News
06/13/2023
Spring Athletics Roundup 2023
It’s been quite a spring season for the Poly Blue Devils!
Baseball
The Varsity Baseball team claimed both the 2023 Ivy League Prep Championship and the NYSAIS Championship title, the program’s eleventh state title in 15 years. The team, led by Coach Matt Roventini, was ranked thirteenth among all high school teams in the U.S.! This is the highest ranking of a baseball team in Poly history.
“It was a storied baseball season for the Blue Devils,” Roventini said. “The team finished the year 23-1 and a number 13 national rank by PBR (Prep Baseball Report). With wins over the likes of NJ powerhouses Delbarton, Don Bosco, and Bergen Catholic, the team also finished the IVY League schedule undefeated for the second consecutive year. The season was capped off by a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Stony Brook School in the NYSAIS Championship game.”
Softball
On their new state-of-the-art field, the Varsity Softball team led by Coach Renae Beauchman ended an undefeated season in league play by winning the 2023 Ivy League Prep Championship and the NYSAIS Championship title. Athletics Director Kym Carter said that Poly Softball is ranked 10th in the State for Class C.
“Softball had many many highlights,” said Beauchman. “It was a great year for us! I think the best highlights were during playoffs, Jordin Walker ’25 pitching great even in the rain against Rye Country Day. In Semifinals, we were tied with Dalton in the bottom of the seventh and Gianna Denis ’25 hit a ground rule double, got to third on a passed ball and Jane Littleton ’25 hit her in to win the game on a walkoff. Our championship game against Hackley, Jane was on second base and Sasha Lifton-Lewis ’23 laid down a beautiful bunt resulting in an errant throw, scoring Jane and putting us up 2-0.”
“Besides game play, this team knew how to have fun while competing, which was by far the best memories!”
Both NYSAIS championship games on May 24 for Baseball and Softball marked the first time two state title games were played on the Dyker Heights campus in a single day.
Track & Field
Across town, the Boys’ Track and Field team won the 2023 NYSAIS Championship at Icahn Stadium the same day. The program also claimed the 2023 Ivy Prep League title. The Girls’ Track and Field team presented a strong showing and finished in third place at the NYSAIS Championship.
“We had an awesome season on the boys’ and girls’ sides,” reports Coach Bridgette Ingram. “We are still in season preparing for our federation championship and the new balance nationals,” she said as of June 6. “Our boys won both Ivy champs and NYSAIS this spring season. The girls came in second at Ivys and third at NYSAIS.” The following athletes were slated to compete at federations:
- Jordan James ’25 200, 4×1, and 4×4
- Theo Drye ’23 200, 400, 4×1 and 4×4
- Kofi Rossi ’25 200, 400, alternate in 4×1 and 4×4
- Terrel Hood-Simeon ’23 100 and 4×1
- Izzy Leyton ’25 3k and 1500
- Zeraun Daniel ’23 High Jump
- Clayton Ward ’24 Long Jump
“Luke Gustafson ’23 had an incredible season in his first year of running track. He will also be an alternate in the 4×4. He gained valuable points for us in the Pole Vault as well. I wish we had another year with him as I know he would have gone under 50 seconds in the 400m!”
“On another note, we have qualified for New Balance Nationals in the following events:”
- Boys’ 4×2
- Boys’ 4×1
- Boys’ 4×4 is pending our meet this weekend
- Boys’ Sprint medley relay
- Boys’ Swedish sprint medley relay
- Zeraun Daniel ’23 High Jump
- Nina Harris ’24 High Jump
- Girls’ Sprint Medley
- Theo Drye ’23 – 400m
- Kofi Rossi ’23 – 400m
- Izzy Leyton ’25 – 3k
“Although we have a lot of seniors leaving, we still have a great team that is prepared to go after the same championships next year.”
Boys’ Lacrosse
The Boys Lacrosse team, led by Coach Lou Candel, won 17 games this season, advanced to the NYSAIS championship game where they battled every minute and lost in overtime to Hackley. And Coach Candel was honored by being named NYSAIS Boys’ Lacrosse Coach of the Year.
“The Poly Prep Boys’ Lacrosse team had its most successful season in over a decade finishing with.an outstanding 17-3 record,” Coach Candel reports. “They advanced all the way to the NYSAIS championship game where they lost a heartbreaker to top-seeded Hackley, 9-8 in OT. The team was led all season by a stellar group of 12 seniors who set the tone for this memorable season with their work ethic and commitment to excellence.”
Post-season awards include:
- USA Lacrosse All-American: Khari Freeman ’24
- Co-MVP’s: Will Macleod ’23 and Khari Freeman ’24
- Senior Leadership Award: Kai Sergeant ’23
- Most Improved Player: Trent Winston ’24
- All-Ivy Prep League First-team: Will Macleod ’23, Khari Freeman ’24, Lukas Archer ’25
- All-Ivy Prep League Second-team: Kai Sergeant ’23, Max Mackler ’24
- All-Ivy Prep League Honorable Mention: Zachary Ramseur ’24, Ben Hunter ’23, Sam Finnerty ’23, Trent Winston ’24, Billy Robb ’24, Zachary Pelson ’24, Cosmo Oliveira Evans ’23, Petros Dulos ’25, Jackson Pratt ’26
- NYSAIS Coach of the Year: Lou Candel
Girls’ Lacrosse
Girls’ Lacrosse advanced to the NYSAIS semi-finals in spring 2023.
Coach Lisa Beltramello shared highlights from Girls’ Lacrosse.
“Our quarterfinal NYSAIS win over Long Island Lutheran in the POURING rain. With a solid win over LuHi of 14-8, the team had an absolutely dominant performance in less than ideal weather. We made it on the news along with softball.”
