Boys Track
Coach: Michael Glennon
Key Returning Players: Justin Cox, Jake Simon
2013 record: 5-2
According to sophomore Jeffrey Santos, the boys track team is depending on several strong athletes as well as cohesive bonds amongst teammates to lead them to a winning record this upcoming season.
“We are all good friends and all thrive off of each others successes,” Santos said. “We expect to win every meet or do well in every meet to the best that we can.”
Santos emphasized that the close team bond should help the team win as many meets as possible. Along with the fact that the team has talent in every aspect of the competition, Santos said they hope to be difficult to beat.
“We’re a well rounded team and have at least two good athletes in each event,” Santos said. “We want everyone to perform to the best of their abilities and show progress throughout the season.”
Girls Crew
Coach: Lenni Walters
Key Returning Players: Halle Wong, Celia Cummiskey, Camille Newsom
The girls crew team is counting on its large size and consistent dedication to the sport to fulfill their goal of sending a boat to nationals, junior Abigail Herscovici said.
“As a team we’re really committed, probably half the team rows all three seasons of the year,” Herscovici said. “We work hard and that makes our team special.”
According to Herscovici, the increase in experienced rowers should help improve the team’s chances of making nationals and sending out faster boats than in previous seasons. She also said that the team plans to have three boats and possibly a fourth, whereas last year they struggled with filling three boats.
“We have 32 rowers which is really good,” Herscovici said. “It’s a good atmosphere. Everyone’s there because they want to be there and we are all working hard together to accomplish something.”
Boys Crew
Coach: Katy Ruderman
Key Players: Jordi Cabanas, Julien Mahler
According to senior Robert Richards, the return of last year’s Nationals winner Jordi Cabanas, along with the team’s strong work ethic, should propel the boys crew team to another victory at States.
“We have pretty high expectations,” Richards said. “Our goal is to win states, which we did two years ago. We want to repeat that and also send a lot of kids to nationals. We sent a good amount of kids last year, but this year we want to send a lot more.”
The team finished second in States last year, sent six kids to nationals, and came back with two national champions. According to Richards, the best thing about the upcoming season is the thought of States looming ahead and knowing that the hardworking squad has a lot of potential to win.
“Everyone on the team is pretty dedicated,” Richards said. “Everyone putting in extra hours in the morning and dedicating their entire weekends makes it a joy to be on the crew team.”
Girls Track
Coach: Lee Eddy
Key Returning Players: junior Maya Shashoua, junior Spikey Freeman, senior Libby Doyle, junior Anya Gorodentsev
2013 record: 4-3
According to senior and co-captain Alia Buckner, the girls track team hopes to prove that a significant decrease in participants will not hinder their success, but instead improve the team atmosphere.
“We obviously want to have the best record we can have, but one of our goals for the season is to make it more of a team,” Buckner said. “We want to have a lot of team bonding to help everyone get to know each other, improve and work to the best of their ability.”
Buckner believes that the fact that the number of athletes went down from 90 last year to 70 this year can help improve the team chemistry and atmosphere.
“This year there are a lot less people,” Buckner said. “Last year spring track was huge, which was nice, but also kind of overwhelming because most of the team didn’t even know each other’s names. It’s going to make it easier for us to be closer as a team.”
Rugby
Head Coach: Craig Mackenzie
Record: 5-3
Key Players: Jack Miller, Braxton Johnson, Bruce Phok
Junior Devyn Perkins said he has high hopes for the rugby team due to a new head coach, a strong family bond and plenty of preseason practice.
“I think it will work well because he’s in the military, so the workouts will be very rigorous,” Perkins said of the team’s new coach. “He’s been playing rugby for 16 years, so it’ll be very good. I just think having someone who’s been in the military, who’s had such strict rules, will make it a little more structured.”
The team’s close ties will help in a sport with such a strong collaborative emphasis, Perkins said. The extreme dedication to the team will also help bring them to new levels of playing.
“I think it’s so much more special compared to other sports because it’s a real family bond,” Perkins said. “We have great chemistry and that’s what makes us a good team. We’ve had preseason throughout the whole year. Most teams it starts the season before, but we’ve had preseason over the summer, we’ve had club leagues, we’ve had preseason during my football season and we’ve also had winter workouts. Plus, we go to the captain’s house and have dinners.”
Sailing
Head Coach: Will Kit
Record:
Key Players: senior Jake Rizika, junior Gabby Rizika
Similar to previous years, the sailing team got a head coach past the start of the season, meaning the varsity team took the role of teacher to the novice sailors.
“It’s going to make it harder to get started,” Junior Nick Karnovsky said. “We have to practice on our own. It means that we’ll have to fill in with our own knowledge a lot more than we have in the past. It’ll be more reliant on ourselves.”
The varsity mentorship was key to the success of the team in the past, but Karnovsky said it was more intense at the start of this season.
“The varsity has always really helped coach the JV because we only have one coach,” Karnovsky said. “But this year, we’re going to have to designate time to practice separately, so we can work on both our own tactics and then help the JV team. It’s going to be a much bigger commitment for us.”
Boys Tennis
Head Coach: Nick Pero
Record: 12-1
Key Players: Sophomore Alex Chin, sophomore? Drew McCarthy, Alex Johnson
With math teacher and former JV coach Nick Pero now as the head coach, the boys tennis team is better organized than previous years, junior Theo Tamayo said. He said the team likes and respects Pero, making the coaching transition easy.
“In past years it’s been very difficult for underclassmen to challenge their way up, and this year we’ve already had four or five challenge matches,” Tamayo said. “Each player has played at least two matches at this point in the season to determine their place on the team ladder. That had not happened in past years. He’s doing a good job of that now.”
Tamayo said the team is aiming to be at the top of the Bay State Conference this year. He also said Pero is working on creating a closer community within the team.
“By nature, tennis is pretty individual unless you are playing doubles,” Tamayo said. “But it’s fun to play on a team where it can be less individual and more of a team sport. I think Mr. Pero is trying to create a team environment.”
Alex Friedman and Noa Dalzell can be contacted at [email protected].
