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2016-2017 YEAR IN REVIEW


BOYS' TRACK

After 15 events, the Knights were tied with Princeton. In the end, though, it was the Knights who were rewarded on May 20th at Steinert High. WW-P North edged Princeton, 92-91, for the county team title. Trenton placed third with 68 1/3 points. Ewing (66) and Nottingham (64 1/3) rounded out the top five. The championship was WWPN's first since 2009. WW-P North opened the meet with the win in the 4x800 meters, with Vedang Lad, Pranod Gottipatti, Shaun Robinson and Ted Braun finishing in 8:18.79. Kacper Rzempoluch took the pole vault (13-0) and John Owens won the triple jump (44-7½) for the Knights.

Pictured: WWPN's Sathrik Daaram throws the discus

GIRLS' TRACK

Halfway through the Mercer County Championships on May 20th at Steinert High, it was clearly obvious that the Pirates were going to win their fourth team title in a row. And that's exactly how it played out when WW-P South finished with 94 1/3 points to second-place Allentown's 76. Lawrence (53), Robbinsville (51) and Steinert (48) rounded out the top five. The Pirates picked up first-place finishes in the 400 from Brianna Hodges, 800 from Kavy Tummalapalli (2:22.09) and the 4x800 relay (9:51.02). They also racked up points by placing three runners in the top six of both the 1600 and 3200. Serena Chang, Ria Patel, Haley Rich and Tia Saade ran the 4x800.

Pictured: WWPS's Vivian Liao competes in the girls long jump.

BASEBALL

Robbinsville scratched a run across in the eighth inning against Nortre Dame to win its second straight title, 6-5, at Armstrong Park in Ewing on Wednesday, May 17th. Alyssa Whitman's RBI groundout with the bases loaded and one out pushed across the eventual winning run. Mackenzie Medders picked up the win with 2 1/3 innings of relief. The teams spent the first four innings of the game constantly threatening but unable to scratch out a run.

Pictured: Winning pitcher MacKenzie Medders, center, signals to first baseman Olivia Moser, right, and shortstop Chelsea Manto, left, after getting the first out of the eighth inning.

BASEBALL

For the first time in the 38-year history of the tournament, Hopewell Valley, seeded fourth, and Allentown, seeded second, made an appearance in the final. It was Allentown, powered by two lefty pitchers and a solo blast, that won its first Mercer County crown, 2-0 on May 17th at DeMeo Field in Hamilton's Veterans Park. Aydon Chavis' solo home run in the third and Guisseppe Arcuri's sacrifice fly in the sixth powered the Redbirds. Tournament MVP Jordan Winston was the winning pitcher as Colton Johnson picked up the save.

Pictured: Allentown celebrates its first Mercer County Tournament title.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

For the past two years Lawrenceville had been knocking at the door of a Mercer County Tournament Girls Lacrosse Tournament championship. On May 11th, the Big Red finally stopped knocking and kicked the door down. Top-seeded Lawrenceville claimed the MCT title in impressive fashion, with a 16-7 win over third-seeded Hopewell Valley that wasn't even as close as the score would indicate. The Big Red's run and gun offense took a little while to truly heat up but by the middle of the first half it had fully kicked in.

Pictured: Lawrenceville goalkeeper Sierra Watkins makes a save during the Mercer County Girls Lacrosse championship.

BOYS' TENNIS

West Windsor-Plainsboro South won the Mercer County Tournament for the second consecutive year with Kabir Sarita, Robert Siniakowicz and Alex Yang sweeping the singles titles.

Pictured: WWPS singles player Kabir Sarita.
BOYS' LACROSSE

A little more than a year ago, the Panthers' boys lacrosse team had never won the Mercer County Tournament. Now the defending champions have two titles following a 9-5 triumph over rival Princeton High on May 11th at West Windsor North. To complete the journey of repeating, PDS coach Rich D'Andrea and his staff laid out extensive film study to fine-tune the Panthers' recent tournament wins.

Pictured: Princeton Day School players celebrate theirMercer County Boys Lacrosse championship.

BOYS' GOLF

Once again, the greatest current dynasty in Mercer County sports found a way to win. While it was not the vintage performance from the last five years, Peddie won its sixth straight crown on May 2 at the Mercer Oaks West course. The Falcons shot a 314, to beat runner-up Hopewell Valley by nine strokes. They also won the individual title, as Jay Swarup held off Austen Oldfield of Hopewell Valley and Tyler Hechtle of Allentown in a playoff.

