Kudos for SHS Student Athletes at 2023 Maroon and White Dinner

Spring Senior Athletes at awards dinner.A line of thunderstorms and heavy rain swept through Scarsdale at 3:15 on Tuesday afternoon June 6, less than an hour before the Maroon and White barbeque planned for 4 pm. The weather forced the festivities, photo-taking and dinner inside the cafeteria, where chairs had been assembled for the early awards ceremony. As Athletic Director Ray Pappalardi noted, the mother nature was not a big challenge for Scarsdale athletes who are flexible, strong and resilient.

The entire program was shifted earlier this year to accommodate some senior athletes who were to receive athletic awards from Con Ed later that same evening.

With the lacrosse team headed for the state tournament in Albany, where they will play Farmingdale, of the lacrosse team was absent from the ceremony, but there was still much to celebrate.

Before the dinner, senior athletes from each team gathered for photos, which you can see below.

A deejay and enthusiastic students made it difficult to hear anything in the cafeteria until the room quieted for the awards ceremony at 5:15 pm.

Unusual this year was the fact that two entire teams had won the state championships and the boys soccer team and the girls tennis team came to the front of the room first to received recognition and award plaques.

Hannah Feurerstein with the Timberger family.This week, in addition to the lacrosse team’s trip to Albany, the boys tennis team has also won the sectionals and regionals and will compete for the state title at Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Queens on Friday June 9, 2023.

Moving to the awards ceremony, Maroon and White along with the SHS athletic department had many awards for Scarsdale’s talented athletes.

Athletic Director Ray Pappalardi spoke proudly of the students accomplishments this year, including 70 All-League commendations, 19 All Section and two named All American. The boys golf, tennis and lacrosse team won the sectionals, and the girl’s flag football team were state champions. Three boys golfers competed in the state championships and two girls from the golf team will compete in the NYS Federation meet on June 11.

Maroon and White Presidents Joe Feldman and Amy Frank then gave a shout out to all the athletes and the parent volunteers and then began with the presentation of the Maroon and White awards.

First, the Timberger award, named for Maroon and White supporter Elizabeth Timberger was given to a student who played a supporting role on a team. This year’s award went to Hannah Feurerstein, the manager of the girls’ soccer team who was “always on time, went above the call of duty,” and was “selfless, dedicated and optimistic.” She will study sports management at Syracuse University.

The Nina Mooney Award is given to a senior female athlete who displays commitment, enthusiasm, spirit, concern for others and a positive work ethic. This year’s winner, Maddie Greco, played both field hockey and lacrosse and was a ConEd award winner. She will continue to play both sports at Union College.Maddie Greco received the Mooney Award.

The Nonie Knopp Memorial Award goes to a senior male athlete who display commitment, enthusiasm, spirit, concern for others and a positive work ethic. This year’s award winner, Colby Baldwin was captain of both the football and lacrosse teams. He was called, “the strongest player on the team,” and credited for his leadership, energy, and refusal to lose. He will continue to play lacrosse at Penn State.

Sue and Jerry Peppers came to the front to present awards to both a female and male athlete who “distinguished themselves through their dedication and hard work in games and practice, through their unselfish adherence to sportsmanship and team play, and through their active encouragement of all team members. The recipients of this award are also required to achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least a 3.5, as measured by the most recent grades available at the time the selection is made.”

Colby Baldwin with the Knopp family.This year’s female award was granted to Natalie Hu, a four year member of the tennis team who led her team through two back-to-back state championships. She plays first singles and was All League, All Section and a Con Ed Athlete. She will continue to play tennis at Tufts.

The male Peppers award went to All American soccer player Nico Galeano who has played on the team for four years while maintaining a 3.75 GPA. The Captain and midfielder took his team to the states this year. In addition to All League, All Section, All State and All American awards, he was named a Con Ed athlete as well. He will attend the University of Michigan.

The two teams that won the state championships were also called up for recognition.Nico Galeano and Natalie Hu with Sue and Jerry Peppers

The Girls’ Tennis Team, led by Coach Jennifer Roane won its second consecutive state championship.

