As the 2010 academic year kicks off at NMH, another fall sports season begins as well. Already with some games and scrimmages under their belts, this year’s teams show considerable promise for the coming season. This year the boys’ crew team sees more boys than ever before, while the football team’s newest coach is a former NFL player and having lost eight seniors last year, the newest players of the girls’ varsity field hockey team is out to prove itself.

Girls Sports -

Crew: When asked about the girls on this years fall crew team, head coach Vicky Jenkins responded in an email response, “I have a great group of girls this year.” While Jenkins is excited to work with a solid group of returning rowers consisting of Eliza MacLean ’11, Mel Allan ’11, Beth Gillig ’11, Nora Hefner ’11, Kelly Goonan ’12 and Hannah Solis-Cohen ’12, her biggest worry is that the girls on her team, who are also busy students, musicians, and student leaders, overstretch themselves.

The next race for girls’ crew if an away race on Sunday, October 10th, at Lake Quinsigamond.

Volleyball: Joining the ranks of many returning students on this year’s varsity volleyball team are five new girls. According to head coach Lara Freeman, girls’ varsity volleyball aims to earn a spot in the championship tournament. English intern Janae Peters is also a new addition to the coaching staff. On the JV level, Freeman adds that all the players show athleticism and commitment that is sure to lead to an exciting season.

The next game for girls’ varsity volleyball is an away game on Saturday, October 9th at Stoneleigh-Burnham School.

Field Hockey: Having lost 8 seniors from the team last year, this years’ girls varsity field hockey team is made up of almost all new players. Despite this, head coach Mace Hemphill reports no divisions between the grades. With the leadership of two captains, Mackey Hemphill ’11 and Maire Barktus ’11, who have both been on the team for 4 years, Mace hopes that this relatively young team will come together for the coming season.

The next game for varsity field hockey is an away game on Wednesday, October 6th, at Deerfield Academy.

It is a surprise to many when they find out that the boys junior varsity lacrosse team has one of the best records in school at 6 wins 4 losses.  The “Java Squad”, as referred to by many, is dominating most teams, winning by double digits.  They are coming off of a 9-2 win over Williston Northhampton.  The team has also had some very close games; three point losses to Eaglebrook, Taft, and Kent, and a close four-point loss to the powerhouse Cardigan Mountain.  The team is lead by quad captains Nikita Voskoboynik (2010), Jake Junda (2010), Elliot Blume-Pickle (2010), and Ryan Sinclair (2010).

From his stats Goalkeeper Cole Kourgelis (2012) has improved a lot from last season and continues to have even more success this season between the pipes.  The team’s leading goal scorers are attackmen Garrett McMullen (2011) and Zack Auteri (2010).  Strong performances from middfielders Nick Kidd (2011), Jake Junda (2010), Zack Lang (2010), and also from attackman Nikita Voskoboynik, have helped lead the team their six victories.  Although the team has put up big numbers offensively, the squad is built around a core defensive group that has held opponents to record low numbers.  The defense is led by seniors Sam Mannai, Elliot Blume-Pickle, and Mike Ballard.

The Java Squad’s next bout is a home game this Saturday on the Lower Fields against a solid Phillips Exeter team.  Then, on Monday, the team faces off against undefeated Deerfield Academy and typically considered the best team in the league and in New England by coaches and players.  The game is at 4:45 on the Lower Fields.

Emil Mehta (2010) stands at 5 foot 9 inches tall.  He is from Wayne, New Jersey and is a three year senior here at NMH.  Emil has been pole vaulting since his freshman year in high school and over the past two years has had some difficulty staying healthy and being able to compete.  Most recently, Emil is out because he tore his ACL in his right knee from a skiing accident.  Here is a week in the life of a pole vaulter with a torn ACL.

Monday: Emil Mehta watches as his fellow track mates do their warm ups.

Mehta is the number one pole vaulter at NMH.  He won almost every meet last season by a large margin, but was unable to compete in New Englands due to personal reasons.  This year, during the winter, Mehta was skiing at Mt. Snow. He headed off a jump, but  got too much air off. When he landed, he felt something rip in his leg. By the time he had skied to the bottom of the slope, he realized he had torn his ACL.

Read the rest of this entry »

Three weeks into the 2010 season my team, varsity lacrosse, is win-less.  Although we have yet to win a game we have been playing very well and we are getting better everyday we step foot on to the lacrosse field.

In our first game against Choate we lost 6-5.  it was my first game of the season and I was very anxious.  We dominated the first half with a score of 5-1.  We all were extremely pumped up going into the second half but came out over-confident and gave up 5 unanswered goals.

