Successful Spring Season Comes to a Close

The River Dell Golden Hawks spring sports season came to an end last night following the Spring Athletic Awards ceremony and the final few members of the boys' and girls' track team competing at the State Meet of Champions in Old Bridge.

Track

For first year head coach Andrew Herman, the season was better than expected as both of his squads went 5-1 with the boys lone loss to Ramsey and the girls' to Mahwah. Aside from those two blips on the team's record, the track teams accomplished a great deal. And Herman was acknowledged as the North Patriot Coach of the Year.

The boys' team were the Big North Patriot Champions for the first year in the new league and also the Country Group championship. Picking up honors this year were in 1st Team All League: long jump James Canino, javelin Sam Becourtney, shot put Matt Koh and 200m runner Craig Marulis. Brad Hoey picked up two awards for pole vault (1st Team All League and 1st Team All County).

Highlighting the 2nd Team All League were: High Hurdle Kevin Connelly, Shot put Dan Messmer, Discuss Pat Sellers,200M Chris Bang, 3200M Stefan Schuster (So.) while Brandon Jurasin earned an All League honorable mention.

On the girls' side, the team was continually bolstered by the efforts of (shot put, discuss and javelin) and the 4-x-400 relay team of Cat McQuade, Samantha Schleiger, Paige Fernandez and Melissa Gibbons. The five Lady Hawks each earned 2nd Team All County honors and 1st Team All League.

Additional honors went to Caitlyn Gallagher in the high jump for 1st Team All League, Grace Behrens and laura Oh for 2nd Team All League and honorable mention to Bethann Kiely.

Lacrosse

The lacrosse program just completed its third varsity year and with it both teams competed in the County and State tournaments. This was the second consecutive year that the boys' team made an appearance in each tournament and for the girls' to take on their state opponents.

The Lady Hawks had their best start in the programs history with a 10-6 record having faced stiff competition from Old Tappan, Holy Angels, Northern Highlands and Bergen Tech. River Dell faced the Angels twice this season dropping a 15-8 match in the regular season and then three days later facing them again in the County tournament with a close 9-7 loss. The team took on the at the end of the season in states but could not overcome the Knights blistering defense.

The core seniors of the team Julia Boccanfuso and Nadia Bousada picked up 1st Team All League nominations along with Bousada being named to the All County Honorable Mention list. Returning juniors Rebecca Myers, and Emily Lawler earned All-League honors as well.

Moving up a division, the Golden Hawks had a tougher schedule this year taking on Pascack Hills, Pascack Valley, St. Joseph's Regional, and Indian Hills. The 8-8 record at first glance may show a team that broke even this season, but in reality was a team that continued to fight back and keep their losses to a close score.

John Sherlock, Justin Kuchar and Mike Neville were named 2nd Team All-League while long pole Silas Kim earned an honorable mention.

Golf

It was an amazing year for the Hawks golf team who went 22-4 and earned the Big North Patriot Championship and County Group Championship. The team was led by (1st team All League and 1st Team All County) but head coach Jose Ortiz and the rest of the team were just as much a part of the historic season.

Ortiz now holds the record of the most coaching victories in a single sport at River Dell with 441 wins and was named the Bergen County Coach of the Year. Rounding out the teams' honors are Scott Kim (1st Team All League and 2nd Team All County), Steven Osterlof and Anthony Gagliostro (2nd Team All League) and Max Barnes and Jack Schaefer (Honorable Mention All League).

Tennis

Next year's tennis squad will see the return of just two starters from the 6-13 and of 2011 - singles Dzan Harba and doubles Patrick Thane. 

New competition in the Patriot League kept the Hawks off their game with shutout losses from the hands of Bergenfield, Ramsey, Tenafly, Mahwah, New Milford, Cliffside Park, Fort Lee, and Pascack Hills.

In spite of that, the Hawks knocked off rival Westwood in the first round of the state tournament before falling to Pascack Hills. Harba was named 2nd Team All League and will be the captain of the 2012 team. Singles Andrew Bortnick earned Honorable Mention All League.

Baseball/Softball

This may have been the last season for the diamond superstars of Lady Hawks pitcher Chloe DeSancits and Golden Hawks second baseman Glenn "Rookie" DeMarrais, but each contributed to their team going out in style.

DeSanctis,  who has 100 career shut outs was named both The Record Athlete of the Week and . She has continually been named to the All League and All County teams over the past four years, this year earning 1st Team All League and 2nd Team All County alongside centerfielder Stephanie Caracozza.

Picking up All-League honors as well were: first baseman Joan Marie Massaro, shortstop Jordan Bastable and rightfielder Sara Recanati, all 2nd Team All League; and honorable mention to second baseman and leftfielder Lindsey Clark.

The Lady Hawks finished with a 20-6 record, competed in the County Tournament and State Tournament. In Counties, the Hawks made it to the Round of 16 before running into rival Ramsey and a 3-0 loss but came back two days later and returned the favor with a 1-0 win over the Rams and denied Ramsey the Patriot League title. The state tournament led River Dell to the quarterfinals and their rival Ramsey again after a mercy rule win over and a 2-1 victory over Kittatinny. But the Rams' wore down the Hawks in the in a 10-0 mercy win.

DeMarrais and the baseball team may not have made a County tournament run but instead focused on the State tournament in a tight 11-10 loss to North Warren in the first round. With a 14-12 season, the Hawks overcame inconsistency and the loss of several heavy hitters to come out with All League and All County nominations.

Outfielder Brandon Martinez was 1st Team All League and 3rd Team All County. Dylan Smith, DeMarrais and Ryan Duran were placed on the 2nd Team All League list with Bob Croonquist and Mike Oliver highlighting the All League Honorable Mention group.

Triple Crown

The evening also honored the Triple Crown achievements for those senior athletes that competed year-round for the Golden Hawks.

Overall 19 student athletes took to the field in each season wearing black and gold.

For the boys' they are: Kevin Baumann (cross country, indoor track, track), Andrew Calderon (football, inddor track, track), Kevin Connelly (football, indoor track, track), (football, indoor track, baseball), Aaron Jiji (soccer, indoor track, track), Silas Kim (football, indoor track, lacrosse), Dan Messmer (football, indoor track, track), Pat Sellers (cross country, swimming, track), Steve Sellers (football, indoor track, track) and Dylan Smith (football, swimming, baseball).

The Triple Crown Lady Hawks include: Julia Boccanfuso (cross country, indoor track, lacrosse), (cheering, cheering, softball), Laura Gibbons (field hockey, indoor track, track), Jill Hudson (soccer, indoor track, track), Kristi Intorre (cheering, cheering, track), Bethann Kiely (field hockey, indoor track, track), Cat McQuade (cross country, indoor track, track), Taylor Norton (cross country, indoor track, track), and Lauren Turner (cheering, cheering, softball).