That's A Wrap: Winter Sports Season Recap

Metuchen High School as a whole had a very successful winter sports season with most programs improving upon their previous seasons. Within the teams’ successes, several Bulldogs stood out with their individual performances.    

Boys Basketball celebrated a terrific 20-win season going 20-8 including 7-3 in the GMC Gold Division. The season included big wins over Group IV schools JP Stevens, Edison, and Old Bridge. The highlight of the season was a state tournament “come-from-behind” victory over division rival Spotswood. In that game, the Bulldogs erased an 11-point halftime deficit to rally for a 7-point win. The team was led by All Division performers junior Cameron Hayes-Durina and senior Jason Woods. The team also received solid contributions from senior Danny Galligan, juniors Collin Gawronski, Matt Smith, Reese Osborn-Jones, and sophomores Dennis Toth and Luis Vigo. With many underclassmen gaining valuable experiences, the future is very bright on the hardwood.

Girls Basketball had a dominant season, capturing the Blue Division championship going 13-1 in the Blue Division and 21-5 overall. The team had a great team effort with six players scoring over 100 points on the season. Senior Kaitlyn Connors and junior Vicky Zaniecki received All Blue Division first team. Junior Lucy Pallotta and sophomore Sammie Powers received All Blue Division second team. Seniors Ava Barasch and Josie Gray both scored over 100 points and collected over 100 rebounds. Underclassmen Grace VanLeeuwen, Julia Armour, and Charlotte Murphy also contributed to the team's success. The Girls Basketball team once again proved that they could compete with the best teams in the county.

Despite not having the best season (going 1-16), the joint JP Stevens, Edison, Metuchen Ice Hockey team’s future looks bright, as they’ve gained a lot of valuable experience with many underclassmen getting ice time. A significant part of the roster consisted of Metuchen High School students, including senior captain Chase Disotell. The goaltending was handled by two Metuchen students, junior Michael Dickey and freshman Christian Mercado. Together, they combined for over 700 saves. The roster also included the following Metuchen High School students: juniors Joon Lee, Olivia Dickey, Emma Huber, and Paige Brooks, sophomore Chris Eosso, and freshmen Jackson Handler, Jacob Weiss, and Peter Martin. 

The Metuchen High School Wrestling team had a successful season, posting an overall record of 14-9 and 5-2 in the GMC White Division. This included wins over Group IV schools JP Stevens and Piscataway and a state tournament win over Keansburg. The team was anchored by senior Ben Michaliszyn who finished his career with 75 wins. Other top performers were senior Nate DeCoite who earned 2nd place in the District 19 tournament and qualified for the Region 5 wrestling tournament.  Junior Danny Montemurno finished 3rd in the GMC wrestling tournament. Junior Celeste Falkovich won the GMC Girls 152-pound division. Senior Caelum Ritzdorf recorded the most accomplishments on the team, becoming the first state place winner since Alex Osbourn-Jones three years ago along with earning 71 career wins, placing 2nd in the GMC, qualifying for the state tournament, winning the region, and finishing 7th in the state of New Jersey.

Boys Track & Field continued their tradition of excellence by finishing the winter season as Central Jersey Sectional Champions. Senior Eric Schleif was Sectional Champion in the 800m and 1600m, Group 1 Champion in the 1600m, and GMC Champion in the 800m (2nd consecutive year). The boys also took home the 4x400m relay Sectional Champions won by Kacper Ruszala, Eric Schleif, Savion Camano, and Hunter Aldinger.

The Girls Winter Track & Field team matched the Boys team, as they also finished Central Jersey Sectional Champions. Sophomore Ella Andersen was the 800m GMC Champion. Senior Gianna Hernandez was the 800m and 1600m Sectional Champion and the GMC 1600m Champion. Senior Sally Kelton was the Sectional and GMC Champion in the 3200m. Junior Ella Regan was the Sectional Champion in the High Jump. Senior Sarah Hyman was the Sectional Champion in the 55m Hurdles. Sophomore Rose Surgan was Sectional Champion in the 400m. The girls were also GMC champions in 4x400m Relay which was won by Sophomores Ella Andersen, Olivia Barry, Makenna Bruns, and junior Kadijata Bah.

Boys Swimming finished with a respectable 3-4 record going 2-2 in the GMC White Division. The boys won meets against JFK, Piscataway, and North Brunswick. In their GMC meet the boys placed first and second in many events and finished 7th overall. The boys fell in the first round of the state tournament, losing to West Morris.

Girls Swimming finished with a 7-1 record going 4-0 in the GMC White Division to win the division title. The girls won their first seven meets this year beating Piscataway, Sayreville, North Brunswick, South Plainfield, Mother Seton, and JP Stevens all in the regular season. In the state tournament, they faced McNair and won, advancing to the quarterfinal round where they fell to Hopewell Valley. In the GMC tournament, senior Gina Yip won the 50 free and 100 breast with many other swimmers putting in their best performances of the season.