade 10 – Uddhava Stowell, Stephen Bedik, Brynn Bertholf, Sierra Spechler, Jamie Parker
Grade 11 – Jerry Dieudonne, Sophie Marsden, Wesley Castillo, Sebastian Sarmiento, Christopher Elliott
Grade 12– Brittany Baldwin-Hunter, Reggie Bici.