BEARS SPORTS NEWS-SUNDAY EDITION 12/11/2022

BearSportsNews

Sunday Edition

12/11/2022

Catching up on all Landon Varsity Athletes

and Bears playing at the next level(s)

HIGHLIGHTS—

HOLIDAY GREETINGS

Inside the White Rocks—

15 Fall athletes earn All-IAC; season report on water polo; basketball loses to SF (nationally ranked) and wins 2; hockey streaks to 5 undefeated games, but lost in non-league game v. SJCHS; swim and dive 2 losses; track has good performance at Mercersburg; AND talented Wrestlers roll!!!

Alumni:

BASKETBALL—1 pro BB player continues to contribute in Italy; one Bear is coaching an ACC team; two college hoopsters lead their team in key stats (1 DIV. I and one Div. III); and 2 more playing for their teams.

HOCKEY—2 pros play in same competitive leagueand will meet on Tuesday; 1 Div. III college player getting time on ice as a freshman; 6 are playing in developmental leagues (one committed to Brown and one to RPI); 5 contributing to their College Club teams; one playing for a Founders’ League team

Inside the White Rocks

Fall Sports

15 fall athletes earn all-IAC

Landon Water Polo by Coach Moorin (thanks)

Recap, Fall 2022

Record 4-14

MVP: Benji Groeschel, James Shelton

Coaches Award: Thomas Shelton, Vincent Barahona

Most Improved: Nathan Poulin

Starting six: James Shelton (junior goalie), Benji Groeschel (junior), Sean Curran (junior), Gunnar Small (sophomore), Roberto Wick (senior), Cam Miller (senior captain), Grey Small (senior captain).

Landon water polo was led by senior captains Cam Miller and Grey Small. Cam and Grey led a very strong defensive team this season. The starting six played excellent man-to-man defense and could swim a full four quarters. Perhaps our strongest defender was sophomore Gunnar Small, who played fantastic whole-set D in every game. Benji Groeschel remained our most consistent player on both sides of the ball, earning him MVP honors. His ability to play shut down defense and then counter to offense is impressive. Sean Curran emerged as a quarterback on the offensive side of the ball. His game IQ has grown leaps and bounds, and he will be counted on to run the offense next season. This season’s biggest surprise was the performance of junior goalie James Shelton. This was James’s first year in net. He made huge saves in every game, and he made saves against some of the East’s best players. Though injured most of the season, four-year varsity player Pierce Holley battled through pain to score key goals in our homecoming game against McDonogh. Zack Zand, Quinn Kelly, Thomas Eusse, Ford Anderson, Nathan Poulin, Sam Rose, and Luke Finnell contributed key minutes off the bench at various moments during the season. Scoring goals was the Bear’s biggest weakness. We didn’t have a pure hole-set on offense. In this regard, we sorely missed the presence of seniors Reese Finnell, Spencer Durbin, and Charlie Alberino on both sides of the ball. That said, the lack of a hole-set forced us to learn a variety of offensive rotations, and all players had opportunities to go into set. The biggest win of the season came against Episcopal Academy (PA) during our preseason trip. We won a very tight 11-10 game. We suffered a heartbreaking loss to Hazleton (PA) at Beast of the East. During that game, Sean Curran scored a game-tying lob shot with seconds remaining, but the Bears ended up falling in OT. We lost a similarly close game to Calvert Hall at the Gilman Challenge. As in years previous, we traveled to Philadelphia three times: preseason training trip, Beast of the East, and Easterns. Unfortunately, our annual game against Gonzaga was canceled, as their program had to shut down its season. The coaches are excited to work with the core group of returning juniors and sophomores in 2023. JV freshman standouts Sam Bynum and Dash Coffman hope to be varsity contributors in their sophomore campaigns. Sophomores Luke Finnell and Gunnar Small will have big years, and Curran, Shelton, and Groeschel should flourish as seniors

Winter Sports

• Basketball – (4-2) lost to nationally ranked Sidwell 43-46 after leading most of the game and then beat WCAC Archbishop Carroll 64-49. The IAC may have set a record in placing 4 of its 7 teams in the WaPo Top 25- SF #2, Bullis #8, SSSA #13 and the Bears #18. Tough season for Coach Turner, but he has a strong roster

• Hockey  (5-1) Coach Parker’s team beat Mt. St. Joe’s 5-1 and MSHL favorite South River 6-2 before losing their 1^st game in a hard fought battle against SJCHS 1-5 . Next game in 2023.

