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BEARS SPORTS NEW SUNDAY EDITION 02/23/2025
- goldenstateservicesj
- Feb 23, 2025
- 11 min read
HIGHLIGHTS
Inside the White Rocks
HOCKEY beats DeMatha and Gonzaga reaching MAPHL finals
WRESTLING Coach Katz proudly reports performance of 2 Bears- freshman’s 1st trip to Nationals and Senior ends his excellent career with a prestigious scholar/athlete award,
BASKETBALL senior recognized as ALL IAC, well deserved!!!
SWIM AND DIVE another report from Easterns
BEAR TRAX
Winter sports
9 Bear Alums involved in Pro (leads team in a number of stats) and College Basketball the Pro continues to lead his team; a senior recognized on Senior Night; a Senior leads team and Ivies in several #s; one Soph leads team in GP and another Soph leads team in GP, ppg
13 Bear Alums in hockey – Pro, College (Div. I & III) and club—one leads his team in points as a 1st year player—club player named DPOY in ACC hockey
1 Bear Alum in EPL U21
2 Bear Alums on Swim and Dive teams- senior earns his 3rd ALL CONFERENCE AWARD
2 Bear alums running for their colleges- no reports from meets
2 Bear Alums on wrestling squads; one out for surgery
Spring Sports
Early Lacrosse 10 games; 9 played; 3 started, 4 impact
Volunteer to help track these Bears???
Will chronicle all other Bears playing in this season
INSIDE THE WHITE ROCKS
BASKETBALL – Coach Chris Bohlen’s star senior Frankie Manino (Harvard bound) named to All IAC-
ICE HOCKEY –COACH PARKER’s skaters BEAT DeMatha MAPHL QUARTER FINAL Landon 4 DeMatha 2 | Bear65’s Blog and blow by Gonzaga LANDON HOCKEY 6 GONZAGA 2 | Bear65’s Blog to reach MAPHL Finals 2/24 v. SJCHS
WRESTLING – Coach Katz reports {thanks COACH for sharing your excellent reports all season} from Prep Nationals
The 2024-25 wrestling season officially came to a close this weekend. Senior TILLER SMITH and freshman ELIJAH ADAMS competed in one of the most prestigious high school tournaments in the country. Lake Highland Prep (FL) stunned the wrestling world by ending the decades-long dominance of Wyoming Seminary and Blair Academy—teams that have controlled this tournament since the 1980s—winning the championship by over 50 points.
Elijah, competing as an alternate, went 1-2 at the national level, gaining valuable experience on the big stage. Tiller wrapped up his outstanding career with a final record of 116-35. He went 3-2 in the tournament, coming just two rounds short of a top-eight finish. In addition to his performance on the mat, Tiller was honored by the NATIONAL PREP BOARD as the top scholar-athlete, receiving the prestigious JIMMY DETRIXHE MEMORIAL SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARD, which recognizes excellence in both academics and athletics—a core value of all National Prep member schools.
Together, Tiller and Elijah scored enough points to place 57th out of 134 schools represented from across the country. Congratulations to both wrestlers on their achievements! Go Bears!
SWIMMING AND DIVING – Coach Ros from Eastern’s Championship at the Kunkle Aquatic Center on the grounds of Franklin and Marshall College
DAY 1
9 am and time for the first event – the 200 Medley Relay. We had two team entered for this event. One first team was comprised of GORDON BEARES, MATTHEW GUO, NOAH ARONOFF, AND LEO IACOVELLI and they were the first to hit the starting blocks for Landon. They finished with a time of 1:45.48, which was a drop of 2.84 seconds of their entry time. The second team of ZACH FAYED, GAGE BOLTEN, NICHOLAS ROSCETTI, AND MATTHEW SONNE was up in the final heat. Even though they added a little time, they still made it to finals, coming in 14th overall.
The next event for us was the 200 IM, and we had four people swimming in this event – JACOB FAYED, LUC MARCHAND, NOAH ARONOFF, AND ZACH FAYED. First up was Jacob, who swam his best time with a 2:09.29, dropping 3.06 seconds! Luc Marchand swam the event in2:10.96. Noah followed Jacob’s lead and also swam his personal best dropping 1.3 seconds for a time of 2:05.88, and Zach kept the trend going dropping his time by 4.93 seconds for his personal best time of 2:02.87 and an ISCA qualifying time with his 50-fly split. Congrats Zach!
