By Young Se Choi ’18, Staff Writer

Men’s Tennis

Men’s Tennis, led by coach Arky Crook, is Newark Academy’s flagship and this year looks to continue forward in this role. Coming off an exceptional 26-4 record last spring, the tennis team will attempt to repeat the same success. This year’s team will be led by senior singles players Chris Paradis, Dylan Flanagan and Jonathan Holtzman, all of who will be playing tennis in college. The team also returns starting doubles players Noah Sellinger and Thomas Ito and welcomes 5-star freshman Alex Kotzen into the fold. Junior player Brian Peterson expressed his confidence in this year’s team when he said, “I think there’s a massive amount of potential for this year to be one of the greatest seasons of all-time. When you look at the returning seniors for this season, there is no reason why we can’t repeat or even improve upon last year.” With the quality of this year’s roster, expect the tennis team to compete for the conference, county, and state titles, while also battling for the ultimate prize of a Tournament of Champions victory.

Women’s Lacrosse

This year’s women’s lacrosse team is looking to rebound from a tough rebuilding year last year where they held a 2-13 record. The team has reasons for optimism, as 16 of last year’s 20 players are returning. One of the key players for this year’s team will be Kim McGrath, who received All-Prep B Honors at the end of last season. Her leadership, as well as the leadership of other seniors and juniors, will be essential to steering this team in the right direction. Defender Maddie Christmann ’18 expressed confidence in the team saying, “Last year’s performance was not a reflection of our talent. While our strengths as a team weren’t necessarily shown through our record last year, I think we’ll improve this year with a strong youth base.” The women’s lacrosse team will definitely be a team to watch as they have the potential for drastic improvement from last year.

Mens’ Lacrosse

Like the men’s tennis team, the men’s lacrosse team is coming off a strong season as well. Coming off of a 10-5 record last year, this year’s senior captains, Josh Karp and Sam Rollenhagen, will look to continue much of the same success. This year’s team will be built around the strength of its defense, which is led by Colgate-bound star Josh Karp and experienced defensemen in Joe Sokolowski, Kiran Damodaran and Jack Wright. Despite losing three key players (and 100-goal scorers) in Brandon Dempsey, Tommy Damiano, and Riley Kolek, this year’s team has a strong foundational youth in returning sophomores Jack Wright, Sam Enweonwu, and Tyler Mudge. The team’s juniors, Michael Connolly, Kiran Damodaran, Ben Bollinger, and Michael Laks, will be looking to embrace larger roles this year, especially with Michael Connolly returning from injury as this year’s likely faceoff man. Moreover, there will be a number of new experienced freshmen who should add some depth to the team. Captain Sam Rollenhagen spoke about the importance of having youth on the lacrosse team when he stated, “Having young players on the team is extremely important for us. They are the future of the program and it’s important to introduce them to the offense to set up for the future.” The lacrosse team this year will look to build on a successful campaign from last season, in which they won the Kimber conference.

Softball

This year’s softball team is looking to improve upon last year’s 8-16 record. This year’s team will be captained by seniors Rebecca Mandelbaum and Paige Cooper and should drastically improve after losing just one senior. With a talented group of returning players supplemented by a strong freshman class, led by Sam Burggraf, the team has sky-high potential. A few players to look out for will be senior infielders Rebecca Mandelbaum, who has committed to Brown for softball, and Sophie Rosenberg, alongside sophomore ace Mallory Shaw. Catcher Libby Stein ’18 echoed many others’ belief in the team when she stated, “A lot of people may think we will have a poor season because of our tough schedule this year, but I think we are going to have a really strong season with the addition of a lot of new freshmen.” This year’s softball team will undoubtedly be interesting to watch, as their new roster has improved with new freshmen faces and a new addition to the coaching staff.

Baseball

Over the past years, the baseball team has been one of the most successful sports teams at Newark Academy. Not only did last year’s baseball team finish with a strong 19-13 record, but they were also crowned North Jersey, Non-Public B sectional champions. However, the team is entering a transition year as the team faces the loss of four seniors from last year’s class, highlighted by star captains shortstop Nick Martino and ace pitcher Mike Gibbons, who now plays at Lehigh. Even more disruptive, highly successful head coach Frank Dasti left the team over the offseason and was replaced by Dennis Sasso Jr. and his brand new coaching staff. The team will once again be competing in the SEC American division, one of the top conferences in the state of New Jersey, and Coach Sasso will have his hands full right away. In the absence of Gibbons and Martino, returning starting pitchers Miles Park 16’ and Anthony Giachin 17’ have a huge void to fill on the mound and at the plate. Last year, Anthony had a breakout season with a stellar batting average of .407 as well as an excellent pitching record, earning him a First-Team American SEC selection. Hopefully, he will be able to replicate or even improve upon last year’s performance. Senior captains Miles Park, Elias Neibart, and Jason Cohen will look to provide leadership to a team that has a lot of potential. Anthony weighed in on the team and his role saying, “With Mike and Nick graduating last year, I think there is some pressure on me to perform at a high level, but I’m definitely up for the challenge. I also think we have a lot of strong players on our roster that can hopefully step up this year to fill the void.” Hopefully, this year’s baseball team will be able to emulate the same success that they have been enjoying over the last few seasons.

Track and Field

The 2016 men’s and women’s track and field team will look to build on their successful campaign from last year, as both the men’s and women’s track teams enjoyed strong seasons. Both teams finished with strong records, breaking both school and personal records along the way. Vicki Li ’18, one of the many individuals to achieve personal records, spoke about this season’s prospects saying, “I think we have a very strong roster for both the men’s and women’s team. A lot of our starters and key players from last year are returning, so that’s always great for any team.” Senior captain Josh Martin was similarly confident, stating, “I’m really excited for the track and field team this season. I think we have an even stronger roster this season because of the amount of depth we have on our team. We have a lot of strong athletes coming in who are seniors, juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen.” With a massive amount of positivity coming from the players, it looks like the track and field team will have another successful season this year.