Graduating Senior Athletes Have Place in History

The Millburn Hall of Fame committee might have some tough decisions to make later this decade. When it comes to recognizing members in the Class of 2010, the brainstorming process could cause plenty of head scratching.

To have one or two elite athletes in a class is impressive, but Millburn High School has had more than a handful flaunt their abilities over the past four years. Now they close what has been one of the best groups of individual and team performers in recent school history when its seniors say farewell at their graduation on June 21.

The list of accomplishments is impressive with four continuing on to Ivy League schools and the others also moving on to impressive schools at the next level (post-scholastic destinations in parenthesis):

• Tyler Udland (Princeton University) won two Meet of Champions titles (cross country and outdoor 3,200) and was named Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2009.
• Brian Robinson (University of Michigan) ranks as one of the top milers in the state, posting a mile time of 4:15 in the winter.
• Sam Waters (Harvard University) became the sixth Millers wrestler to win 100 matches in his career.
• Alex Rosenberg (Peddie School) and Joe Kizel (Middlebury College) each scored 1,000 points as Millburn's boys basketball team finished with a school best 23-4 record.
• Chris Benedict (Princeton University), David Westlake (Columbia University), Jeff Eisenbud (George Washington) and Bryan Gonnella (Washington University in St. Louis) guided the boys soccer team to consecutive Group 3 title game appearances.
• Sabrina Fedele (Loyola University Maryland) has been a member of a girls tennis squad that won four Group 3 titles and two Tournament of Champions titles.
• Mike Mills (University of Pennsylvania), a member of the U.S. national fencing team, captured a state saber championship this season and was recently given the 52nd Men of Essex Award, awarded to the top scholar athlete in Essex County.
• Carly Feit (University of Wisconsin), a four-year starter who led the basketball team with 13 points per game and a share of the SEC Colonial Division title and an 18-7 record (she will not be continuing her career in college).
• Christina Romano (Seton Hall University) became the second bowler from Millburn to qualify for the state tournament. Romano, who will not compete in college, posted a high game of 251 in the Essex County Tournament and recorded a 581 series (176, 212, and 193) in the sectionals competition.

Some of the feats by this group will likely be posted on banners and plaques in the school while others will be forever etched in the memories of friends, families and classmates.

"This high school class was exceptional," said Millburn Athletic Director Ted D'Alessio, who has spent 17 years in his current position and 34 year working in the district. "You have a group of highly motivated students that want to succeed, and they carried that dedication and hard work to both arenas—the classroom and athletic fields."

The talents of the senior class didn't go unnoticed by those who are part of the Millburn community. If you spent time at any of the various events this season as well as the previous three, the talents were definitely on display in any of more than a handful of sports.

With track and field, basketball, tennis, soccer and fencing, it wasn't quite like students were getting a front row seat the Summer Olympics. But it was as close as a Millburn-Short Hills resident could get. And they couldn't get enough of it.

Students flocked to basketball games, spent their own money for buses to state soccer competitions and even made appearances at tennis matches, track meets and fencing matches—not a typical occurrence at the high school level.

"A couple of years ago, you might not have had many people at a Friday night basketball game, but now the gyms were crowded even on a Wednesday night," Robinson said. "People were looking up our race times and congratulating us. Everyone was definitely getting wrapped up in everything."

What made this class so prolific?

If you talk to anyone involved with this gifted class of athletes, there is a common theme of an outstanding work ethic. For a school that's more well-known for its stellar academic reputation, Millburn High School students were very goal-oriented and would do whatever it took to come as close as possible to perfection.

Rosenberg and Kizel epitomize the lunch pail mentality possessed by many Millers athletes. Already a solid jump shooter, Rosenberg focused on basketball year-round in the process developing an inside threat and bulking up on his skinny frame to become an imposing threat on the court. Kizel also refined his game through hard work, evolving into more of a slasher and a steady scoring complement to Rosenberg.

Millburn coach Rodger Blind pointed to a number of key rationales for their great play including their fortunate good health (only one game missed by the pair in three seasons) and work as teammates together for the past decade as key ingredients in their lofty performances.

"They had a commitment to practice in and out of the season," Blind said. "We're definitely going to miss them. I don't think (their losses) will sink in until we're struggling to score or break the press at some point. As the season went on, I would remind the guys that they were in the middle of a very special year and are leaving footprints for others to remember."

Many other factors came into play from the students' own natural abilities to the early start in their sports to the coaching influences that helped steer the athletes in the right direction.

Even in their early years, there were some clear indications this class had plenty of promise. During the annual mile competition at Hartshorn Elementary School, Brian Robinson and Tyler Udland wouldn't just be listed atop the leaders in their own grade. They'd be ranked among the fastest marks for kids a grade or two ahead of them.

The fourth graders, who compose the current senior class at Millburn, battled the fifth graders in a game of touch football. Despite the noticeable physical and clear age disadvantages, the game was still dominated by the younger crew of kids.

"To this day, those older kids would deny it, but we still laugh about that game," Waters said. "Even when we look back, we were little, but we had so many phenomenal athletes."

Pete Snyder, who has spent 39 years working in the district with the past 27 serving as a physical education teacher at Hartshorn, said the last five or six senior classes at the high school have been very impressive. As part of the curriculum in elementary school the teachers try and expose the students to a multitude of activities and allow the students to figure out at which sports they're the best, he said. Once they find out what best suits them, the students will put in plenty of time outside of school to hone their abilities.

"If you went out during any recess time, they're not sitting around," Snyder, who spent 23 years as the boys soccer coach and spent time as the ice hockey coach at the high school. "The seeds are planted. They had a chance to develop skills and they utilized them. If you gave them a task or a challenge, they would work diligently to achieve it."

D'Alessio and Snyder pointed to coaching influences that have been instrumental in helping the athletes reach their potential. For example, track coach Jeff Kaye, who was educated in the district, passed on his enthusiasm for running at an early age to the current crop of harriers.

"I've definitely seen more kids being involved," Snyder said. "You look at coaches like Jeff—he's really instilled a great work ethic and new attitude in the program."         

The class also exhibited plenty of good chemistry. As close friends, it wouldn't be unusual for fellow athletes to double as fans for another sport. Some would feed off of each other to strive for their own excellence.

During morning announcements the principal would announce various achievements from the prior day or weekend. The news would lead some to debate about who had the better accomplishment: scoring 1,000 points or winning a track event?

"There were kids who would congratulate us and then try to compare what we did across the different sports," Robinson said. "It kind of motivated us to one up the other one and work even harder."

"They had a really strong class spirit and supported each other regardless of what sport they played," D'Alessio added. "I'd have to say this class would rank among the top 10 percent of all classes in most school spirit in a very positive way."

That support also tended to increase the spectators' curiosity. As Mills reputation in the fencing community began to swell, so did the number of questions about his sport from his peers. That acted as a reinforcer to get him to work even harder.

"People wanted to understand what it is that I do," he said. "When you hear someone competes on a national or international level, it really piques their interest."

With possible cuts looming at the local level that could have an impact on freshman and recreation sports (Millburn does not have a middle school sports program) and a very tight knit class, will we ever see another crop of standouts like the Class of 2010 stroll through the hallways of Millburn High School again?

Only time will tell. One thing's for sure—no one can take away the memories that will last a lifetime.

And only plenty of Advil will take care of the headaches that await the Hall of Fame committee when the time comes to pick among the cream of the crop in this class.