The 50 FREESTYLE was the next event, and there were many heats. We had 9 of our swimmers swimming in this event. LEO IACOVELLI was the first of the Landon swimmers. He swam a 24.74, dropping .45 seconds and swimming a new personal best. GORDON BEARS AND JACKSON SCHWARTZ were in the next heat and they both swam their personal bests dropping .27 and .88 seconds respectively for times of 24.50 and 23.83.WILLIAM ROOK AND GAGE BOLTEN were in the 9th heat. William swam a 23.99, and Gage swim a 23. 65 which represented a .21 second drop, a personal best time, and a Metros cut!MATTHEW GUO swam the “down and back” in 24.20 seconds, and RAYAN ANVARI did his in 23.73 seconds. MATTHEW SONNE AND NICHOLAS ROSCETTI missed their personal best times by only a few tenths of a second swimming a 22.29 and 22.52 seconds respectively.
NICHOLAS ROSCETTI was our sole entry in the 100 butterfly. Swimming in the last heat, he was up against some fast swimmers. He went a 52.33 and secured 16th place for finals!
Our final event for the morning was the 200 Free Relay. Again, we had two teams. The first team included JACOB FAYED, LEO IACOVELLI, LUC MARCHAND, AND JACKSON SCHWARTZ They swam their event in 1:37.94 which was a drop of 5.31 seconds! The second team of GAGE BOLTEN, RAYAN ANVARI, MATTHEW GUO AND WILLIAM ROOK added 2.34 seconds to their entry time for a prelims time of 1:34.29, which was still good enough to get them into the finals in 17th place. For finals, we had a group of boys in the 200 Medley Relay, Nicholas Roscetti in the 100 Fly, and a group of boys in the 200 Free relay. First up – the 200 Medley Relay. Here, Zach Fayed, Gage Bolten, Nicholas Roscetti, and Matthew Sonne set out to at least reclaim their original entry time and also see if they could improve their standing. They accomplished both. They dropped 1.96 seconds and finished in 12th place overall, improving their standing by 2. Next up was Nicholas in the 100 fly. He was in the consolation finals and improved upon his time from the morning by dropping .16 seconds for a time of 52.17. This moved him up to 13th place overall from 16th! Finally, the squad of Rayan Anvari, Matthew Guo, William Rook and Gage Bolten set out to see what they could do against the other teams in the Bonus finals. They ended up dropping .86 seconds from the morning for a time of 1:33.43 and an 18th place finish overall.
During this time, diving was also taking place at another pool, and TEDDY ANGELIDES was there representing the Bears. He did so with aplomb and made it all the way to finals, finishing in 15th place overall, scoring the highest number of points he ever has – a new personal best for him!
DAY2
First up was freshman EVERETT MASCOTT swimming his first event of the meet and debuting in a meet like this. He was coming off sickness that kept him out of the pool for quite some time, so his performance was uncertain. Before he got sick, he swam his best 100 freestyle going a 57.17. The swimmers were set, and the starter let them go, and Everett touched the pad at 57.35, less than two tenths off his best time. Luc Marchand also coming off a rocky month to start the new year, has been trying to get his swimming legs back. He swam a 55.23 for his 100, about 1.5 seconds off his best time. Next up was Leo Iacovelli and this is where things started to trend faster. Leo swam a 56.82, dropping .06 seconds for his best time. JACKSON SCHWARTZ swum a 53.10, dropping 1.17 seconds for his personal best time. Noah Aronoff swam a 51.09, dropping 3.02 seconds for his personal best time! And Matthew Sonne swam a 48.89, dropping .09 seconds of his entry time. Really good showing for the 100 Freestyle event. As I may have mentioned already, Eastern’s is an even faster meet than Metros, and you had to swim a 48.04 or better to final in this event this weekend.
