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2015-2016 YEAR IN REVIEW


BOYS' TRACK

With last year's county meet as a guide, the Mercer County boys track and field championships seemed destined for a close finish. But with a 46-point margin of victory over second-place Princeton May 14th at Steinert, Trenton's boys proved that forecast to be way off. The Tornadoes won the 4x800-meter relay as well as the 400, 800, 400 hurdles, 4x100 and high jump to rack up 124 points, the most for any boys winner since 2009. Individual wins came from junior twin brothers Semaj (400, high jump) and Savion Willis (400 hurdles) and senior Deng Mu (800).

Pictured: Trenton's Christobal Vega - Sanchez hands off to Deng Mu.

GIRLS' TRACK

WW-P South's girls stayed on top for the third straight year. The Pirates' 127 points were the most since 2008. West Windsor-Plainsboro South won six events, taking the 4x800 relay and getting five individual wins, all from seniors Kathryn Schoenauer (long jump, 100 hurdles, 400 hurdles) and Christina Rancan (800, 1,600). The Pirates complemented those wins by scoring in 13 of the 18 events overall, including 10 of the 11 on the track.

Pictured: WW-P South's Serena Chang hands off to Mita Elan.

BOYS' TENNIS

The Pirates swept all five flights, led by Kabir Sarita's two-set win at first singles, and easily captured the team championship at the Mercer County Tournament at Mercer County Park on April 26. WWPS's Robert Siniakowicz won at second singles, and WWPS's Mathew Michibata won at third singles. Also contributing to the Pirates team victory was the first-doubles team of Mihir Singh and Alex Yang and the second-doubles team of Akul Telluri and Aditya Rav. WW-P South finished with 25 points. Princeton was second with 18 and West Windsor-Plainsboro North third with 16.

Pictured: WWPS singles player Kabir Sarita in a singles match against Princeton's Noah Lilienthal.

BOYS' LACROSSE

The Princeton Day School boys lacrosse team made it clear from the outset that it was not going to fall short in its third shot at the program's first Mercer County Tournament title. The Panthers jumped out to a four-goal lead in the first five minutes and the top-seeded team was well on its way to a 17-8 victory over third-seeded Robbinsville May 12th at West Windsor-Plainsboro North High. PDS maintained control throughout, sparked by five goals from Jonah Tuckman, who put in the 100th of his career.

Pictured: PDS players celebrate the program's first Mercer County Tournament title.

SOFTBALL

The Robbinsville High softball team did everything that Notre Dame did not, including hoisting the 2016 Mercer County Tournament championship trophy at Armstrong Field May 12th.The second-seeded Ravens, with three freshmen in the starting lineup, played an outstanding all-around game in taking a 6-1 win over the fifth-seeded Irish in the MCT championship game. It was a match-up of the last two champions, as Robbinsville won its second title in the last three years. Tournament MVP Sam Deck scattered seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out two.

Pictured: Robbinsville players cheer during the championship game.

BASEBALL

The expected pitchers' duel disintegrated into a hitting contest in the Mercer County Tournament championship game on May 10th at Arm & Hammer Park as Steinert defeated Nottingham 7-4. Jake Beyer broke a 4-4 tie when he led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run to left field. Spartan reliever Sean O'Boyle settled things down by retiring eight of the 10 players he faced and earned the game's Most Valuable Player honor.

Pictured: Steinert catcher Kenny Zahn talks to his pitcher Kyle Muller on a visit to the mound.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

Olivia Cleal scored three of the last four goals and Ali Natalicchio was a standout in goal as Notre Dame won its second straight county championship with a 13-10 victory over Hopewell Valley on May 7th. Cleale finished with six goals and the Irish also received two goals apiece from Kacey Kelly, Maddie Rizzuto and Lauren Kiszely while Jamie Larkin added one.

Pictured: The Notre Dame girls' lacrosse team don their championship t-shirts.

BOYS' GOLF / TEAM

This was the year in which other teams thought they had a shot to dethrone the king. But once again, it was the Peddie Falcons who soared the highest. Peddie had all four of its players who scored shoot in the 70s, with two place-winners, as the Falcons won their fifth consecutive team title on May 3rd. In cold, rainy conditions, the Falcons shot a 303, for a nine stroke win over runner-up West Windsor-Plainsboro North. Hopewell Valley finished third with a 318.

Pictured: The Peddie boys' golf team shows off its championship plaque.

BOYS' GOLF / INDIVIDUAL

Ben Perrine, playing where his West Windsor-Plainsboro North team calls home at the Mercer Oaks East Course, was the only player in red numbers Tuesday, as his two-under par 70 won the 2016 Mercer County Boys Golf Tournament championship. Perrine beat Pennington freshman James Bao by two strokes, to become the first non-Peddie golfer to take home individual honors since 2012, when North's Charles Cai won the title.