Team members are:

Campbell Alin
Carly Alin
Kay Cottrell
Maya Cukierman
Emma Ha
Natalie Hu
Emily Hyman
Katherine Kendall
Hyunjin Lee
Giana Marks
Natasha Pereira
Jalyn Ryu
Yelena Sahakyan
Olivia Sun
Maya Vora

Girls Varsity Tennis TeamAnd the Boys’ Soccer team are state champions this year:
Here is the roster:

Head Coach Marcos Monteagudo Boys' Varsity Soccer Team
Assistant Coach Andrew Nagel
Assistant Coach Carlos Vasquez
Assistant Coach Peter Squiteirri
Jose Alava Marino Carlos Benitez
Filipe Chaladovsky
Matthew Choe - captain
Daniel Cisneros Lacruz
Carson Cohen
Oliver de la Fuente-Akersveen
Alexander Duval
Lorenzo Galeano
Nicolas Galeano = captain
Zachary Grossberg
Lucas Kantor
Leo Khang
Toby Khang
Justin LaingCollege bound athletes
Janghee Lee
Michael Marks - manager
Henry McAllister - captain
Ryan Nicholl
Henry Rifkin
Zachary Ruback
Santiago Rudloff
Hadley Schwall - manager
Lev Stahl
Andre Tsou
Sebastian Verrelli
David Wang
Bryant Wu
Benjamin Yacoub

Pappalardi then called up students who have committed to compete in college sports.

Here’s the list:

Class of 2023 Senior-Athletes Who Committed to Play in College
1. Colby Baldwin, Lacrosse, Penn State University
2. Mary Jane Callahan, Field Hockey, Muhlenberg College
3. Noah Chappell, Lacrosse, Amherst College
4. Zachary Friedman, Track & Field, Connecticut College
5. Madeleine Greco, Field Hockey and Lacross, Union CollegeScholar Athlete Honor Society
6. Natalie Hu, Tennis, Tufts University
7. Riley Iasiello, Field Hockey, Queens University of Charlotte
8. Toby Khang, Track & Field, American University
9. Harrison Lambert, Swimming, Binghamton University
10. Aidan Lee, Swimming, Williams College
11. Olivia Lee, Soccer, University of Pittsburgh
12. Andrew Lehrman, Lacrosse, Union College
13. Serena Li, Volleyball, Mount Holyoke College
14. Haochen Liu, Swimming, Williams College
15. Makenzie Mauro, Field Hockey, Wesleyan University
16. Brian Nicholas, Hockey, University of Michigan
17. Henry Rifkin, Track & Field, Colgate University
18. Alexandra Simon, Track & Field, Wesleyan University
19. Matteo McIver, Track and Field, Bryant University

More kudos went to students who have played three seasons of sports for all four years of high school. The Ironman Awards, went to:

1. Andre Couto Ironmen
2. Madeleine Greco
3. Samantha Hoexter
4. Toby Khang
5. Henry Rifkin
6. Allison Scheffler
7. Juliet Schneider
8. Alexandra Simon

Scholar Athlete Honor Society awards were granted to students who are dedicated, competitive and perform on the field and in the classroom with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

This year’s winners were: Isabelle Goldbahn, Charlie Hirschhorn, Frederick Kushnick and Alexandra Simon.

Raider Award WinnersLast, the Scarsdale Raider Award is given to students who “possess the attitude, work ethic, resilience, and leadership qualities to change the outcome of a game, culture of their team, or quality of a season by their presence.” This year’s awards went to Riley Iasiello, Mykaela Madoff and Henry Rifkin.

Here are photos of the senior athletes:

Boys Tennis: JP Figueiredo, Coby Gantcher, Ben Hyman, Sameer Kini, Dean Buonagurio, Michael MarksBoys Golf: Matthew Steuerman, Ari Lemisch, Matthew ChoeBaseball: Alex Vetrone, Patrick Vasilescu, Patrick Carroll, Tommy Chesnut, Logan Lynch, Liam Vasilescu, Colin Dunsky, Harrison Ruback, Ian Silberstein, Charlie BlockGirls Golf: Ellie BowenBoys Track: Zacharie Friedman, Zachary Feldman, Riaz Ahsan, Toby Khang, Henry RifkinFlag Football: Mattie Silberfein, Katie Han, Hannah FeuersteinGirls Lacrosse: Riley Iasiello, Maddie GrecoGirls Track: Ally Scheffler, Sophia Garcia, Alexandra Simon, Lauren Zoota

 Greco, Hu and Galeano also received ConEd Awards