Next up for the Bears was WILLIAM ROOK. He was our sole entry in this event. He took his warmup very seriously and we did some pace work as well. While he didn’t hit the goal he wanted, he still had a solid swim, finishing the 20-length swim in 5:10.89. Many people may not realize how much of a mental game swimming can be and the longer the distance, the more time you have with your thoughts.
The last two individual events were coming up – the 100 Backstroke and 100 Breaststroke for which we had three swimmers each. The Fayed Brothers (so cool that they had a year of swimming together on the same team at Landon) and Gordon Beares were the Bears swimming for Landon in the backstroke. First up was Jacob, who went a 1:02.08. Gordon hit 56.33, which was a .59 second drop from his entry time, and Zach went a 54.29. Just like the 100 Freestyle, this event was fast, and you had to go 53.87 or faster in order to make finals this year. The breaststroke event brought Rayan Anvari, Matthew Guo, and Gage Bolten to the blocks. Rayan and Matthew were in the third heat, and they went 1:07.49 and 1:09.28, respectively. Gage was in heat 5 and he went 1:03.77, only .08 seconds off his best time. A time of 1:02.05 got you into the finals this year, and the winning time in finals was a 53.97! Gage now has his goal…
The final event of the morning – the 400 Freestyle Relay was now starting. We had two teams entered. The first was the team of Gordon Beares, Luc Marchand, Jackson Schwartz, and Noah Aronoff. With most of the swimmers from the second team graduating, this was a good look at the future of our 400-relay team. Gordon set the pace with a 52.89, which qualifies him for next year’s Metros! Next was Luc, who swam a 53.77. This was a very solid swim for Luc and his best time, even though it was off a relay. Jackson put up a 54.00 and Noah brought it home with a 50.45!Final time – 1:31.11, a 3.80 second drop from their entry time! The second team brought together our school-record breaking team of Zach Fayed, William Rook, Matthew Sonne, and Nicholas Roscetti, who were setting out to break their own record again, making it harder for their names to be removed from the record board in the future. First leg was off, and the time at the 100 was a little too high. Second leg added a little time as well, and unfortunately, this continued for the third and fourth legs, giving a final prelims time of 3:18.06, an add of 1.78 seconds, but still good enough to put them in the Consolation Final for the evening.
At finals, we had three things to enjoy – the senior parade, some very fast swimming to watch, and an opportunity to see our boys beat their own record in the 400 Free Relay. First up was the parade, and it was great to see our seniors (Rayan Anvari, Zach Fayed, Matthew Guo, William Rook, and Matthew Sonne) walk around the pool with all the other seniors from the other teams.
During the course of the meet, we watched quite a few new pool and meet records be set. It was very exciting to see. And at 8:10 pm, it was time for our boys to try again at their record. Zach was in for the first leg, which he finished in 49.76. We were off to a good start. William put on the board a 51.06. Matthew followed that with a 47.96, and Nicholas finished off with a 47.09. Final time – 3:15.87, which was a drop of 2.19 seconds from the morning, but just not enough to set a new record. So, their record of 3:16.28 set at Metros last weekend, will stand.
When all the dust settled, we came in 16th overall out of 30 teams, which is a drop down of one from our 15th place finish last year.
