Athletes Receive Varsity Letters at Tuesday's Ceremony

Paramus High School athletes who competed in winter sports received their varsity letters in a ceremony in the PHS auditorium on Tuesday night.

Athletic director Don Roll hosted the event, and PHS principal Kurt Karcich spoke to the crowd before the athletes were presented with their letters.

“The life letters you take, the school spirit you exemplify, the relationships you build with coaches and teammates,” Karcich said. “That’s really what high school sports are all about. I don’t think there’s any better representation of that than here at Paramus High School.”

To recap the 2010-11 winter season: the hockey team advanced to the state playoffs. The boys' bowling team finished 19^th out of 37 teams in the county. The boys' and girls' swim teams had the highest number of participants in all of the winter sports, and took third place in their league meet. The girls' basketball team advanced to the second round of the state tournament, the second tournament win since 1975. The wrestling team won its sixth consecutive league title, the Group 3 county championship, and advanced to the state semifinals. Nick Alpher, who is ranked No. 13 nationally at 145 pounds, placed second in the individual state tournament in Atlantic City. Alpher finished his stellar four-year career with a 139-25 record, the most wins for a Paramus wrestler.

“As a whole I think the dedication and overall effort during the course of the season was admirable,” said swimming head coach Tim Donahue. “I really appreciated the hard work everybody gave.”

“As a team we have come a long way,” girls' basketball head coach Vic DiPasquale said. “We now compete in every game. Our future looks very bright.”

Boys basketball coach Bill Whitney started off by quoting former New York Jets head coach Herman Edwards, saying, “You play to win the game.”

Whitney, talking about his team, went on to say, “That’s true. These guys play to win every game.”

The long-time head coach paused, and became emotional as he addressed the crowd.

“Over the years, I have been involved with teams that won a state championship. They have a very special place in my heart. I have been a coach of a team that was ranked No.5 in the country in Division II basketball. And there’s a place [for them] in my heart. This [2010-11 PHS] team has that same place.”

After Whitney gave out the letters to his team, captain Chris Rigolosi approached his coach and handed him a gift.

“I just wanted every to know, coach right here is the only teacher in Bergen County to teach with a fanny pack,” Rigolosi joked, getting laughter from the crowd. “I don’t think any other teacher teaches with one, and I thought he deserved a new one, so we went out and bought him one.”

Roll concluded the ceremony with the following statement: “Thank you for coming out tonight. If you look around, my goal when I started was to bring all our sports together. When I started here, we were all so fragmented. Everybody had their own dinners, nobody associated with each other. This is a way to get everybody together. I think it’s working. You go to our sporting events other teams are rooting for each other now. The boys' basketball is rooting for the girls' basketball team and so on. The hockey team has the football team showing up. It’s just a good feeling that we’re all working together for one goal here.”

The following athletes received varsity letters:

Bowling:

Shane Sassone, senior

Gordon Chen, senior

Jason Zahabian, senior

Tokuya Tokunaga, sophomore

Yuki Ito, junior

Marissa Guilianti, senior

Stephanie Viccaro, senior

Victoria Vergona, senior

Gina Pagliaro, senior

Lauren Fiorino, junior

Aly Meyer, junior

Amanda Valentino, junior

Brittany Hovan, freshman

Boys Basketball: Max Baria, senior

Mikal Gamble, junior

Mark Hernandez, senior

Nick LaVecchia, senior

Eric Lesko, senior

Matt Pechman, sophomore

Chris Rigoliosi, senior

Manan Shah, junior

Paul Stabile, senior

Yen Rhu Wuu, senior

Nikki Mahtani, senior

Hockey: Pete Reveille

Mike Woods

Mark Apidopoulos

Greg Matesic

Chris Gengler

Matt Hazuda

Dan Crandall

Niamh O’Conner

Dylan Rizer

Chris Sabo

Justin Goldberg

Steven Giambagno

Alex Kellenberger

Mike Hopkins

Dean Delucia

Rich LaBarbiera

Tom Palestina

JJ Piccinich

Steven Scheideler

Wrestling: Laith Abwini, sophomore

Tareq Abwini, senior

Nick Alpher, senior

David Arrighi, junior

Mustafa Aslami, junior

Mike Aydin, junior

Nick Bucci, freshman

Ryan Bucci, freshman

Justin Cochran, freshman

Erik DelCalzo, senior

Eric Giannantonio, freshman

Coby Grinoch, sophomore

Matt Harkin, sophomore

Ryan Heaney, junior

Andrew Licini, freshman

Brandon Lopresti, sophomore

Liridon Maloku, junior

Alec Mcrea, sophomore

Dan Melon, sophomore

Joe Rizzitello, junior

Lucas Sahdo, senior

Mike Sebahie, senior

Nick Spinoso, sophomore

Jimmy Suess, senior

Matt Tozzi, sophomore

Cheerleaders: Jessica Bussanich, senior

Michelle DeSantis, senior

Larissa Bosticco, junior

Heather Fibkins, senior

Chantalle Luberto, senior

Kylie Levine, junior

Gia Palmieri, junior

Alexandra Arrighi, freshman

Emily Rafferty, junior

Jessica Huggins, senior

Alyssa Finizio, sophomore

Gia DiStefano, junior

Brooke Bukowski, freshman

Lindsay Braverman, freshman

Winter Track: Cameron Baher, senior

Ace Castillo, senior

Josh Henriquez, senior

Erik Helstrom, freshman

Ryan Kim, senior

Matt Lefer, junior

Brian Salamanca, sophomore

Mike Secreti, sophomore

Jason Segura, senior

Justin Sloane, senior

Alex Toppo, junior

Jolie Bartner, sophomore

Tiffany Chou, senior

Alex Garey, senior

Stephanie Kisley, senior

Katie Kuderka, junior

Mandy Liu, junior

Lindsey Lucas, freshman

Lauren Mihalik, freshman

Annika Nungra, freshman

Jill Oliff, junior

Jessica Reuveni, junior

Ashley Roessler, senior

Jenna Sula, junior

Girls Basketball: Kristina Meier, senior

Lauren Holden, senior

Jill Herb, senior

Stephanie Huang, junior

Brielle Piccinich, junior

Brittany Stone, freshman

Victoria Stabile, freshman

Managers: Lauren Feorenzo, junior

Lara Philibosian, junior

Lara Keshkinkaya, senior

Swimming: Amanda Bocekci, sophomore

Christina Boyadjian, sophomore

Brianna Cardinale, sophomore

Angela Cho, sophomore

Kelly Cullinane, senior

Lisa DiNozzi, junior

Lauren Dragonetti, junior

Kellie Heom, freshman

Laura Hopkins, senior

Tiffany Hsiung, freshman

Catherine Kim, freshman

Shana Lee, senior

Courtney Locke, senior

Jessica Melillo, sophomore

Emily Miko, sophomore

Michelle Park, freshman

Julia Reynolds, freshman

Stephanie Wu, senior

Sharon Yang, sophomore

Harold Choo, freshman

Frank Crincoli, junior

Kenny Ehrenberg, junior

PJ Eisler, senior

Jake Horowitz, junior

Eric Kim, sophomore

Victor Kim, freshman

Ben Kleinstein, junior

Kenny Knietel, sophomore

Ted Matalon, senior

Alex Muller, junior

Jake Roth, freshman

Jon Scrivanic, sophomore

Ryan Stallone, sophomore

Harry Thomson, sophomore

Isaac Zaydens, senior

Anyone present who took photos, feel free to email them to anthonylocic@yahoo.com so they can be added to the story. Thank you.