• Indoor Track Thanks, Coach Hunt

Landon Indoor Track & Field Sets High Marks at the Mercersburg Season Opener

Friday, September 9, 2022

Mercersburg Pennsylvania

The Landon indoor track and field team traveled north to the Mercersburg Academy located in Montgomery County Pennsylvania. The meet featured 22 teams from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Although the Bears traveled with a small squad, they represented well.

In the opening event, Ari Kalish’24 qualified for the finals in the 55-meter-high hurdle event in a time of 8.81.  In the finals, he ran an 8.61 for a 3rd-place finish. This also put in 3rd all-time behind Oliver Hightower (7.86 in 2104) and Johnny Sharp (7.94 in 2012).

Reed Phillips’25 and Bayo Ogunlade’23 both set personal records in the 55-meter dash with times of 6.81 and 7.17respectivley.

Reed was the only sophomore to make it to finals and finished 7^th with an 8.84.

In the shot put Brian (the plug) White’23 and Milan Matteis’25 finished 21st and 11th with throws of 32′ 09.75″ and 28′ 05.75.

Finally, Sam Cohen’23 took 2^nd in the 800 meters with a time of 2:06.54. This puts Sam 3^rd on Landon’s All-Time List behind Mac Hightower (2:04.36 in 2011) and Allante Keels (2:05.24 in 2007).

The bears will not compete again in 2022. Our next competition will be in the second week of January when we compete in a dual meet with Georgetown Prep and at the Montgomery Invitational.

• Swimming and Diving losses to Gonzaga and StA

• Wrestling by Coach Katz

November 30, 2022

The Bears finally got back on the mats for their first competition of the year.  We wrestled Sidwell who is down in numbers and talent this year.  We wrestled head to head in 14 matches (7 varsity and 7 exhibition).  We went 13-1.  The final score of the dual meet was 78-3.  There were many highlights throughout the night.  Our boys have been working hard in the off-season and it showed.  At 113, Theo Shockey lost a tough match 6-4.  He was pinned by this wrestler last year (he was a National Prep Qualifier), but Theo’s off-season work showed.  He turned his opponent three different times and the referee only awarded two points total.  He also had a take down in the last seconds for the tie, but the referee called it off.    First year varsity guys, James Chambers (132), Connor Koegel (138) and Justin Bradford (144) all earned pins in well wrestled matches.  Veterans Seamus McNamara (126), Will Levy (150), and Nate Furgeson (165) all pinned. This weekend, the team will split up and attend two tournaments– the Ray Oliver at McDonogh and the Holloway at St. James.  We will be tested at both tournaments to see where we are as this season moves forward.  Go Bears.

December 2-3, 2022

The field of wrestlers at Ray Oliver tournament was one of the strongest in years.  Every top school in the state of Delaware were in attendance, the three top schools in the Virginia privates, three high-ranked Virginia public schools, almost the entire WCAC, as well as most of the top private schools in MD.  It was as tough as any State tournament.  With that said, Landon placed 12^th out of 25 teams. Unfortunately, we were missing 3 top seeded wrestlers (Brown, Pope due to sickness and Levy with an injury). Senior heavyweight Ty Reyes was also seeded and in the ¼ finals, but woke up sick the second morning.  We would have placed much higher at full strength.  Our wrestlers competed extremely well. Freshman Joe Papalia got a taste of the high level of competition and lost in the blood round.  Sophomore Theo Shockey 113  finally made the podium in a top level tournament by placing 7^th.  Junior James Hanley 120 placed 5^th after revenging a loss in the ¼ finals to the #7 ranked in MD wrestler from Loyola.  Junior Nate Furgeson (165) wrestled extremely well and earned 4^th place (our highest place winner). Senior David LaPrade wrestled well beating his 8^th seed for 7^th place.  He beat the #6 ranked wrestler in MD in the final round. Sophomore Tiller Smith (215) lost a close match to the champion in the semi-finals.  He went on to place 5^th.

