Crusaders Dominate at Winter Track Meets

Bergen Catholic received an inspired performance from its sprint medley relay team of Kyle Ellerson, Eddie Dehais, Anthony Leithauser, and Matt Morano during a recent meet as the quad-team propelled themselves to a dominant first place finish in 3:52.2.

The Crusaders' young track athletes got the chance to show their immense talents at the Big North Frosh/Novice track meet as the sophomore 4 x 400 team of Jelani Garvin, Eddie Dehais, Anthony Leithauser, and Bryan Castro placed 1st overall, while Garvin also placed 3rd overall in the 55 meter race.

The talented freshmen class saw Vince Karabatsos finish 1st overall in the shot put, and Derek Wafer finished in 1st place in the pole vault.  The 4 x 400 relay team of Alex Yoo, Darius McDowell, Steve Pirro, and Anthony Finocchairo placed 3rd.

Indoor Track

At the North Jersey Invitational in Hackensack, the Lady Hawks placed second overall behind rival Ramsey in Division B. Noreen Byrne ran the 55HH in 10 seconds flat; the 4x400 relay finished second in 4:15.5, mere seconds behind first place finishing Northern Highlands; the 4x800 relay came in third 10:30.1, trailing neighboring Westwood by 14 seconds; Paige Fernandez was second in th 1000 in 3:17.9, just beating out local resdient Colleen Buckley (IHA) who came in third.

Wrestling

River Dell won back-to-back dual meets over Dumont (63-12) and North Bergen (37-21). Led by freshman Drew Nirchio's pair of decisions, the Golden Hawks were bolstered by Cenzo Cariddi's, Dylan Mitchell's and DJ Tirelli's double pins. Chris Kallensee (pin, decision), Tyler Kallensee (major decision), Danny Lynch (pin) and Nick Baranello (sudden victory, pin) were clutch in the victories as well.

The Bergen Catholic wrestling team continued its winning ways earning four wins in three days. The Crusaders turned back Passaic County Tech (57-12), then made history with victories over Southern (40-18) and St. Anthony's of New York (45-21) and finally handed DePaul an upset win (56-13). Johnny Sebastian and Christian Jenco led the team with three pins and one major decision, Carmine Goldsack had three pins and Nick Suriano had two pins.

Basketball

Kayla McGovern netted 41 points over three games as the Lady Hawks continue to dominate in the paint. Girls basketball defeated Cliffside Park (46-26), Dwight-Morrow (40-29) and Ridgefield Park (42-37) this week.

River Dell boys basketball, led by CJ Doornheim have struggled since defeating Cliffside Park 49-27. During that game, Doornheim banked 25 points as the Golden Hawks shut out CP in the second quarter. After that point, the Hawks dropped games to Dwight Morrow 69-52 and Ridgefield Park 58-37.

Bergen Catholic split their games this week as Nadi Beciri finished with 18 points in a victorious 78-66 run over Union Catholic and Matej Jurcevic netted 12 points in a 65-45 victory over Paramus.

Bowling

During the North Jersey Singles Championship, Bergen Catholic’s Simon Lezaja rolled a 632 and Freddy Dressel had a 572 in the first round. They both fell during the second round bowling a 233 and 211 respectively. The Cruaders downed Passaic this week but later fell to Lakeland. 

River Dell boys rolled consecutive wins over Cliffisde Park (7-0) and Mahwah 4-3) while the girls dropped both matches.

Ice Hockey

Bergen Catholic finally regained its scoring touch and managed to tie St. Joe's Metuchen (4-4) on the road to snap their losing streak. But the tie was short lived as the Crusaders fell to Pope John (4-0) and St. Peter's Prep (2-1). Tucker James had three tallies; Gennearo Anzevino stopped 44 shots; and Peter Negron made 26 saves.

Ben Shapiro avoided a shut out loss to Passaic Valley as River Dell fell to the Hornets 3-1. Rich Myers and Greg Rassam put the Hawks back in the mix as they combined to shut out Fair Lawn 2-0.

Swimming

River Dell boys were out swam by Teaneck (113-57) and Ramsey (106-63) as Peter Mari claimed the 100 Fly against the Highwaymen and 100 breast stroke over the Rams. Liam Oberlander (50 Free, 100 Fly) and Albert Figueirdo (100 Free, 100 back) picked up points against Ramsey.

The Lady Hawks hit the pool fast and walked away by beating Teaneck (110-60) and Ramsey (126-42) as Rebecca Bronfeld, Gabi Denicola, Emily Reynolds, Lienne Barrise and Maddy Toohey keep the team strong in the water.

Bergen Catholic (5-1) defeated Tenafly 99-71 and in doing so handed the reigning Bergen County champions their second loss of the season. Prior to their win over the Tigers, the Crusaders won 103-67 over Tappan Zee (NY).

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