Awards

Winter rites of passage

Sullivan West honors its winter athletes at awards ceremony

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY - While few mourn the passing of winter, it is an integral part of the cycle of seasons that form the natural milieu of our lives. This past winter was a season rife with great sports activity and fine performances rendered by Sullivan West athletes.

The winter sports awards on March 21 began with a welcome by high school principal Margy Tenbus, during which she commended all of the athletes and paid homage to the seniors who completed their final winter sports season.

Then, Superintendent Alan Derry, a former athlete and coach, reminded the students that their playing days were far from over. Whether they continue to participate in organized athletics or not, the things garnered from their high school sports efforts are bound to serve them throughout their lives. Derry stressed the importance of learning to deal with losses as a way to manage some of life’s problems, which all of us must face in some form or other.

Prior to his slide show presentation that has become an integral part of Sullivan West’s athletic ceremonies, this writer shared some insights about the role that the much-maligned season of winter plays on a number of levels.

Although its weather is certainly not one of its selling points, winter serves as a backdrop for some of the year’s most intense athletics and also symbolizes the law of opposites that govern the universe. Winter’s cold helps us to appreciate summer’s warmth just as the pain of loss helps us to treasure the joys of success.

Another idea stressed was that winning cannot be the sole measure of success because ultimately there are so few winners. More aptly, the standard for success comes from the satisfaction of giving one’s best and the personal growth that results from meeting daunting challenges with focus and courage.

The slide show, entitled “A Winter Classic,” was a visual reminder of some of the storied moments of this past season that was extremely successful for the Bulldogs. Many of the slides contained quotes from famous athletes, writers and philosophers, which emphasized things that are part and parcel of being an athlete. Special homage was paid to the role of the family in its support of young athletes’ endeavors. Pictures of many of the current seniors with their parents were displayed while James Taylor’s song, “Shower the People You Love With Love,” played in the background.

Alpine coach Tom Clifford noted that the weather was his team’s fiercest adversary as skiers had to wait two and a half months before snow adorned the area’s ski hills.

Three skiers went to sectionals this year. Clifford honored his only senior, Kenny Rhodes, who will now set aside his skis and take up his golf clubs as soon as the snow melts. Stefan Levinson was the Lowest Scoring Male Skier. The Most Improved Male Skier was Justin Ziser.

Clifford presented the award for the Lowest Scoring Female Skier to Kellee Thelman. Cara Davies was named as the Most Improved Female skier.

Varsity basketball cheerleading coach Tara Brey named Kristen Wingert as the Most Improved Varsity Basketball Cheerleader and Ginger Pierce as the recipient of this year’s Leadership Award.

Junior varsity boys basketball coach George Rose extolled the efforts of his team and cited great team chemistry as a plus. Rose’s group features a number of rising stars who will soon get their chance to fill the varsity squad ranks, which will lose a host of fine players to graduation.

Varsity boys basketball coach Cliff Kelly spoke eloquently about the Bulldogs’ 13-7 season. All, save one, of the team’s losses came against John S. Burke Catholic (3) and Class A and Class AA schools including Monticello, Cornwall, Rondout Valley and Delaware Valley of Milford, PA.

Kelly thanked the parents for their support and spoke about the fine coaching staff that includes Gary Maas, Sean Welch, Bob Menges and is augmented by the great work done by Rick Ellison in the youth basketball program that runs on Saturdays. All of the Sullivan West varsity and junior varsity players act as coaches and referees for the younger kids who are just learning the fundamentals, but someday may play a role in the glorious world of Bulldog basketball.

Kelly cited the quarterfinal win over a tough O’Neill team as one of the highlights of the season. The Bulldogs beat the Raiders two out of three times this season.

Seniors Derek Hahn and Kevin Cappiello received additional honors beyond selection by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York (BCANY) to the All-Division IV team. Hahn received the Sullivan West award as Best Defensive Player. Cappiello was accorded the honor of being named as the team’s Most Valuable Player.

Erika Haray-Butcher then spoke about the girls junior varsity basketball team, which finished its season with a record of 12-4. She noted that the girls learned many lessons from the season, both on and off the court. She thanked varsity coach Ron Bernhardt and his assistant Kurt Scheibe for their help.