Pictured: Peddie's Jay Swarup (3rd from left) and the Falcons take time out for a photo after Peddie won the Mercer County Boys Golf Tournament.

GIRLS' GOLF

West Windsor-Plainsboro North won its second straight team title, as the Knights defeated Lawrenceville 256-262 to win by six strokes at Mountain View on April 27. Led by two-time individual champion Jacquelyn Cai, who shot an 80 and defeated runner-up Serena Chen of Lawrenceville Prep in a one-hole playoff, the Knights took home the first place plaque. WW-P North also had Hannah Trinh medal, with a fourth place 86. While Cai now has two titles, sandwiched around a third place finish last year, it was the rest of the team that came up big on the course as well for the Knights. Trinh and Aruja Patel made up the top three scores for WW-P North, while Anjali Dhayagude shot a 92 as the fourth scoring member.

Pictured: Individual Champion Jackie Cai of West Windsor-Plainsboro North lines up a putt at the Mercer County girls golf Tournament.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

Rodrique Massenat hit two free throws with 20 seconds left and fourth-seeded Ewing, which trailed most of the second half, failed to get off a potential game-tying shot in the final seconds when third-seeded Trenton Catholic held on for a 59-57 victory in the championship game of the Mercer County Tournament at the Sun National Bank Center on February 24th. TCA's freshman tandem led the way, as Jamir Watkins had 14 points while E.J. Evans added 11, and junior Quashawn Lane was named Most Valuable Player after netting eight points in the final.

Pictured: Trenton Catholic team members celebrate their championship.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

West Windsor-Plainsboro North senior Chrissy DiCindio took a pass from teammate Jasmin Watson and put the ball up over her head and banked it straight on from in front of the basket with 2.4 seconds left, earning the Knights, who trailed by as many 15 points in the second half, their first Mercer County Basketball Tournament title with a 47-44 victory over Ewing at Sun Bank National Center on February 24th. Watson scored 18 points and was picked as the tourney's Most Valuable Player.

Pictured: The West Windsor-Plainsboro North Knights celebrate their first-ever MCT title.

ICE HOCKEY

With the score tied and 10 minutes remaining in the third period, tournament MVP Ed Evaldi scored his second goal of the game on a close-range shot and Hun, the seven seed, won its fourth consecutive title by defeating top-seeded Princeton, 4-3, on February 17th at Mercer County Park Skating Center.

Princeton had trailed 3-1 entering the third period but got two goals in the first five minutes. Hun goalie Jackson Cole finished the game with 25 saves.

Pictured: Hun's ice hockey team celebrates its fourth consecutive MCT title.

GIRLS' DIVING

The Hun School's Victoria Shay went 4-for-4 on her career. Her winning scores increased annually, topping out at 245.25 on Tuesday night, January 31st, to get past runner-up Elena Li of West Windsor-Plainsboro South at 225.22. Shay became the fourth four-time winner since the girls' title was first awarded in 1980 and first since Danica Roskos, who competed for Hun as a freshman and then for Hopewell Valley, wrapped her career in 2009. Shay is also the first non-Hopewell Valley diver to complete the career sweep.

Pictured: Hun's Victoria Shay [far left] shows off her championship medal.

BOYS' DIVING

On Tuesday, January 31st, Notre Dame freshman Seamus Harding reset the Montgomery pool record with his score of 317.85, topping the 304.65 Franklin alum Ross Edfort posted at the 2011 meet. In doing that, he defeated two-time defending champion Adam LeCompte of Lawrence, who finished second with a score of 245.62. Harding opened with his highest-scoring dive of the night, a forward one-and-a-half somersault pike, which netted an 8 and an 8.5 from the pair of judges. Only once did Harding get a score below 7 from either judge on any of his six dives.

Pictured: Notre Dame's Seamus Harding [bottom] congratulates all of the Mercer County diving participants.

GIRLS' SWIMMING

On Saturday, January 28th, for the first time in coach Henry DeSandre's three decades leading the program, it was the Notre Dame girls' turn to reach the top of the podium at West Windsor-Plainsboro North, winning the Mercer County title with a 248-170 margin over runner-up Hightstown. In 10 of the 11 events, and each of the first nine, Notre Dame had at least one swimmer in the A final, and in all 10 of those events, the Irish had a top-five finisher. Notre Dame's Abbey Berloco took home Most Outstanding Swimmer honors for a third consecutive year.

Pictured: Notre Dame's Abby Monaghan finishes the 200 Medley Relay.

