BearSportsNews Sunday Edition 12.22.2024

Sadly, this Holiday Season BSN SE starts with an obituary [link to an impressive report of his military awards and career] of a tremendous Bear, William Harrison Triplett, Jr. L’63. Billy was the son of a revered Landon and Wachusetts figure. Those of us who were able to watch Billy play sports, know that he was an exceptional athlete. Outside of the White Rocks this man did the right thing without question and was loved by all who met him. 

Great loss to Landon, alumni who were his friends and especially Bill and Lloydie (Triplett) Zaiser (brother-in-law and sister). Those who know “Unaliyi 2” is in heaven. 

HIGHLIGHTS

Inside the White Rocks

• Wrestling Coach wins 300^th and wrestlers battling at Beast of East

• Hockey wins one and incur a tough loss, plus honors

• Basketball loses to ranked team and neighbor; wins one; going to Holiday Tournament

• Great report on Swimming Meet

• Indoor Track and Field pole vaulter sets Landon record

• WaPo Fall All Mets 

• A Baseball Senior commits

——————————————————–

Bear Tracks

Last Vestiges of Fall

• 13 Bear alum football players rostered-  1 still has a televised bowl game 

• 5 Bear Alum soccer players rostered, 1 EPL U21 

—————————-

Winter sports

Many college teams are on Holiday Break^

• 9 Bear Alums involved in Pro (leads team in a number of stats) and College Basketball 

• 13 Bear Alums in hockey – Pro, College (Div. I & III) and club

• 2 Bear Alums on Swim and Dive teams; one churning up the pool.

• 2 Bear alums running for their colleges

• 2 Bear Alums compete on wrestling squads

INSIDE THE WHITE ROCKS

• BASKETBALL – Coach Chris Bohlen’s five (3-4) lost to WaPo #19 Patriot (6-2) in O/T 83-87, beat Old Mill 61-45 and lost to Whitman 55-58. Now off to a tournament 

• ICE HOCKEY –COACH JACOBS’s skaters MAPHL win Landon Hockey 9 Bishop O’Connell 1 and a typical Bears -Cadets game with St. John’s scoring late on a PP goal 2-3

• ELI SMINK and REID PEHRKON, plus COACH JACOBS are participating in a DMV hockey showcase

• REID was recognized by WaPo for setting the MAPHL points record.

• WRESTLING – COACH KATZ’s beat Potomac and registered his 300^th win. Coach has set the standard for IAC and DMV wrestling excellence.

The season’s early test of talent—

• Mason Nomie (Whitehall) 7-3 won by decision over ELIJAH ADAMS (Landon School) 0-1 (Dec 10-8) 

• MAX MURRAY (Landon School) 1-0 won by major decision over Gabriel Hill (Sussex Academy) 8-4 (MD 22-11) 

• 144 lbs Champ. Round 1 – MAX MURRAY, Landon School beat   DRAKE SHULTZ, Kellam 

• 132 lbs Prelim – JOE PAPALIA, Landon School vs Reef Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic 

• Researching Flo Wrestling produced a few of the Bear matches; some weights not yet competing? Slow reporting? 

• SWIMMING AND DIVING –

As the day broke on Tuesday and the early morning air hit your skin, you could start to sense that this was not an ordinary day. There was a scent in the air as well that contributed to this feeling, and as I encountered each of the athletes that day you could feel the energy, and there was no longer any question – this was not an ordinary day. 

In a few hours, the Landon Swim and Dive team would take on one of their archrivals – St. Albans, who has been able to keep the Bears at bay for recent history. Something was different about this year…this team…and perhaps, just maybe, this could be our year. 

The set up for this meet was unusual, with the diving competition taking place at Holton, and the swimming at St. Albans. George Shannon, Sam Bynum, and Teddy Angelides sprung off the boards for the Bears and brought home the 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th place finishes respectively! What an amazing performance by these divers. This was the sort of thing that we needed to do if we wanted to beat the bulldogs. 

The swimming competition  got started with the 200 Medley Relay. In lane 4, Zach Fayed, William Rook, Nicholas Roscetti,  and Matthew Sonne set their goal on giving the Bears a strong start to the meet. Jacob Fayed, Rayan Anvari, Noah Aronoff,  and Brian Shao were in lane 2, and Brody Reisfield, Liam Pilkington, Leo Iacovelli, and Nathan Cantor were in lane 6. It was a great race, and the final touches put Landon finishing in 2^nd, 3^rd, and 6^th. While not the repeat of the diving, it was a strong start. 

The Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle was the next event and Matthew Sonne, Jackson Schwartz, and Rocco Penna were on the blocks to represent the Bears. With at time of 1:50.86, only about a second off his best time, Matthew took 1^st!. Unfortunately, the St. Albans team was solid in this event and secured the 2, 3, and 4 spots. 