INDOOR TRACK— season complete
BEAR TRAX
BASKETBALL 9
1 Pro; 1 Div. I coach; 7 college(3 Div. I);
PRO
Darion Atkins L11, SIGORTAM.NET ISTANBUL (18-7), #18, 25 gp, 29.5 min/game, 14.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.0 block/game, 0.8 steal/GAME [1ST IN REBOUNDS and MIN, 2nd IN PPG]
COLLEGE COACH
Christian Webster L09 VaTech Assistant Hokies (12-15)
COLLEGE PLAYERS
Canin Reynolds, L20, Amherst senior, #2, Mammoths (13-12) SENIOR NIGHT STARTED, PLAYED 2 minutes, hit a 3 pointer, 1 D Reb, 1 A
Roger Pyfrom, L20, Seton Hall junior, manager, Pirates (7-19)
Kino Lily, Jr. L21, Brownsenior, #10, Bears (13-11), PLAYED 24 GS, 36.1min/g*+, 18.1. ppg*!, 2.1 reb, 4.5 apg*^, .7 spg– * leads Brown, + 1st Ivy, !Ivy #2, ^Ivy 3rd
Mike Gray L22, University of Lynchburg sophomore, #5, Hornets (13-10); PLAYED 24 GP* 16 GS, 22.9 min/pg*, 11.9 ppg*, 2.8 rpg; * leads Lynchburg
Tyler Perkins L23, Villanova sophomore #4, Wildcats (16-12), #4 PLAYED 28 GP*, 3 GS, 25.4 mpg. 6.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.0 apg all stats are in the top 5 of Wildcat players
Ari Hobson L24, Washington & Lee freshman #13, Generals (7-18); #13, 14 GP, 2 GS, 8.1 min/g, 3.6 pts/g. 2.1 reb/g
HOCKEY 15
PRO
Sam Anas L’11 Minsk Dynamo31-20 ;#7; 51 GP, 15.7 TOI/G, 11 G 23 A, 2 PPG, 1 OTG, 2 GWG +12
Patrick Giles, L*18 Charlotte Checkers ( 25-14-3-2), #36, 33 GP , 5 G, 2 A,
COLLEGE NCAA Div. I and III
Matthew Brille L*20; Brown sophomore #19: Bears recovering from hand surgery
Oscar Smink, L21, Amherst College junior #6, Mammoths (8-11-2) 21 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 19 shots, 38/57 faceoffs
Kareem Alazem, L*21? Connecticut College junior #7, Camels (9-13-2): 13 GP, 2 shots,10 blk
Will Lawrence, L*21? Connecticut College freshman #88, Camels (9-13-2):24 GP*, 6 G*,7 A, 13pts* , 3PPG, 12 blk *leads Camels
Ethan Goldman L22, Connecticut College sophomore #13, Camels (9-13-2): 1 GP
COLLEGE CLUB
TY MORTON, L19, Ohio (15-0-2-1) , G, 2-0, 0.00 ga
JH Lages L*21, VaTech- played against Ty
Riley Knebel L22 UVA
Owen Calderone L 23, LSU
Zaakir Khan L23, GMU
Arthur Smink L23, BC
Graham Haberle, L24 UVA
Alex McMillan, L24 UVA
Quinn Farland, L24, Wake Forest
SOCCER-
Professional Soccer 1
Kristian Fletcher L’23: Nottingham Forest FC (7-4-1-1) #46, 7 GP. 1 G, 99 MIN. goal v. Sutton United—”Fletcher finally managing to beat Kerbey after the on-loan DC United man raced into the box, before firing a low effort into the bottom corner.”
SWIMMING-2
Ethan Tun L21, Carleton Senior, MIAC Swimming & Diving Championships Ethan Tun earned his third individual all-conference award of the meet after being out-touched in the 200-yard breaststroke, the closest race of the competition of the championships. He set a new PR of 2:04.31 but had to settle for runner up as Tun finished 0.01 behind Hyden Hill of Gustavus.
Olaoluwedji Jones L24 American University freshman – Patriots League Championships 2/19
Cross-Country/Indoor Track-2
Asim Hakim-Florian L23 Colgate; team had an invitational meet —could not find any results
Sam Cohen L24 Tulane; team at LSU Twilight meet- no results.
Wrestling-3
David LaPrade, L23, Williams College (4-3), sophomore, 2-2 at 197#. 3-2 at NEWA futures
James Hanley, L24, Roger Williams (10-3), freshman, injured now recovering from surgery,
Jonny Gherman, L19, 7th/8th grade wrestling coach St. Frances Academy, Roswell, GA
REGULAR SEASON LACROSSE
For many years, the task of following all the alums on BearLaxTrax was a labor of love of John Nichols. His increasing responsibilities of being a grandfather trumps this work. ANYONE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING please, please email me sandy_murdock@yahoo.comm or call 202-262-1052
02/24/2025 Report
2020
2021
2022
Cullen Brown, Ohio State #42: record 5-1 WIN—1 S, 8 GB, 2CT
2023
2024
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