Pictured: Ben Perrine competes at the MCT.

GIRLS' GOLF / TEAM

West Windsor-Plainsboro North captured the Mercer County Tournament team title on April 28 at Mountain View Golf Course with a team score of 265. Its sister-school, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, finished second with a score of 279.

The Knights received the following scores: Jacquelyn Cai, 82; Kaley Bohling, 88; Aruja Patel, 95; Shalu Bhardwaj, 98; Ritu Vyas, 100; Shreya Jahagirdar, 105.

Pictured: West Windsor-Plainsboro North's Jacquelyn Cai tee's off on the 10th hole.

GIRLS' GOLF / INDIVIDUAL

Olivia Ling, a West Windsor-Plainsboro High South junior, had a thrilling birdie-birdie finish for a round of 80 and a two-shot victory over Lawrenceville Prep's Serena Chen and West Windsor-Plainsboro High North's Jacqueline Cai. The drama played out under gray skies and a tough Mountain View GC course that played longer than 5,373 yards and more difficult than the 73 par.

Pictured: WWPS's Olivia Ling pitches up to the green on the 16th hole.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

Game MVP Troy Jones made key free throws to seal a 70-62 win for Notre Dame to foil Trenton Catholic Academy's comeback bid in the Mercer County Tournament championship game on February 24th at the Sun National Bank Center. Manny Dixon added 14 points for the Irish. Richmond Aririguzoh led Trenton Catholic with 19 points and Marquise Bell chipped in 15 points for the Iron Mikes.

Pictured: Notre Dame players celebrate their victory with the Irish fans.
GIRLS' BASKETBALL

For the second time in three years, the Notre Dame girls basketball team captured the Mercer County Tournament championship. Seniors Sam Widmann and Nneka Ezeigbo led the way when the second-seeded Irish rolled over top-seeded Ewing, 69-57, in the championship game February 24th at the Sun National Bank Center. Widmann finished the game with 18 points and keyed the Irish defense that helped force 28 turnovers.

Pictured: Members of the Notre Dame Irish celebrate their victory.
ICE HOCKEY

The Hun School became the first team to win three straight MCT titles with a 6-2 win over the Notre Dame Irish in the finals on February 19th at Mercer County Park. Coach Ian McNally's Raiders got an outstanding game from Most Valuable Player Jon Bendorf, who finished with two goals and three assists and had a hand in the Raiders first five goals. Hun also got a hat trick from Blake Brown, solid goalie play from Diesel Pelke and an impressive performance from their special teams.

Pictured: The Hun School celebrates its third consecutive MCT title.
WRESTLING

Hopewell Valley sent eight wrestlers to the finals and won three titles on the way to a dominant 272-232.5 margin of victory over second-place Robbinsville to win a sixth straight team title on January 30 at Robbinsville High. The Bulldogs were relentless all weekend, shaking off the effects of their recent 30-20 loss to Robbinsville to dominate the competition. They got individual titles from Austin Roskos at 152, Ben Markulec, at 195, and Will Ortman at 220.

Pictured: Hopewell Valley's Will Ortman en route to a 2-0 victory at 220 lbs.
GIRLS' SWIMMING

Under the leadership of Abbey Berloco, who earned her second straight MVP award, the Princeton girls swim team dominated the finals at the Mercer County Championships to secure its fourth consecutive team title Saturday. The Little Tigers won six of the eight individual events and two of the three relays to total 270 points at West Windsor-Plainsboro North. Notre Dame totaled 221 points to finish second. Coming in third was Hightstown with 139, followed by Pennington in fourth with 120 and West Windsor South and Steinert in a fifth-place tie with 101.

Pictured: Abbey Berloco of Princeton swims the Girls 400 Freestyle final
BOYS' SWIMMING

The Irish boys took home their second straight team title Saturday afternoon at West Windsor-Plainsboro North, totaling 266 points and ending the event by winning the 400-meter freestyle relay with a time of 3:37.66 to eclipse its own meet record set in 2014. Notre Dame finished 61 points ahead of second-place West Windsor-Plainsboro South, which played runner-up to the Irish for the second straight year and totaled 205 points. Princeton (181), West Windsor North (160) and the Pennington School (123) rounded out the top five.

Pictured: Ryan Iosim of Notre Dame swims the Boys 200 IM
DIVING

For the second straight year, Lawrence's Adam LeCompte and Hun's Victoria Shay captured Mercer County diving championships. LeCompete rolled to a title with an overall score of 253.00, while Shay edged out West Windsor-Plainsboro South's Elena Li, 233.55-218.25 for the diving title on January 27 at Montgomery High School. LeCompete and Shay both improved their marks from last season in the victories. It was the third straight county title for Shay.