- Eliza Schwarz ’23 was Team MVP, Neve Yair ’23 was Most Improved, and Ava Vitali ’25 won the Team Spirit Award.
- Eliza Schwarz, Kaia Scott ’24, and Sienna Klauss ’26 were named First Team All Ivy Prep League and Maeve Igoe ’23 was named Second Team All Ivy Prep League. Kaya Freeman ’26 received an honorable mention.
- 24 out of 26 players scored a goal this season.
- We ended with a 12-4 record (best record in five years), scored 223 total goals this season, had 172 total draw controls, 401 ground balls, and 78 caused turnovers as a team.
- Blue Devils in college! Eliza Schwarz is continuing her playing career at Hamilton College as one of three goalies on the roster.
Boys’ Tennis
The Boys Tennis team ended its season tied for first place in the Ivy Prep League and Poly’s number one single’s player, Vivek Laddha ’23, reached the semi-finals match in the NYSAIS Tournament.
Coach Jeff Amurao reports that the team had a stellar 13-2 W/L record and finished #1 in regular season standings, and were the #1 seed in the ivy Tournament, losing in the semis. “We had a win over every Ivy League Conference Boys’ Team,” Amurao said.He added, the team’s NYSAIS invitational tournament berths included: two in singles, two in doubles (the most of ALL independent schools). Highlights include:
- Vivek Laddha ’23, the #3 singles seed was a semifinalist in Invitational NYSAIS singles
- First Team All Ivy: Vivek Laddha ’23, Zac Kimmelman ’23
- Second team All Ivy: Jake Gil ’24, Tyler Jacobus ’23
“The boys had a tremendous season that was fueled by genuine friendship and team chemistry,” Amurao concluded. “We worked extremely hard from preseason through to our very last match and it showed in our overall season results. Though we did not win the Ivy Tournament, we finished the regular season at #1 and, in my view, over the course of the season, Poly Prep was the best team in the league this year. I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
Golf
Coach Alex Carter shared the highlights for the Varsity Golf teams:
Ivy Prep League play: Poly Golf finished in fourth place, with signature wins against Hackley and Collegiate – more important, we worked as a team!
Poly Girls’ Golf: Girls’ Golf is in its nascent stages in the Ivy Preparatory League, with the first year of play. Our girls’ team played Horace Mann in a scrimmage and tied them 1.5 to 1.5. It shows the dedication and work of Tesvara Jiang ’23, Keelin Walshe ’23, and Amber Dosik ’25.
All Ivy Team Selections: We have Noah Saivetz ’24 selected as first team All-Ivy and fourth overall. Eli Cut ’25 and Cooper Hansen ’23 were selected as Second Team All-Ivy.
NYSAIS Championship: at Hudson Hills Golf Course: Hayden Lewis ’23 finished sixth overall and will represent NYSAIS at the Federation Cup on June 11 at Bethpage Black golf course in Farmingdale, NY. He will face off against the top six golfers in the state: Catholic schools, NY-state public schools, NYC Public Schools Athletic League, and NYSAIS schools, respectively.
Families: A key component to our golf season is also our families! The support with pizza, encouraging emails, picking up students after a late night, and running golf clubs from the city back to Poly due to scheduling errors… all speak to their commitment, and we are super appreciative of that love, support, and attention.
“We have a strong core of golfers returning to Poly,” Carter concluded, “and I am excited to get to work and develop their love and competitiveness for the game!
Boys’ Volleyball
Coach Emily Kriebel reports that the Boys’ Volleyball season “started with a call to all boys at the school to come tryout for a fun new sport as we are trying to build up the boys’ program to the prestige similar to all other Poly programs.” “We got 12 young men to try out for our program this year. After losing 10 seniors last year, we had three returners: Tobias Smith ’23, Kai Otani Hudes ’23, and Wyatt Jung ’24.
This year was a year of learning and building from the ground up. The coaching staff and I broke down skills, taught rotations and systems of the game. The season started with a scrimmage against UNIS where the boys quickly found out that volleyball is harder than it looks! Each and every game we played, we learned new lessons, got smarter and the motivation to win and compete grew. By the tail end of the season, with many practices under our belts, we pulled off our first win in two seasons. Poly faced Berkeley Carroll on the road. We let the boys know that this match was going to be a dog fight. It could go either way and we have to remain focused, stay disciplined and keep our composure.
- Tobias Smith ’23 led the team in blocks and aces.
- Kai Otani-Hudes ’23 led the team in kills.
- Wyatt Jung ’24 led the team in assists.
- Andy Fu ’23 led the team in digs.
High school volleyball matches are played by best of 5. The first to win three sets takes it all. Set 1 was taken by Poly with a clean score of 25-18. Our confidence grew but we knew the job was not done. Set 2 was taken by Berkeley Carroll with a telling score of 25-15. Momentum went back to BC. Set 3 was also taken by Berkeley Carroll. They only needed one more to take the match completely. Set 4 was back and forth and Poly came out on top with a score of 25-20 to force a fifth and final set. Set 5 was grueling. Ultimately at 13-13 Tobias Smith went up to swing and strategically placed his hit to an open spot on the court putting us up 14-13. The last play of the game lasted over a minute. The boys were diving all over the place, blocking balls, attacking effectively. The final ball landed on BC’s side and the dog pile began. Poly’s first win in two seasons!
“To conclude, I would say that the year was interesting to say the least. We got a motley crew of 12 individuals who never touched a volleyball to a clean cut team with loads of potential. Watching these young men develop into volleyball players was the best part.”