Bernhardt then spoke about the girls varsity 15-7 season that ended with a loss to defending Class B champion Highland, a team that hasn’t lost on its own floor in two years. Citing foul trouble by Sarah Lander as key in Highland’s resurgence in a game that Sullivan West seemed to have owned early on, Bernhardt recapped the season by noting that three of the team’s losses came against Burke, the top Class B team in Section 9, and the others were against Class A Cornwall and Class AA Middletown, PSAL’s Midwood and Delaware Valley, PA.

Bernhardt noted the team had a lot to be proud of. Injuries were a factor, including Erin Bernhardt’s ongoing recovery from a second torn ACL incurred last spring and Lander’s high ankle sprain that caused her to miss three games and return to action still hampered by its severity.

Bernhardt said that the season provided an important life lesson, the need to make adjustments. “There’s very little margin for error in Class B,” he said. Seniors Jenn Pitz, Donna Kelly, Patti Knack, Lauren Ellison and Bernhardt never got to that championship game the Bulldogs so desperately sought to play.

Next year’s team features the strong up-front presence of Katrina Graby, Rachel Houghtaling and Lander, but will need to be complimented by good guards who must now rise to fill in the ranks.

Rachel Houghtaling was named as Miss Basketball 2006-07 and Sarah Lander was the team’s Most Valuable Player. Both young women were named to the BCANY All-Division IV team.

Bernhardt then received a plaque from his niece and former standout player Beth Fanning for garnering more than 100 wins at Sullivan West. As a star on Bernhardt’s great Western Sullivan League 1996-97 Jeff-Youngsville champion team, Fanning noted that these last 100 wins at Sullivan West, which are part of the more than 300 wins that Bernhardt has tallied in his 20-year career that included stints at Delaware Valley, Sullivan County Community College and Liberty, are attributable to Bernhardt’s passion and commitment.

After assuming the reins at Sullivan West, Bernhardt began to build a great program by organizing AAU teams, team camps and giving up weekends to make basketball an all-year venture for his athletes. Fanning cited Bernhardt’s hard work and dedication as hallmarks that have helped him to forge teams that are powerful and competitive.

Indoor track, a sport Joe Seidl called “one for diehards,” was next. His team was comprised of three- quarters underclassmen ranging from eighth grade to sophomores, but despite their youth they ran like demons. The Dawgs went 6-3 in their division. The team’s seniors included Tara Brewer, Jessica Armstrong and Ashley Murphy.

The team featured a number of medallists at the Section 9 meet, including Sara Alsdorf’s silver in the 55 hurdles, Kathryn Manzi (silver) in the 300, Brittany Reddish (silver) in the weight throw and Rianne Erlwein (gold) in the 3000. The team gave Seidl a Sullivan West jacket to prove he was “one of them.”

Seidl used a point system to determine this year’s awards. Erlwein was the Top Scoring Winter Indoor Track Athlete and Reddish was the Top Scoring Indoor Field Athlete.

Coach Ron Bauer took the podium as the last presenter to extol the virtues of his boys’ indoor track team that emerged as Division IV and Section 9 champions. Bauer rattled off milestone after milestone, all of which are noted in the track coverage provided by this writer on www.riverreportersports.com this past season.

Both Donald Cooper (300 and high jump) and Jonathan Figueroa (55m) qualified for states and for the Eastern Regionals. Cooper competed in the nationals.

Cooper was the Section 9 champion in the high jump. The Bulldogs bested Tri-Valley in the hotly contested sectionals by dint of their fine relay teams. Bauer cited the fine performances of Will Schlott in the triple jump and Colin Seidl and Brett Cucci in the 3200 as part of the winning effort as well.

Naming this team as “the best indoor boys team I’ve coached,” Bauer noted that eight school records were broken, including Figueroa’s 8.4 in the 55, 8.1 in the 55 hurdles, Cooper’s 36.4 in the 300 and his mark of 6-3 in the high jump, Seidl’s blistering 4:33 in the mile and the record marks of the 3200 and 800 relay teams.

Cooper finished ninth in the Eastern States in the high jump.

For a photo album of the awards, click here.

To purchase copies of the “Classic Tale of Winter Slide Show,” or of team albums containing countless pictures from this past season, go to the front page of riverreportersports.com and click on photos and then click for a list of albums. Some of those albums will be posted in the coming days so revisit the site if you don’t see them right away. You can also send an e-mail to richardross@riverreporter.com for more information.