Albertus Magnus Takes On New Spring Challenges

The Albertus Magnus athletics program is in the midst of an exciting and challenging spring season. 

This is its first year participating in the Rockland County division instead of the Westchester County division.  Within the county there are a number of larger, and thus very competitive, schools.  Many of these larger schools draw from a  deeper and more experienced pool of student athletes. 

Despite the intense competition  this new division presents, the students and coaches at Albertus Magnus are training hard to rise to the challenge.  These new challenges bring with them opportunities for the athletes to learn by playing against more experienced players, as well as the chance to bond with other athletes from their own community.  So, as with every new experience, this spring season brings with it new challenges as well as a number of new opportunities for growth.

The spring season sports program is comprised of baseball, softball, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, track and field, tennis and golf.  The softball team is coming off of an impressive winning streak in 2007, 2008, and 2009, when  they secured their sectional title.  This year, they are working on rebuilding the team which lost most of its starters from last year due to graduation. 

They have started the season with 5 losses and 3 wins.  This young team is training hard and staying optimistic despite the rough start to the season.  With only two returning starters and the fact that they are participating in a more competitive division, they have their work cut out for them.

However, this dedicated team has a number of exciting prospects and with the help of the coaching staff, they are looking to extend their winning streak to its fourth year. 

Tara Condon, one of these notable prospects,  is a sophomore  starting in centerfield.  She joined the team as a runner last year, due to her blazing speed.  As the team's lead off hitter, she already has 16 stolen bases and is  batting at .600. 

Senior Erin Harding is one of the returning starters for the team, playing catcher and  currently batting at .500.  She has great speed, with 10 stolen bases already this year and is likely to be an all county catcher. 

The other returning starter is Melissa Place, who is a junior and a candidate for all county.  Catherine Coin is another notable player, who is following in her sister's footsteps as a pitcher.  As a freshman, she has already started a few games, and down the road is looking to be a very strong pitcher.  The coaching staff consists of head coach Carl D'Abla, and assistant coaches Frank Meehen and Mike Lang.

Coach Glenn Widmere is leading the boys lacrosse team this season, which has had a rough start with 1 win and 5 losses.  Two of the first three games were hard fought, competitive games which were only lost by one goal. 

This young team lost its leading scorer last year, and currently has only five starting seniors and the rest young, inexperienced players.  They are working hard to compete, learning the game as they go and building up the program for future years. 

Coach Widmere is building interest in the student body for the sport while looking to boost the confidence of the current players by getting some more wins this season.  Standout players on the team include senior attacker Andrew McCune and junior attacker Steven Crosby, as well as senior defender Danny McConnel and junior defender Rahan Muhammad.  According to  Widmere, "The kids are having a fun time learning the game and trying to compete against other teams in the county."

The girls lacrosse team, led by coach Missi Holland, started the season at the beginning of April.  As with the other Albertus Magnus teams, this is a growing program with a lot of inexperienced players who are competing in a tough new division.  However, the team is made up of a hard working group of girls who are enthusiastically stepping up to the challenge. 

According to  Holland, despite a tough start to the season, the team is making their opposition nervous due to the girls' dedication.  This dedication is evidenced by the  relentless practicing and participation in leagues outside of the school, which is allowing them to improve at an accelerated pace. 

This is necessary since, with only three seniors on the team, this team is young and relatively inexperienced.  This relative inexperience is accentuated by the fact that they are competing in a division with much larger schools that have feeder programs.  The overall effort of the team is being helped by notable players, such as Colleen Harding, Colleen Cummings, Carli Cappelo, and Cassie Kaiser.

The track and field team had its first meet on March 20.  They are a stronger and deeper team this year, with interest in the team nearly doubling from last year.  Their goal this year is to compete in their division and size level. 

Coaches Mike McCafferty and Ralf Embro are currently working on expanding the program from a primarily track based program to a true, well-rounded track and field program.  These first-year coaches are working hard to improve the program by getting new equipment such as a high jumper and hurdles, while also improving the cross country trail.  However, they aren't achieving this alone, they are getting a lot of support from the athletic director Joe Mcguiness and parents. 

John McNiff is one parent who is doing a lot for the program behind the scenes.  In particular, he has started an Albertus Magnus track and field alumni organization called the Falcon Spiked Shoe Club that is doing extensive outreach and fundraising for the program.  The coaches are also looking toward the future, by holding a track meet for fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders on June 5. 

At the core of the track and field team are a number of extraordinary student athletes.  Gianlucas Pugliesa is the boys number one distance runner.  He recently broke his personal best in the 800 meter with a time of 2:04, and he currently runs the mile at 4:45. 

Danielle Kennedy is the top girls runner.  She broke her personal best in the 1500 meter with a time of 5:05 and she runs the 800 meter at 2:31.  The team also has a bright future on both the boys and girls sides.  For the boys, the athletes to look out for are sophomores Sean McNiff and Nate Lecorps, and freshmen Richard Cant and Mike Strack.  On the girls side, the exciting prospects are junior Katelyn Spicer, and freshmen Maere Paralius, Casey O'Brien, and Jessica Dominianni.  These athletes and the rest of the team are gearing up for a big meet on May 10 against Clarkstown South.  Though the competition remains tough, the team and coaches are optimistic.  According to Coach McCafferty, "Everything looks like it's going upwards and everyone's putting their work in."

Overall, it's looking to be an exciting spring season for Albertus Magnus athletics.  The teams continue to enjoy the season while working hard to rise to the competition.  This new division brings with it the opportunity for improvement for each athlete as they compete against larger and tougher teams than in their old division. 

There is an attitude of optimism and excitement fueling the athletic program as it heads towards the end of the school year.  Further coverage of the games and progress of the athletic program will continue as the season unfolds. 

Let's go Falcons!