The Hasbrouck Heights golf team might have won only seven matches this past season, but the Aviators continued to be competitive and are hoping for some of their depth to rise to the occasion next spring.
The 2012 Aviators duffers finished with a North Jersey Interscholastic Conference record of 5-13 (fifth place) while overall record is 7- 16.
Head coach Matt Sicilian has all his golfers returning except for two, Matt Pedersen and Nicole Callen.
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Pedersen was the lone golfer named to the All NJIC team on the honorable mention list. The senior golfer averaged a score of 48.7 per nine holes and his best score was 39 at Overpeck Golf Course.
Callen finished seventh in the girls division of the NJIC tournament with a 51 and shot her best 18 hole tournament score of 105 in the same tournament. Callen was also named the most valuable player of the team.
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"Seniors Matt Pedersen and Nicole Callen graduated this year and will be difficult to replace in terms of leadership," said Sicilian.
Overall this year's team helped build the game of golf for the program and for the students. "The best aspects of the team was being able to get 11 golfers out on the course at least two to three times each week, whether in varsity matches, JV tournaments and practice rounds," said Sicilian.
"Getting them to play more often because of the shoot six score four format allowed the golfers to really work on strengths day to day as well as identify weaknesses. Golfers also played more on their own free time because they were able to play during the week as much as they did. They began to catch the golf 'bug that we want kids to have."
Looking back at the season, Sicilian points to his team's 207-208 victory over Hawthorne. "All six golfers posted their best individual scores in splitting the season matches with Hawthorne," said Sicilian. "The golfers knew we had to shoot 210 or better to have a chance at winning. We went over course strategy before the match—which holes to play smart, which holes to be aggressive on, and they responded."
With Callen and Pedersen graduating, Silician will develop the leadership with senior-to-be and the 2013 captain Tom Nicoletti and who was given the Coach's Award for 2012. In addition there are incoming junior Mike Christensen and sophomore Frank Dubicki will look to improve along with incoming seniors John Cutruzulla, Alex Hodulik and Chris Jackson providing experienced play. Incoming juniors Ryan Wheeler and Connor McCabe will also hold spots in the six man rotation.
Boys Tennis
The Hasbrouck Heights boys tennis team went a couple of rounds in the state tournament before falling to Englewood, 3-2, in the Group 2 North 1 state quarterfinals.
The Aviators finished with a 16-3 record and several members made the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference teams.
Both first singles Chris Sciancalepore and second doubles team of Angel Rodriguez and Mike Schroback were named to the NJIC first team. All three tennis players garnered All Bergen County honorable mention nods.
While third singles Gio Lombardi garnered NJIC second team honors, Adam Patrovics was named to the NJIC honorable mention squad.