Our second contest against the #23 ranked team in the Nation, Avon, was a different story.  I saw the first goal go in and realized that they were a very talented team  We lost 14-4 not because they tried harder, but simply because they had more skilled players than us.

In our latest game, this past Wednesday we played Andover.  This was our first away game and I know a was tired and a little slow coming off the bus; we went into the second half losing 6-0.  A good halftime speech from Coach Neill got my teammates and I pumped up and we were able to go on a run.  At the end of three the score was 7-3.  We kept our momentum going into the fourth quarter and scored a couple more goals.  However it was to little to late as we lost 8-5.

Although I am disappointed with our current record, I know it is a long season and there is plenty of time to keep building and change things around.  Our next contest is tomorrow at Hotchkiss, as we look to get our first win.  We then come back home for a game against Cushing Academy on Monday.

The last two months of school are definitely the best of the year.  The weather is great, everyone is in a good mood, and there are awesome sports.  Baseball, lacrosse, and track are three of the many sports that are played during the spring season.  This spring we can look forward to seeing the baseball team and the mighty Steve Anderson dominate their opponents.  We will see Brennan Maine and the Girls lacrosse team “snipe some g’s”.  Also don’t forget about the Boys lax team with Gamble Morrison, Charlie Dickey, Jon “Suki” Sucese and the whole squad over on Maclamore.  Last but not least, Emil “high flying” Mehta and Haley Knaub will try and lead the track team to another New England Championship.

As you can see there is a lot to look forward to this spring.  So, get to a field or the track and support all the various teams.

Graduation day is always special, and this year it will be even more unique because there will be a celebrity on site.  John Irving, the writer, movie producer, former high school and college athlete, and father of Everett Irving (2010) is going to be the guest speaker.  Irving has published over a dozen novels, some of them made into films, and among his other achievements, has worldwide popularity.  Irving is known as an amazing writer, but how did he get so good?  In his opinion, it was from wrestling.

“What I got out of wrestling has proven invaluable.  I learned discipline.  From wrestling, I learned to work harder than my more talented teammates”, said Irving as quoted by Dr. Bill Welker from WV Mat Thoughts.  Irving started wrestling when he was 14 as a freshman at Phillips Exeter Academy.  According to his coach at Exeter he was not the most skilled or most athletic but he learned to discipline himself.  His senior year he went undefeated in dual meets and placed fourth at the New England Championship tournament.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, January 20th the NMH boys varsity Basketball team traveled to take on Class A rival Winchendon who is ranked third in the state by maxpreps.com and 12th in the Nation by usprepbaskeball.com.  NMH beat Winchendon by a score of 86-76, making their winning streak six games, and upping their ranking to #1 in the state (maxpreps.com) and 5th in the Nation (usprepbasketball.com).  “All of our wins have been good, but this is definitely our strongest and most important win so far”, said Chris Fitzgerald (2010).  This win over Winchendon and wins over top ranked South Kent and  St. Marks have proven that the team can compete with anyone.

Senior Matt Brown (Harvard) has returned to action from a broken hand (injured at end of football season).  He got a few minutes of playing time in the team’s win over Upenn’s JV and even more time in the loss to Princeton’s JV; this ended the team’s winning streak of seven games.  Matt is a returning starter from last season and will give the team a good boost.  NMH has seen great production this season from the guard position, and from multiple players.  Josh Elbaum (2010), Joe Sharkey (2011, Brown), and Aaron Cosby (2011) have all been playing great and now with the return of Matt Brown, the team will improve even more.

The team’s scoring is lead by Laurent Rivard (2010, Harvard) who averages 17.3 points per game followed by Majok Majok (2010) with 14.4 ppg Hector Harold (2010, Pepperdine) with 13.3 ppg.  Majok Majok has been dominant lately racking up the points and the rebounds.  Two weeks ago, against South Kent, Majok had 19 points and 26 rebounds, breaking the school record for a most rebounds in a game.  Majok is looking to commit in March.  Among his top choices are Harvard, Georgia Tech, and Stanford.  “This is the best team I have ever played on, the chemistry is amazing”, says Majok.

The Hoggers are currently dominating New England with record of 17 wins and only 4 losses.  This coming Wednesday they take on 3rd ranked St. Thomas More who they lost to earlier in the season by only six points.  Then a week later they play Brewster Academy who is the second ranked team in the Nation.  Come watch as the Hoggers make a serious run at the #1 team in the US.