December 3, 2022

We sent 15 young and less experienced wrestlers to a Varsity tournament in Hagerstown, MD.  The team placed 10^th out of 15.  Freshman Makana Neverosky was the champion at 113, Junior JamesChambers earned 4^th place at 132, and Freshman Louis McNamara place 6^th also at 132.  It was a good day of experience for many first year wrestlers.

This week is busy with our first IAC match versus St. Stephens St. Agnes on Wednesday, and another splitting of the team to Varsity tournaments on the weekend (Mad Mats for Varsity A and Mercersburg Duals for Varsity B).

Bear Tracks

Fall Sports

• Coach Rutenberg L’99—NY Jets 7-5-0 linebacker coach

Winter Sports

Basketball 6

• Professional –1

Darion Atkins #44  L11,  Dolomiti Energia Trento, 4^th in the Italian Lega Basket Serie A 4-2 : #44 averaging 31.1 minutes, 14.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg  , 3.0 assists, 0.5 blocked shot, 1 steal

• Div. I Basketball Coach-1

Christian Webster L09 VaTech Assistant Coach 9-1

• College-4

Miles Davis L18 St. Lawrence Saints (5-3); #3 senior; 4 GS/GP, 8.1 mpg, 3.6 ppg, 0.1 rpg, 0.1 apg

Daraun Gray L’19 Loyola Greyhounds (4-6): #24 senior; 3 GP, 4.0 mpg, 0.5 ppg, 0.7 rpg

Canin Reynolds L ‘20 Amherst College Mammoths (4-5): #2 sophomore; 9 GP/GS, 30.7 mpg, 10.2 ppg, 4.3 apg, 3.1 rpg, 1.25 steals per game—leads team in minutes, points, assists, steals

Kino Lilly L21 Brown Bears (6-4) #10 sophomore; 10 GS/GP, 34. mpg, 15.9 ppg, 3.0 apg, 3.5 rpg leads team in minutes, points and steals

Hockey 14

• Professional Hockey 2

Sam Anas, L11 #7 Hershey Bears (16-5-2-0) 1^st in Atlantic Division: #7 in 23 GP 6G ,6 A

Patrick Giles L*18  #36 Charlotte Checkers (12-8-2–1) 5^th Atlantic Division: #36- 23GP 1 G, 2A;

• College Hockey 1

Oscar Smink L’21 Amherst College Mammoths (6-1-1) #6 : 3 GP, 5 shots

• Development Hockey 5

Matthew Brille #20  L*20 ;NAHL Chippewa Steel (Brown’2?) team 16-10-1-1: #20 is the Steel Captain, is Steel’s 2^nd  in points with  28 GP 11 G 14 A;

Kareem Al-Azem#34 L*22 (RPI’2?); NAHL Maryland Black Bears 20-7-2-0, 1^st in division; #34 18 GP 3G

Will Lawrence L*22, #88 NAHL Johnstown Tomahawks (11-12-2); played 23 GP, 4 G 2 A

Ethan Goldman L22, #13NCDC Mercer Chiefs 15-8-0-2-1: #13- 20 GP 2 A;

JH Lages L*21, #6 EHL New Jersey 87’s 14-7-2-1-0 1^st in South Division: 2^nd in South: #6 3 GP, 2G .

• College Club 5

Alex Norwinski L15 Liberty Club ACHA Div. 1 #27; 13-6-0-0-1: #27  on Div1- 2 GP; on Div. 2- 19 , 4G, 11A

Ethan (#23) and Max (#30) Weinstein L20 Dartmouth Men’s Hockey 8-0-1-0-0 #237GP, 1G 2A; #30  2GP in nets

Ty  Morton L’19  Ohio Club Div. II 14-2-0-0-0-1 4GP, 4W 2.53 GA

Riley Knebel L22, UVa Club hockey

• Prep School

Jacob Hookman-Vassa L*23 Loomis-Chaffee (3-0) senior #18,  3 GP

Swimming

Jacob Rosner L19 Northwestern, 2-2;