The 200 Yard IM was an exciting race with Luc Marchand missing 1^st by less than a second. Jacob Fayed was able to follow him for the 3^rd place finish, and Matthew Guo grabbed 6^th. The “blink of an eye” event – the 50 freestyle – was next. Nicholas Roscetti, Matthew Sonne, and Jett Pedersen were the nominees to face off with the bulldogs. Their senior, who is off to college to swim, swam an impressive 21.94, which was just a little too fast for our boys. Equally impressive, however, was Nicholas’s and Matthew’s 2^nd and 3^rd place finish. Jett came in 6^th, approaching his best time. Also swimming for Landon in the second and third heats of this event included Aiden Eagle, Arthur Deng (who swam his personal best of 27.59), Finn Hagen, Brody Reisfield, Luis Hanika Gil, and Nathan Cantor.

Butterfly was the next event and Landon sent Nicholas Roscetti, Noah Aronoff, and Rayan Anvari to the blocks. St. Albans put up their Navy commit and despite freshman Nick Roscetti’s valiant effort, he was not able to beat him out and had to settle for 2^nd. This “David and Goliath” match up was fun to watch and bodes well for the future of the Bears. Noah Aronoff swam his personal best time (56.68) to a 4^th place finish and spot on the Metros team. And Rayan Anvari who hadn’t swum this event in over a year, brought home the 5^th place finish. 

9 of our Bears lined up for the 100 Freestyle event. Leading off were Zach Fayed, Jackson Schwartz, and Jett Pedersen. Sadly, the bulldogs out touched the Bears giving Zach the 2^nd place finish with a time of 50.04 seconds (.31 off his personal best). Jackson slid in for the 4^th place finish and his personal best time of 54.57. Heat 2 brought Everett Mascott to the lanes and he swam a 57.17 besting his time by 3.4 seconds! Leo Iacovelli made his debut in this event swimming a 58.40. Rocco Penna, also making his debut in this event, swam a 1:00.58. Aiden Eagle was another swimmer who swam his personal best improving his time 4.21 seconds with a 1:03.64! And finally, for this event, Liam Pilkington continues to knock time off his swims bringing home another personal best by .61 seconds! 

We now settled in for the 500 Freestyle. William Rook, Gordon Beares, and Albert Payson were tasked with this event. Will put on a great show and took 1^st with a time of 5:09.52. His 50s were incredibly consistent, and I am excited to see how he can continue to bring his time down as he perhaps readies himself for this event at Metros. Gordon took 3^rd, and Albert 6^th, but only after getting another personal best in the books dropping 2.13 seconds. 

The 200 Freestyle Relays gave Landon the 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th place finishes. Gian LaPlaca and Amahl Shah were among the Landon swimmers not mentioned yet, who helped to make this possible. 

The 100 Backstroke was a great event for us. Zach Fayed, with a time of 57.00, took 1^st place. This was followed by Gordon Beares taking 3^rd with a time of 1:00.11, and Jacob Fayed locking up 4^th with a time of 1:01.62. All three are heading to Metros! 

 If we were stacked in the 100 Back, St. Albans was for the 100 Breast, as they took 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd. Gian LaPlaca made his debut in this event, and I am looking forward to some great swims from him in this event in the future. 

The final event – the 400 Freestyle Relay – pitted Gordon Bears, Nicholas Roscetti, Matthew Sonne, and Zach Fayed again the bulldogs. They easily handled their competition and secured 1^st place by almost 5 seconds. The 2^nd place finish was the one to watch, and our team of Jacob Fayed, Jackson Schwartz, William Rook, and Noah Aronoff had to settle for 3^rd as they were out touched and were only .39 seconds behind the second-place finisher. So, when the dust settled, the score was St. Albans 96 and Landon 89. While this was hard to swallow, it has given us our new goal of taking the crown away from St. Alban at IACs! 

Congratulations to all the Bears on a great meet and great evening and thank you to all the parents and teachers for your roles in making this possible. 

 Until the new year… 

Coach Ros 

• INDOOR TRACK—COACH CALLAHAN  (info from Coach Hunt) ALEX HENDERSON broke Landon’s indoor track and field long jump record last week at Georgetown Prep. His jump of 19’ 6” inches eclipsed Austin Burchett’s record of 18′ 11.25″ set in 2007. This past weekend Alex also set the indoor pole vault record with a jump of 13’ 6” inches eclipsing Jamie Gabriel’s previous record of 12’ 6” inches set in 2008. See attached video.

• FALL ALL METS- WaPo

Every year when the sports editors (?) and circulation managers pick these honors, a repeated complaint is voiced here. Though biased, each of these Bears and more deserve this recognition. This year’s selections are particularly egregious particularly as to the level of the team. (NB this is the opinion of one senior citizen and bears no relationship with any views of Landon.) 