BOYS' SWIMMING

On Saturday, January 28th, at West Windsor-Plainsboro North, the West Windsor-Plainsboro South Pirates got the title they've been chasing for 11 years when they outscored runner-up Notre Dame 275-242. The Pirates opened with a win in the 200-meter medley relay and built an advantage with two top-six finishes in each of the next two events, the 50 free and the butterfly, including a 50 free win from the meet's Most Outstanding Swimmer, Kurt von Autenried, and got a further boost when von Autenried won the 100 free.

Pictured: WWPS's Kurt vonAutenreid (top) congratulates fellow WWPS swimmer Alexander Petrusco after their heat in the boys' 50 meter freestyle.

WRESTLING

The Hopewell Valley wrestling juggernaut now has rampaged through Mercer County for the past decade. On Saturday, January 28th, for the ninth time in 10 years and seventh in a row, the Bulldogs came out on top at the Mercer County Championships held at Robbinsville High School. Hopewell Valley outdistanced runner-up Nottingham, 278.5 to 206. Allentown was third and Robbinsville fourth.

Pictured: Hopewell Valley's Ben Markulec wrestles Princeton's Ethan Guerra.

BOYS' CROSS COUNTRY

It had been a while, nearly a quarter century, since a team or individual boys cross-country title had made its way to Princeton High School. The wait for both ended on October 28th at Thompson Park.

Led by senior Alex Roth, Princeton had the first three runners across and seven of the first 17 on the way to a 31-60 win over runner-up West Windsor-Plainsboro South, giving the Little Tigers their first team title since 1992 and their first individual win since Zach Price took one home in 1993.

Pictured: Princeton's Alex Roth.

GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY

WW-P South got five of the first 12 across the line to turn in a 37-point finish, 16 points in front of Princeton for a fifth straight county title. The Pirates' victory makes them the second team in the history of the event, which began in 1974, to win five in a row, alongside Steinert from 1978-82.

Robbinsville's Lauren Kroepfl claimed her second straight individual title. Allentown's Devon Hoernlein and Princeton's Annie Walker finished second and third, respectively.

Pictured: Runners compete October 28th at Thompson Park.

GIRLS' SOCCER

Hopewell Valley forward Julia Obst scored once in each half to help the top-seeded Bulldogs to their first Mercer County Tournament title when they downed third-seeded Princeton Day School, 2-1, in the rain at The College of New Jersey's Lions Stadium on October 27.

Obst scored in the 10th minute off a scramble in front of the goal to stake HV to a 1-0 lead, and found the back of the net just forty-four seconds into the second half, ripping a shot into the upper 90 to give Hopewell Valley all it needed to capture the program's first-ever MCT crown.

PDS made it interesting when Damali Simon-Ponte poked home the only goal the Panthers would muster.

Pictured: Hopewell Valley's Julia Obst battles Princeton Day School's Abby Atkeson.

BOYS' SOCCER

On October 27, as top-seeded and defending champion Pennington hosted second-seeded Princeton, there was nothing to differentiate between the two sides. After battling for 100 minutes, the teams settled for a 1-1 draw at The College of New Jersey. For the first time since 2004, there are Mercer County Tournament co-champions. It is Princeton's seventh title, and Pennington's third.

Dean Patel's header in the 68th minute canceled out a fifth-minute tally from Red Raiders midfield maestro Pedro Dolabella. The two county powerhouses each had chances over the final half hour of play, but neither side could put the ball into the net. Princeton goalie Patrick Jacobs recorded five saves, while Pennington goalie Max Pinado had three.

Pictured: Pennington's Marco DiNatale [left] and Princeton's Alexander Ratzan.

FIELD HOCKEY

When the Lawrenceville School field hockey team saw its Mercer County Tournament championship streak end in 2015, it became a top priority to get back there this season.

Despite being the eighth seed, the Big Red cruised through the tournament and capped it off with a 3-0 win over Princeton Day in the title game played on the turf at windswept Mercer County College on October 24th.

The Big Red outscored the opposition, 20-1, in four MCT games.

Pictured: Lawrenceville School's Tess Maloney [left], who was named tournament MVP, defended by Princeton Day School's Madison Mundenar.

GIRLS' TENNIS

Hightstown won all three singles flights and first doubles at Mercer County Park on September 28th, putting a temporary halt to county dominance by Princeton and West Windsor schools. The Rams became the school's first county champ in any sport since boys’ basketball in 2007, and the first HHS tennis team of either gender to ever claim an MCT crown. Freshman Avnika Naraparaju won the first singles championship besting Hopewell Valley's Ana Herning.

Pictured: Hopewell Valley's Ana Herning and Hightown's Annika Naraparaju at the end of their match.