Pictured: Victoria Shay performs one of her dives.
BOYS' SOCCER

The fourth-seeded Red Raiders won their second county title with a 3-1 win over second-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro South on October 29th. Pennington controlled the midfield, and the play, for all of the first half, and got on the board in the 19th minute of play on a rocket from Paulo Magalhaes. Tunji Onitiri and Eric Broadway also scored for Pennington.

Pictured: Pennington senior co-captain Satchel Cortet, left, during the first half of the MCT Chammpionship game.
GIRLS' SOCCER

The fourth-seeded Irish captured their first-ever MCT soccer title at Hopewell Valley's Ackerson Field on October 29th. The fourth-seeded Irish, just as they did in the semifinal game against Princeton Day, jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead. The goal came when senior Madison Phillips converted a ball headed to her by teammate Julia Panko in the seventh minute. From there, Notre Dame coach Ken Mason's vaunted Irish defense took over.

Pictured: The Irish celebrate their 3-0 win against Allentown in the MCT soccer final.
FIELD HOCKEY

Sophomore Sierra Wojcik's goal midway through the first overtime delivered Allentown its first MCT title in six years and Robbinsville its first loss of the fall, 1-0. Melanie Scibilia, who had a goal in each of the first three MCT games, including the only goal in the semifinal win over Princeton two days earlier, was named the tournament MVP.

Pictured: Allentown celebrates its 1-0 OT win against Robbinsville in the MCT field hockey final.

GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY / INDIVIDUAL

Toward the end of the 5K race, Lauren Kroepfl, a junior from Robbinsville took advantage of the steep downhill portion of the terrain of Thompson Park, and then she powered through the uphill transition to create separation from WW-P South's Christina Rancan. Kroepfl took first place in the Mercer County cross country girls championships with a time of 18:24. Kroepfl was the only girl to finish with an average mile of under six minutes (5:55). Allentown's Devon Hoenlein, Hopewell Valley's Peri Pavicic, and Princeton's Chloe Taylor (19:41) respectively crossed the finish line after Kroepfl and Rancan.

Pictured: MCT Girls Champion Lauren Kroepfl of Robbinsville

GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY / TEAM

The West Windsor-Plainsboro South team captured their fourth team title in a row October 23rd at Thompson Park with a score of 48, while Princeton, Peddie, Robbinsville and Lawrenceville rounded out the top five in the field of 14.

Pictured: Christina Rancan, a senior who finished second overall, helped the West Windsor-Plainsboro South Pirates capture the team title.

BOYS' CROSS COUNTRY / INDIVIDUAL

West Windsor-Plainsboro South's Tim Bason captured the boys varsity title with a time of 15:42 and average mile of 5:03 at Thompson Park. Bason was the runner-up in last year's county race as a junior. Robbinsville's Zach Michon, Princeton's Alexander Roth, Robbinsville?s Rich Kasper, and Hopewell Valley's Teddy Meredith rounded out the top five.

Pictured: West Windsor-Plainsboro South senior Tim Bason who turned in a winning time of 15:42 on October 23rd.

BOYS' CROSS COUNTRY / TEAM

On October 23rd at Thompson Park, Robbinsville ended WW-P South's record run of four straight Mercer County titles by taking first place with a score of 74. Princeton took second, WW-P South earned third, WW-P North earned fourth and Notre Dame captured fifth. Rounding out the field were Trenton Central, Hopewell Valley, and Lawrenceville, respectively.

Pictured: Team members of the Mercer County Tourmament Champion Robbinsville Ravens.

GIRLS' TENNIS / TEAM

The Pirates lived up to their top billing, reaching the final of all five flights and winning three titles in taking the team title at the Mercer County Tournament on September 30 at Mercer County Park. West Windsor-Plainsboro South finished with 28 points. Last year's champion, Princeton, was second with 21 1/2, followed by Hightstown and West Windsor North tied for third with 17 1/2. Princeton Day School finished fifth with 17 points.

Pictured: West Windsor-Plainsboro South's Angela Weng during her 2nd singles finals match.

GIRLS' TENNIS / INDIVIDUAL

West Windsor-Plainsboro South's Claudia Siniakowicz won a hard-fought battle against PDS' Renee Karchere-Sun, the second seed. In the final of the Mercer County Tournament at first singles, each reached into her toolbox repeatedly to find the resources to outlast her opponent and came up with a variety of impressive shots. Second-seeded Karchere-Sun took the first set, but Siniakowicz, the top seed, controlled the next two and won the coveted crown, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Pictured: West Windsor-Plainsboro South's Claudia Siniakowicz making a return in her 1st singles finals match.