Fencing, one of the fastest-growing sports in WW-P, has already gained the attention of hundreds of students at both North and South, who have signed up in droves over the last few years to try out for the program.
Now, with its first state championship under its belt, albeit a squad title, South’s fencing program stands to gain even more attention. That’s not bad for a program that has only existed for five years.
The boys’ foil squad of Alex Guo, Steven Yang, and Howard Chen, won their first state championship by one victory, 38-37, over Columbia on March 6. The fencing title was icing on the cake for the winter season at WW-P, where many teams at North and South progressed into state tournaments.
In the end, South earned two state titles. Two of the best swimmers in school history — Rebecca Lewinson and Meredith Ketchmark — combined with Jocelyn Yuen and Cori Michibata to bring home more accolades in the Meet of Champions on March 7.
The foursome capped their run this season with a pair of relay titles, winning the 200-medley relay in 1:47.28 and the 4000-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:33.73 for first place.
In winter track, there are hardly any “firsts” left for High School North’s Rosa brothers to accomplish. Jim Rosa, however, was able to accomplish another first when he won the boys’ two-mile at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston on March 13, with a new personal best time of 9:00.36.
The win was especially important for Rosa, who was upset at the Meet of Champions two weeks prior with a sixth place finish. The comeback was arguably his best race of the winter season.
Also at the nationals, North’s Corey Abernathy finished second in the shot put, with a throw of 59-3 1/2. North’s Emily Scott placed 24th in the two-mile with a time of 11:11.20, while Jon Squeri placed 23rd in the boys’ 5,000 with a time of 16:03.55. For South, Sam Macaluso, Brian Schoepfer, Doug Wallack, and A.J. Chavez placed third in the boys’ distance medley relay.
Jim Rosa and Corey Abernathy also had good performances at the Group III Indoor Track Championship in February, with Rosa finishing the 3,200 race with the fastest time in the county, 9:05.26. Abernathy placed second in shot put there and again at the Meet of Champions a week later.
For South, Macaluso placed third in the 1,600, with a time of 4:14.57 at the Meet of Champions after taking home the title in the 1,600 with a time of 4:14.94, a new record, at the Group III Indoor Track Championship. South’s Caroline Kellner took home the title in the 3,200, with a time of 10:56.59 at the Group III Indoor Track Championship in February, following it up with a fourth-place finish at the Meet of Champions.
In basketball, the North girls’ team made it to the semifinals of the state tournament, where it fell to Neptune, 74-31. The path to the semifinals was highlighted with the team’s performance against Wall, where Jenna Greenstein hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to win the game, 63-61.
The team finished with a record of 15-10, one of its best performances over the last few seasons. The girls were boosted by senior Lexie Forsell and freshman Jacqie Klotz, who was a leading scorer and appears to have a promising future with the rising Knights.
All of the WW-P basketball teams were able to make their way into the state tournament this year. Both of the boys’ teams and South’s girls’ team fell in the first round.
While it still made it to the state tournament, the boys’ basketball team at South fared better in the 2008-’09 season, finishing that year with a record of 24-4 and making it to the state semifinals. It was more of an improvement for the North boys, who did not break .500 last year, missing the state tournament.
At North, the ice hockey team also had another successful season, defeating Manalapan, 4-3, in the first round of the state tournament before falling to Montgomery on March 4. The team finished with a record of 18-5-1.
While the wrestling programs traditionally do not perform as well as the rest of the winter sports teams, South saw vast improvement, finishing the season with a record of 8-4. Wrestler Alfonso Gonzalez, at 145 pounds, finished third in the District 20 tournament and made it to the Region V Tournament, where he fell in the preliminary round last month.