• SENIOR BASEBALL COMMIT— GEORGE LEE

BEAR TRAX

TV schedule for a bunch of Bears

No. 19 (AP) Army West Point Black Knights with ERIC FORD 

playing La Tech in the 2024 Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl on Saturday, December 28 at 9:15 p.m. EST on ESPN

Football-15

College-13 

13 rostered – 1 still playing bowl game tournaments; 11 Seasons completed; 3 Careers completed; 1 injured

• Eric Ford, L21 OLB #40, MAPS junior-the ranked 19th Army Black Knights (11-2) lost to NAVY 13-31–#40 PLAYED 1 asst; next game v. La Tech in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl 12/28

BASKETBALL 9

1 Pro; 1 Div. I coach; 7 college(3 Div. I); 

PRO

• Darion Atkins L11, SIGORTAM.NET ISTANBUL (11-5), #18, 17 gp, 30.0 min/game, 15.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.9 block/game, 0.8 steal/GAME [1^ST IN REBOUNDS,1^ST IN MPG, 2^ND IN PPG]

COLLEGE COACH

• Christian Webster L09 VaTech Assistant Hokies (5-6) 

COLLEGE

Holiday break schedules^

• Canin Reynolds, L20, Amherst senior, #2, Mammoths ^ (7-3) 

• Roger Pyfrom, L20, Seton Hall junior manager, Pirates^ (5-7) 

• Kino Lily, Jr. L21, Brown senior, #10, Bears ^ (7-3), #10 – PLAYED 10 GS, 34.5 min/g*, 20.2 ppg*, 2.1 reb, 3.9 apg*, .9 spg– * leads Brown 

• Mike Gray L22, University of Lynchburg sophomore, #5, Hornets (5-3), 9 GP 1 GS, 14.6 mpg, 6.3 ppg, 1.2 rpg 

• Tyler Perkins L23, Villanova sophomore #4, Wildcats (8-4), #4 PLAYED 12 GP, 2 GS, 24.5 mpg. 8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.9 apg 

• Ari Hobson L24, Washington & Lee freshman #13, Generals^ (1-6); #13, 2 GP, 3.0 min/pg, 2 pts 

FENCING-1

• Nathan Yoon L21, USAF, retired because he is in honors program which interferes with this sport.  

HOCKEY 15

PRO

• Sam Anas L’11 Minsk Dynamo17-13-0-3-1;#7; 34 GP, 15.21 TOI/G, 7G 15 A, 1 PPG, 1 OTG, 1 GWG. KHL ALL STAR TEAM break.

• Patrick Giles, L*18 Charlotte Checkers ( 12-6-1-2), #17, 13 GP , 3 G, 1A 

COLLEGE NCAA Div. I and III

Holiday break schedules^

• Matthew Brille L*20; Brown sophomore #19; Bears^ (3-4-2) 

• Oscar Smink, L21, Amherst College junior #6, Mammoths^ (4-3-1) 9 GP, 9shot 

• Kareem Alazem, L*21? Connecticut College junior, #7, Camels^ (5-3-1); #7 9 GP,4 blk 

• Will Lawrence, L*21? Connecticut College freshman #88, Camels^ (5-3-1) ,#88 , 9GP, 3G,5 A, 8 blk 

• Ethan Goldman L22, Connecticut College sophomore #13, Camels^ (5-3-1)  

COLLEGE CLUB

• JH Lages L*21, VaTech

• Riley Knebel L22 UVA  

• Owen Calderone L 23, LSUZaakir Khan L23, GMU

• Arthur Smink L23, BC

• Graham Haberle, L24 UVA

• Alex McMillan, L24 UVA

• Quinn Farland, L24, Wake Forest

SOCCER- 5

• Professional Soccer 1

• Kristian Fletcher L’23: Nottingham Forest FC (7-4-1-1) #46, 4 GP. 99 MIN. 

Swimming-2

• Ethan Tun L21, Carleton^ Senior, on Winter Break in the Florida Keys 

• Olaoluwedji Jones L24 American University^ freshman – swimming ROSTERED at meet – no results 

Cross-Country/Indoor Track

• Asim Hakim-Florian L23 Colgate;^  posted 

• Sam Cohen L24 Tulane ^ 

Wrestling-2

• David LaPrade, L23, Williams College^ (4-2), sophomore, 2-2 in 197# matches at RIT wins and losses by falls. 

• James Hanley, L24, Roger Williams^ (5-3), freshman, injured 

• Jonny Gherman, L19, 7^th/8^th grade wrestling coach St. Frances Academy, Roswell, GA