TOWN TOPICS, PRINCETON, N.J., WEDNESDAY, mARCh 23, 2016 • 32
Winter Review Continued from Preceding Page
ice in helping the Hun and PDS teams enjoy memorable campaigns, Bendorf and Fletcher are the joint choice as the top male performer this winter. Top Newcomers n assessing his Stuart Country Day School basketball team coming into the season, Justin Leith felt that freshman Bey-Shana Clark would make an immediate impact. “She is just tremendous inside,” asserted Leith of Clark. “Certainly in the next couple of years she is going to be a very high level player, not just for Stuart but in general.” With Clark producing a
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number of double-doubles with her scoring and rebounding prowess in the paint, Stuart got off to a 9-0 start. “It has been pretty smooth,” said Clark, reflecting on the transition to high school ball. “I think I have gotten a lot better. I play AAU and I am doing marvelous now.” Clark kept getting better as the season went on, ending up leading the team in points (15.7 a game) and rebounds (5.3 a game) as the Tartans went 19-9 and advanced to the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals. Emerging as an inside force in her debut campaign, Clark earns the nod as the top female newcomer.
The Princeton High wrestling team boasted a number of battle-tested stars as it entered the 2015-16 campaign, including junior James Verbeyst, senior Dave Beamer, junior Kyle Angelucci, junior Ethan Guerra, and senior Noah Ziegler. But a pair of freshmen, Daniel Monahan at 113 pounds and Alec Bobchin at 120, started turning heads for the Little Tigers. “They have come in and have hit the ground running as freshmen,” said PHS head coach Rashone Johnson. “It is not too often where you can get freshmen who can come in and you can count on those guys to win for the most part. They just keep on going and going. I would say that as freshmen they come in with their experience and they have wrestled like veterans.” Bobchin, for his par t, emerged as one of the top freshmen in the area, going on to win the title at 120 pounds at the Patriot Invitational and placing first at 120 in the Mercer County Tournament. He ended up with a 20-4 record in his debut campaign. For coming through like a veteran on the way to a county title, Bobchin is the choice as the top male newcomer of the winter season. Top Coaches n his first season at the helm of the Stuart Country Day School basketball program in 2014-15, Justin Leith was looking to change the culture of the team. Embracing a work ethic and deepened commitment to the game, the Tartans showed progress as they went 11-16. Coming into this winter, Leith was looking for his team to take the next step. “The expectations have really been solidified and what is great is that now we have some new kids and the culture is starting to be established,” said Leith. “The older kids bring them in, it is not me, and they are going to individuals, saying
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TOP PRODUCER: Hun School boys’ hockey player Jon Bendorf controls the puck in a game this season. Junior forward Bendorf starred as Hun won its third straight Mercer County Tournament title. Bendorf, who was named the MVP at the county tourney, ended up with a team-high 46 points this season on 20 goals and 26 assists as the Raiders went 17-8-2. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
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hey this is the way we do things here, which is really fun to be a part of.” With the addition of precocious freshman forward BeyShana Clark and smooth sophomore transfer guard Jalynn Spaulding and the leadership from its trio of seniors, Kate Walsh, Harley Guzman, and Rose Tetnowski, the Tartans started having fun right away, winning the George School (Pa.) Invitational to open the season and getting out of the gate at 9-0. “The thing I am happiest about is we are getting better every day, I don’t care about the record as much; I am not even thinking about that,” said Leith, reflecting on the team’s sizzling start. “We certainly have games this year that would be a stretch for us to win so I know that may come. As long as we are getting better every game along the way, that is what matters. “ While the Tartans hit some bumps in the middle of the season, they made a big step forward in the Mercer County Tournament. Showing resolve, fourth-seeded Stuart defeated 13th-seeded Trenton High 49-45 in a first round contest, holding off a late rally from the Tornadoes. “I don’t know when the last time Stuart advanced in the MCT so that was one of our goals this season,” said Leith, whose team fell in the county quarters and ended the season at 19-9. “We talked about it and we accomplished that goal and we are happy with it.” Getting the Tartans to accomplish its goal of daily improvement on the way to a sparkling record makes Leith the choice as the top coach of a female team. When Paris McLean stepped down as the head coach of the Princeton Day boys’ basketball team, the school’s Director of Athletics, Tim Williams, didn’t have to look far for his replacement. Having served as the boys’ hoops head coach at the Louisville Collegiate School for nine years before coming to New Jersey in 2011, Williams decided to assume the reins of the program himself. With the Panthers coming off a 5-17 season in 201415, Williams found players ready for change. “Things have been real positive, it has been really encouraging to see the way the kids have picked up things,” said Williams. “They are like a bunch of sponges, they do whatever we ask them to do. They go right to it and have a lot of enthusiasm. I have heard from a lot of people around who poke their head into our gym and tell me there is a lot of energy in the gym and that is exactly what we are going for.” After starting 5-5, PDS caught fire, winning eight of its next 10 games to bring a 13-7 record into the state Prep B tournament. “The guys that were returning, the new guys that came in have really bought
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COACHING THEM UP: Princeton Day School boys’ basketball head coach Tim Williams addresses his players in a team huddle during the state Prep B final in February. PDS won the title as it edged Morristown-Beard 66-62 in overtime in the championship contest. It was the first state Prep title for the boys’ program since 1999. The Panthers ended the winter with a 16-8 record, more than tripling their win total from the previous season when they went 5-17. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) into what we have been asking them to do,” added Williams, reflecting on the team’s late surge. “That has been the key, they have been really receptive to the things we have been asking them to do. I think they have really improved incrementally throughout the whole season.” Seeded first in the Prep B tourney, PDS lived up to that ranking, topping fourthseeded Wardlaw Hartridge 63-44 in the semis and then edging third-seeded Morristown-Beard 66-62 in overtime in the final, winning the first state Prep title for the boys’ hoops program since 1999. “We had some modest goals at the beginning of t he season ; we t hought about a state championship but I think it was way out there,” said Williams, whose
team also advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mercer Count y Tour nament and ended the winter with a 16-8 record. “The guys really started to solidify and think about what they were doing and how well they were doing it and I thought this could be a reality for us and we were working for it. I think the buy-in, the fact that ever yone has subjugated themselves to some extent for the team with a bunch of new guys and a bunch of returning guys but who were young. I couldn’t be more happy. I have had so much fun coaching these guys. It has been wonderful.” For getting his players to sacrifice and emerge as a championship team, Williams is the pick as the top coach of a male team this winter. —Bill Alden
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CHAPEL
HOLY WEEK CONCERT IN THE CHAPEL
Wednesday, March 23 at 8pm
“The Stations of the Cross” by Marcel Dupré with poetry of Paul Claudel and Ken Cowan, Organist
EASTER SUNDAY
Thursday, March 24 at 8pm
Sunday, March 27 Worship Service at 8am
GOOD FRIDAY
Worship Service at 11am
MAUNDY THURSDAY
Service held in the Chancellor Green Rotunda
Friday, March 25
The Seven Last Words of Christ at 12pm Tenebrae Service at 8pm
with Rev. Theresa S. Thames
with Rev. Dr. Alison L. Boden
Hallelujah Service at 1:30pm
with Rev.Theresa S.Thames in Green Hall 1-C-6 These services are sponsored by Princeton University’s Office of Religious Life.