Awards

Comets of fall shine on brightly

Fallsburg’s fall athletes are honored at evening ceremonies

By RICHARD A. ROSS

FALLSBURG, NY - In two separate awards ceremonies, the Fallsburg Central School District honored all its fall athletes on December 11.

Organized by athletic director Janet Carey, the evening’s festivities included a slide show put together by this writer, followed by remarks about the value of athletics and the worthiness of effort, regardless of winning and losing.

Each of the teams were brought to the stage while their coaches celebrated their collective efforts this past fall, and designated a pair of athletes for special recognition as the team’s Most Improved Player and most worthy of the Sportsmanship Award.

The night got going with modified girls soccer coach Sheila Anderman, who spoke about her pride in the team and their perseverance. “They never gave up,” she noted.

Anderman accorded the team awards to Nikki Ehrlich and Violetta Loarca.

Modified boys soccer coach Erica Knel referred to her team as “determined.” The team awards were given to Dustin Foersch and Daniel Justiniano.

Modified volleyball coach Andrea Milias lauded her team. In her second year as coach, Milias said that her players balanced their athletics with their academics. Many earned the distinction of being on the honor roll or the superintendent’s honor roll.

Milias gave the Sportsmanship Award to Isabel Mejia.

This was a special year as Fallsburg introduced modified football. Coach Russ Alger handed out the team’s most distinguished honor to Jimmy Bertholf, after discussing the accomplishments of each of the other team members.

At the conclusion of the modified ceremony, assistant principal John Evans and Carey handed out the scholar athlete awards to those who had made the honor roll and the superintendent’s honor roll.

Then it was time for the junior varsity/varsity ceremony. Once again, this writer addressed the assembled students and coaches before the slide show was presented to the appreciative audience.

Junior varsity girls soccer coach Tarra Straus gave the Sportsmanship Award to Jillian Alexander and the Most Improved Player to Caribel Mejia.

Junior varsity volleyball coach Lisa Wood described this fall as “a season of triumph,” citing the roles of many of her players in the team’s improving performance.

Wood doled out the Most Improved Player award to Autumn Rundle and the Sportsmanship Award to Jamie Stickle.

Junior varsity boys soccer coach James Hinton was not on hand, so Carey announced Billy Abronda as the winner of the Most Improved Player award and Byron Rodriguez for the Sportsmanship Award.

Finally, it was the varsity athletes’ moment to shine.

Girls varsity volleyball coach Christopher Barnes, who has been coaching for a quartet of seasons, said that it was “great to see such improvement in the team’s performance.” Barnes often heard positive things from officials and opposing team coaches. “Our serving came a long way,” he said. He cited Jocelyn Justiniano and Brittany Baldwin Hunter for their setting skills. Jessica Brown, Erica Hanger and Christine Justiniano were singled out for their fine hitting ability.

Barnes named Hanger as the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award and Hunter as the team’s Most Improved Player.

Boys varsity soccer coach Darren Kenney called 2006 “a season of change.” Kenney replaced outgoing coach Jeremy Levner and led a team that underwent a huge change in its roster after graduating a dozen seniors.

The team went 4-12, but nine of its losses were by one goal. Seniors Kenny Corley, Shane Weigand, Anthony Gonzalez and Joe Sep were honored. Bill Miller won the Sportsmanship award for the third straight year. The Most Improved Player award went to sophomore Colin Conway Whitaker, who unselfishly took over in net.

Girls varsity soccer coach Amanda Biccum waxed poetic about her team. She thanked Anderman and Straus for letting her borrow players because of her team’s diminished numbers.

Special thanks were accorded to super soccer mom Denise Miller McLemore. Biccum noted that it was a tough season, but not due to lack of talent, effort, skills or dedication.

“They’re the greatest bunch I could ask for,” said Biccum. “We barely won a game but I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Seniors Nicole McLemore and Ashley Baldwin Hunter were with Biccum for four years.

The team’s Most Improved Player was Amanda McAuliffe and the Sportsmanship Award was accorded to Demi Cruz.

Biccum got a signed soccer ball, an armful of flowers and a framed picture of the team. It was clear that the team had great chemistry and wonderful coaching despite its size.

Carey then talked about the varsity girls’ tennis team.

“We came from learning basic skills to winning our last three matches,” she said. Carey praised seniors Martha Baron and Samantha Vernooy. Baron was named as the Most Improved Player. She progressed to become the team’s second singles player and united with Patricia Singhto play top seed Middletown in the Section IX tournament. Carey had special words of praise for the team’s top player, Bianca Rappaport, who was hampered by a knee injury but played at Sectionals in 20-degree weather. She was chosen as the team’s Most Valuable Player.

All of the scholar athletes were called to the stage and presented certificates by Carey and Superintendent Ivan Katz. The ceremony provided a fitting coda to the fall season, as the Comets of fall now move on to brighten the skies of winter.