by Mary Ellen Zangara, Correspondent
The annual Manville High School Winter Sports Awards banquet was held March 5 at St. Mary’s Parish Hall. The MHS Athletic Booster Club sponsored the dinner to recognize the achievements of the winter athletes.
Players, coaches, parents, teachers and administrators gathered to celebrate the end of the wrestling, basketball and cheerleading seasons. After the welcome by Steve Venuto, the team award winners were announced by Tim Moore.
Mr. Venuto thanked everyone who supported the athletes and said “To our coaches and players, thanks for a great season both on the mat and on the hardwood and our cheerleaders. Continued success.”
The program began with the girls’ basketball team.
”The season we had this year was one troublesome. We had a very young team for jayvee. Ninety percent of them were actually freshmen,” jayvee girls’ basketball coach Carrie Smith said. “This year I have to say I have seen girls grow in three months like I have never seen. It was on honor this coach you girls and I want to say thank you.”
Participation awards were presented to Joanna Aguilar, Jaime Alpaugh, Megan Giannotto, Rebecca Giannotto, Haydee Hernandez, Anna Isachenko, Van Anh Le, Megan Loriot, Paige Miller, Marsolette Ramirez, Chandler Riggs, Amanda Stangle, Alissa Teodorczy and Jennifer Wanjohi.
Lady Mustangs’ head coach Larisa Donis-Jeppson thanked both Carrie Smith and Rick McCarrick for taking charge of the team while she was out for the beginning of the season.
”I was really rooting for about another month with the girls. I really miss them a lot. We did play over the summer and I really do hope they will play over the summer again. I encourage everyone to get on the hard court and pick up a basketball over the summer and keep your spirits up,” Jeppson said.
Players who earned their varsity letter included Cara Alpaugh, Tara Covert and Lindsay Zaccardi. Christine Pohl, who already lettered in another sport, received a first-year pin. Second-year pins were presented to Rebecca Burke, Erin Lipot, Dana Mortensen and Kaitlyn Pornovets. Amy Evanylo and Kimberly Jones earned three-year pins, while Amanda Furka was the only senior to receive a four-year pin and a watch.
Special awards were presented to Evanylo as the Most Valuable player, Cara Alpaugh for the Most Improved Player, Jones for the Coaches Award and Burke as the Scholar Athlete.
Catherine Gorbatuk, the cheerleading coach, spoke about her squad. She also thanked everyone for their support.
”It was a privilege and an honor to coach this squad this season,” Gorbatuk said. “These girls showed an amazing strength of character during the entire season. Several compliments were made to me about the spirit that these young athletes had every wrestling match and both boys’ and girls’ basketball games. It was mentioned to me that these four girls were loud enough to sound like a squad of 12.”
The small squad of only four girls consisted of Jessica Lubas, Veronica Matisak, Brittany O’Rouke and Emily Sellar. They all earned their varsity letters. The MVP was presented to Matisak and Sellar received the Scholar Athlete.
Next up was the boys’ basketball program.
Jayvee coach Michael Forte opened by saying, “All of the boys on the team did a great job. They worked hard and improved tremendously throughout the season, not only their skills but the knowledge of the game. I hope everyone stays committed in the off season and I look forward to coaching them again next year.”
Jayvee players Lawrence Abner, Richard Cubero, Aaron Dixson, Michael Ferri, Randy Gomez, Michael Retamar, Michael Salvatore, Jordan Villagra and Konrad Zielinski all received a participation certificate.
Marty Geiger, the MHS boys’ head coach, had nice things to say about his team.
”This year we started out with a win, the first Skyland conference win, over Belvidere on the road. We ended up winning six games, which was an improvement, but we could have done better. We brought our level of play up, the kids worked hard and we practiced hard. With six of the top nine kids coming back next year, we will have a good team again. I think all the kids improved on jayvee and varsity.”
Matias Gualtieri received a varsity letter and first-year pins were presented to Karol Blicharz and Ryszard Kloskowski. Douglas Bradley, Eric Hall, Michael Hopkins and Matthew Zangara all received second-year pins and Daniel Pierrot was presented a third-year pin.
Special awards for the team included Most Valuable Player to Pierrot, Most Improved to Kloskowski, the Coach’s Award to Hall and the Scholar Athlete to Bradley.
Finally, it was the wrestlers taking center stage.
Jayvee wrestling coach George Putvinski spoke about the few wrestlers on his team.
”The dedication that the student athlete demonstrates is unparalleled. We really don’t have a jayvee wrestling team, but we have a bunch of guys that have all seen the varsity mat throughout the season. They are a hard-working group of young guys and I can’t wait to see what happens next year. There is a lot of promise coming.”
Matthew Bowden, Jacob Caswell, Dawid Dziwak and Kristofer Grimm all received a participation certificate.
The varsity wrestlers followed with coach Patrick Gorbatuk saying “This past season was my second season as head coach of the wrestling team. Last year we laid the foundation for our future successes and it certainly showed. When Thanksgiving hit we were ready to continue building. This past off-season we made it a goal to outwork every town in the state. The majority of our team attended wrestling clubs last spring and fall. In the summer they attended numerous tournaments, wrestling camps, and they lifted weights like it was their job. As a result, our hard work earned success and we certainly turned heads in the local wrestling community.”
Wrestlers who earned their varsity letters included Alex Agans, Ian DeFalco, Peter Hando, Dylan Painter, Clint Raver and Ernest Yakobchuk. A first-year pin was presented to Scott Alpizar and Devin Burke, David Castro, Nicholas Janner and Eduard Yakobchuk earned second-year pins. A three-year pin was presented David Olmsted. Senior Kevin Sellar was the only wrestler who participated for all four years and he received a four-year pin and a watch.
Burke received the MVP award, Janner was the Most Improved, the Coach’s Award went to Ernest Yakobchuk and Alpizar was the Scholar Athlete.