#b#Basketball#/b#
Following a 6-17 season, the High School North boys’ basketball team has a lot of missing space to fill. The squad graduated seven seniors, including heavy hitters like Juwan Harrison, Xavier Dory, Nigel Jordan, and Isaiah Powell, but experienced upperclassmen like Kevin Murphy should help fill the gaps.
The High School South boys’ basketball squad had a better 2013, advancing to the Central Jersey Group IV and Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals and finishing 16-10. Senior guards Tommy Hussong and Danny Borup and sophomore guard Jonathan Kline are the most experienced returners, and the addition of players like Jaffer Hashmi, Justin Turner and Daniel Wang from the JV squad rounds out the lineup.
Last year the North girls finished 18-10, including appearances in the Central Jersey Group IV tournament quarterfinals, as well as the MCT quarterfinals, where the Knights lost to perennial power Ewing by just two points.
Though head coach Bob Boyce said the team is feeling the loss of graduates like Julia Tampellini, Tyler Cruz, Morgan Magid, and 6-foot-1 Lauren Schwartzman, sophomores Jasmin Watson and Chrissy DiCindio, the only returning players with varsity experience, are good replacements. Senior captains Taylor Strype and Sarah Carlen, as well as sophomore Natalie Everett and juniors Saachi Bedi, Olivia Okorodudu and Karlie Lombardi will also contribute.
Flanked by twins Alyssa and Alyssen Rivers, the South girls’ basketball team looks to build on last season’s 14-11 record. Head coach Mika Ryan said the Pirates will depend on the sisters on both sides of the ball, especially after graduating seven seniors, including Kate McCormick, Karoline Sandvig, and Andrea Ndubizu.
Senior Rachel Goldfinger, one of the squad’s top scorers, hopes to be an offensive asset during a season littered early on with tough opponents in Hopewell, Ewing, Notre Dame, East Brunswick, and South Brunswick.
North vs. South: North’s teams play at South on Friday, January 30. The Pirates visit North on Tuesday, February 10.
#b#Fencing#/b#
The North boys’ fencing squad went nearly undefeated last season, with its only loss coming at the hands of Watchung Hills in the NJSIAA state team tournament quarterfinals. Returning this year is the entire district champion boys’ epee squad: Amit Sarma, William Zhang, Prashant Baliga, and Alec Wang.
The South boys finished last season at 7-4. Though foil fencers Jonathan Snyder and Jason Xie graduated, Keve Sandor returns, as does the sabre squad of Franklin Huang, Derek Ge, Kevin Gao, and William Liu, as well as epee fencers Wesley Yuan and Joey Dashevsky.
Led by Elysia Wang, one of the top fencers in the state, the North girls’ sabre squad won both the state and district championships last season. Though Wang graduated, Katie Khaw and Celine DeMorre will return, hoping to defend the Knights’ title. As a whole, the team went 8-2 on the season.
The Pirates finished at an even 5-5 last year. The squad was a young one, only graduating a couple of seniors like Jennifer Ling on saber, but this year’s team members return with a lot of experience, including Jade Rowland, Anna Akkara, Victoria Liang, Valerie Hou, and Victoria Xu.
North vs. South: South fencers come to North on Thursday, January 22. The teams face off again at South on Thursday, February 26.
#b#Ice Hockey#/b#
The Knights are coming off of a 2-17 season, but a fresh face in the form of a Ewing player might be the jolt North needs. Joining returning senior captain Greg Olsson, a defender who led the team in goals last year, is William Cobb, a sophomore from Ewing who comes to the team on a co-op loan.
Junior Ian Schwartz will tend net after a handful of starts last year, including his first career win, and seniors Vansh Bansal, Ben Parris, Sam Weiskopf, and Anuj Thakkalapally, as well as sophomores Adam Lohr-Pearson and Girdon Sine, return to the ice. Head coach Andrew Ferencevych expects freshmen like David Corell, Isaac Kim, Sam Parris, and Kevin Doody to have an impact.
Finishing 11-12-1 last year and capturing the CVC’s Valley Division title with a 9-5-1 conference record, the South ice hockey team returns three offensive stalwarts in seniors Brian Tso — who led the squad in both goals and assists last season — Jonathan Matthews, and Matthew Sayde. Patrick Tso takes over in goal for the graduated Andrew Holubec, while senior Henry Wei and sophomore Nikolai Yershov will fortify the Pirates’ defense.
North vs. South: North and South will play Saturday, December 20, at ProSkate in South Brunswick, and Monday, January 12, at Mercer County Park.
#b#Boys’ Indoor Track#/b#
Samuel Praveen and Howard Bryan were among last year’s top seniors for the North boys’ indoor track team, but sprinter CJ Markisz, now in his junior season, will make a splash after a second-place finish in the county meet’s 55-meter dash last year.
South finished in second place at last year’s Mercer County championships behind then-seniors Jake Arbeiter and Karn Setya, and this year, the team will once again look to Nikhil Pulimood to lead them back after another stellar cross country season. Pulimood and Setya each advanced to last season’s Meet of Champions, finishing fifth and 23rd in the 3200, respectively.
