Sports Recap: Fox Lane’s Karle Accomplishes A Lot

Karle enjoys banner senior year

For Fox Lane senior swimmer Matt Karle, who swims for Foxes coach Carolyn Johnson, it was a winter he will not soon forget as he earned numerous honors.

One was earning the scholar-athlete award at the state meet, where he participated in it with four other teammates Cameron Stephens, Will Rappaport, Kurt Wasserman and Connor Farrell (diver). All five were named all-league with Karle and Rappaport also earning all-section honors.

“It was awesome, being able to all go to the states,” Karle said. “We made it in our relay the year before. My freshman year we also made it. To have the relay there was unbelievable because it’s just not about you, it’s about the other guys as well. For all of us to make it, it was unbelievable.”

Karle said that he was surprised that he won the scholar-athlete award as he applied for it at the last minute at the urging of Johnson.

“To win it, it meant really a lot,” Karle said. “I couldn’t believe they had chosen me out of everyone. It was an exciting moment in my athletic and academic career.”

Karle has been swimming for the Fox Lane varsity since he was in eighth grade. The Harvard-bound Karle participates in the 100-breaststroke, 200-individual medley and 100-butterfly in addition to his relay responsibilities.

He said Johnson, who at one time was also his club coach, has been an big reason why he has enjoyed the success that he has had. He said that he learned a lot about strokes and technique from her.

“She also told me that swimming isn’t just about being physically in shape, it’s also about being mentally tough,” Karle said. “She was good in pepping me up and encouraging me and making sure I was able to step it up when the time came. She was really good in helping me with my mental preparation and getting me psyched up.”

Karle swims for a team that is a close-knit unit, that is able to easily know when to have fun with each other and when to do its schoolwork as it was named a scholar-athlete team by the state.

“There has always been a drive to win, to get to first place and get as many points as we can,” Karle said. “Academically, I think a lot of us are just really studious. I’m not sure what drive is for that other than individual self-motivation, knowing that at the end of the day everything comes down to ourselves to get the grades. If we want to stay on the team we know that we have to keep our grades up.”

Because Karle kept his grades up, he will have the opportunity to attend Harvard next fall, though admitted he originally thought he was going to, at first, the University of Notre Dame.

“I had a love for that school, my sister went there and I really enjoyed it,” Karle said. “But then I went on my Harvard recruiting trip, the team was really together. It was a real sense of community with the team. The school is really close to my brother (James), which is really nice. He’s goes to Boston College."

Relay For Life

The 2011 Relay For Life of Chappaqua will be held at Horace Greeley High School on Saturday, May 21. For information on how to register, click here.  

Foxes produce winning-goal

Fox Lane's Donny Costaldo, with assists from classmates Josh Wollman and Joe Corsi, scored the game-winning goal in League II/III's 9-8 triumph against League I/IV at the Exceptional Seniors Ice Hockey Game at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon on March 19.

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