The North girls’ indoor track team lost its greatest assets in Pati Dziekonska, Manolya Altan, and Simone Counts to graduation, but senior Margaux Powell should fill the gaps.
Several of South’s top runners last year were underclassmen, and this year, the distance trio of Deirdre Casey, Christina Rancan and Edlyn Gulama hope to make appearances in the Meet of Champions again. Gulama placed 19th in the 800, Casey finished 27th in the 1600 and Rancan placed 12th in the 3200.
#b#Swimming#/b#
The North boys finished at 6-5 last year, though the squad was young, graduating only a couple of seniors in Michael Leung and Brian Chan. Senior Abdallah Gendia leads the returning swimmers.
The South boys once again have a lot to live up to after a 12-4 season, capped off by an appearance in the Central Jersey Group A quarterfinals. Graduation losses, particularly Aly Sayed, who placed second at the Meet of Champions in the 100 butterfly, and David Yin are felt, though Adam Druckman, Kyle Dixon-Anderson, Vincent Curatolo, and Richard Deng will help pick up the slack.
Like the boys, the Knight girls’ squad was packed with underclassmen last year. It lost Elaine Wang, Alex Lager, Alisha Jadhav, Kim Fu, and Madeline Day. Melina Cahnbley, Marissa Kirkendall, Becca Adlai-Gail, and Faith Rogers are among key returning athletes.
The South girls finished 13-3 last season, behind Annie Menninger, Sydney Bornstein, Rabia Syed, and Sarah Lattime. While Bornstein and Lattime graduated, Menninger and Syed should be back in the pool, along with Claire Kartoz.
North vs. South: North swimmers compete at South on Thursday, January 22.
#b#Wrestling#/b#
Coming off of a 1-20 season, the North wrestling squad hopes to improve upon its win total, and that’s entirely possible, after only graduating two seniors last year. Though Joe Bryde, who wrestled in the Region 5 semifinals last year, is one of those two, Vinny Porreca returns as a senior after showings in the NJSIAA District 20 third place qualifier and Region 5 meets.
The South wrestling team finished 6-15 last season, but six key wrestlers will reprise their varsity roles this year: Ben Schulman, Nick Maher, Robert Armus, Sean Thompson, Griffin Valentine and Shawn White. Armus and Maher both advanced to the Region 5 quarterfinals last season.
Head coach Darren Schulman called Shulman, Maher and Armus the squad’s “big guns,” hoping they can help the Pirates overcome another year of low numbers. Freshmen and first-year wrestlers will round out South’s lineup.
North vs. South: The crosstown rivals compete in a quad meet at Sayreville on Saturday, January 3.
#b#Cross Country: Pirate to Portland#/b#
For South star Nikhil Pulimood, the cross country season was not over with the Meet of Champions, where he placed second overall and helped the Pirates to a sixth-place finish as a team.
Pulimood and his Pirate teammates traveled to Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, New York, on November 29 for the Nike Northeast Regionals. The Pirates finished 11th as a team, and with a third-place finish Pulimood advanced to the Nike National Championship in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, December 6.
The South girls, who finished ninth at the Meet of Champions, finished 14th at the regional meet.
The South boys placed sixth and the South girls placed ninth at the Meet of Champions on November 22. Competing as an individual, North’s Yuzki Oey finished 47th in 19:25.
South boys: 2. Nikhil Pulimood (15:42); 9. Tim Bason (16:00); 62. Sam Williams (16:46); 91. Zach Crossey (17:07); 119. Zabih Kotecha (17:28); 144. Harish Venkatraman (18:00); 149. Thomas Moxham (18:07).
South girls: 12. Christina Rancan (18:53); 65. Alex Hesterberg (20:01); 69. Deirdre Casey (20:06); 91. Haley Rich (20:30); 108. Edlyn Gulama (20:56); 154. Amy Tsai (22:32); 159. Alli Bacher (22:46).
#b#Scores:#/b#
#b#Ice Hockey#/b#
North (1-0):A 10-0 win over Hamilton West on December 1. Goals: William Cobb; David Corell, 2; Greg Olsson, 6; Gordon Sine. Assists: Cobb; Correll; Kevin Doody; Sine, 3; Sam Weiskopf.
South (1-1): A 7-1 win over Lawrence on December 1. Goals: Jonathan Matthews, 2; Brian Tso, 4; Henry Wei. Assists: Jeremy Greener, 2; Matthews, 2; Matthew Sayde; Tso; Wei; Nikolai Yershov, 2. Saves: Patrick Tso, 13.
A 3-0 loss to Southern on December 2. Saves: P. Tso, 38.
#b#Boys’ Swimming#/b#
South (1-0): A 131-38 win over Trenton on December 2. 200 freestyle: Manish Rachamallu. 200 IM: Cole Ding. 50 freestyle: Rishi Singh. 100 butterfly: Allan Wang. 500 butterfly: Wang. 200 freestyle relay: Adam Druckman, Brian Li, Rachamallu, Wang. 100 backstroke: Alex Slater. 100 breaststroke: Kurt Von Autenried. 400 freestyle relay: Kyle Dixon-Anderson, Druckman, Von Autenried, Wang.
#b#Girls’ Swimming#/b#
South (1-0): A 137-20 win over Trenton on December 2.
