The Pine Bush Board of Education honored their high school’s fall scholar-athletes at their meeting last Tuesday night. These athletes earned high marks in the classroom and captured six titles.

Pine Bush had 121 fall scholar-athletes. In order to be a fall-scholar athlete, a student must participate on a varsity team while maintaining a grade point average greater than or equal to 90. Many of Pine Bush’s teams excelled in the classroom, as eight fall teams received the Scholar-Athlete Team Award courtesy of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. This is given to teams whose average GPA for 75 percent of their roster is greater than or equal to 90.

The school’s girls cross country, boys cross country, girls swimming and diving, girls tennis, boys soccer, girls soccer, field hockey and girls volleyball teams all received the Scholar-Athlete Team Award. Faculty members, parents and community members were proud of the students’ accomplishments.

“As an athletic department, we always strive to make sure that we’re competitive on the field, successful in the classroom and represent Pine Bush in a positive manner,” said Pine Bush Athletic Director Michael Gillespie. “And I’m extremely proud to say that we’re all here this evening to celebrate all those things.”

An astonishing 93 percent of the girls tennis team were named scholar-athletes. Claire Cerniglia, Kristi Cheung, Hannah Filipkowski, Megan Maragliano, Gianna Nazzaro, Ashley Parkes, Advika Patil, Taylor Pitman, Madeline Quick, Lindsey Steele, Kailey Williams and Kara Zwart all received this honor. The squad also saw success on the court, as five athletes qualified for the county tournament. Their head coach Michael Sabini was pleased with their work in and out of the classroom this season.

“I have 14 tennis players and each and every one of them greets me every practice with a smile,” he said. “They never complain and they’re always going as hard as they can.”

The girls volleyball team had an exceptional season. Their scholar-athletes included Sierra Birmingham, Elizabeth Deckaj, Karlee DeWitt, Riley Dimsey, Alandra Hasbrouck, Carolynn Hulihan, Taylor Jones, Rileigh Meyer, Taylor Pannell and Katherine Priest. They were named OCIAA Division II Champions and Section 9 Champions.

The volleyball team also had some incredible individual accomplishments. Taylor Jones received First Team All-Section and Fifth Team All-State. Rileigh Meyer was named First Team All-Section and Alandra Hasbrouck was Second Team All-Section. Taylor Pannell was Section 9 AA Player of the Year, American Coach’s Association Player of the Year, First Team All-Section, Third Team All-State, MaxPreps National Player of the Week, nominated for Under Armour’s national team with honorable mention and was nominated for Gatorade Player of the Year. She is committed to play both volleyball and track at the University of Connecticut.

Although the boys cross country team had a 0.500 season, Head Coach Al Schmidt noted that they got progressively better as they went along. A major highlight of the season included a first place finish for the freshman at the Freshman Invitational at Saugerties High School. The squad’s scholar-athletes included Vincent Brooks, Justin Ceiley, Logan Ceiley, Jacob Crawley, Brandon Doty, Jack Galloway, Aiden Gentile, Brandon Lopez, Caleb McDermott, Alexander O’Flaherty, Alan Soto, Kyle Zelonis and Colby Zupetz.

The girls cross country team featured a young squad this year. There were no seniors on the team, with most of the roster made up of freshman and sophomores. Despite their young team, they had a respectable 3-3 record, with many of their runners earning medals at several invitationals. The team’s scholar-athletes were Yasmin Aguilar, Alyssa Biondi, Jessica Horne, Paige Loiodice, Samantha Ramnarine and Amelia Tremper.

Head Coach Gerald Risco is excited for the future of the program, since all of his athletes are returning next season.

“As we get older, there’s gonna be a good future for our girls cross country program,” he said.

The field hockey team featured plenty of scholar-athletes. This included Katherine Greer, Abigail Halpin, Lydia Jordon-Carson, Alexandria Keith, Olivia Lenza, Samantha Maurizzio, Lauren Moccio, Courtney Palmer, Emily Schmitt, Jennifer Sorrentino, Melissa Torchio and Hannah Vendy. The team continues to be competitive, participating in the Section 9 tournament in every one of Lisa Sorrentino’s 32 years as head coach.

Boys Soccer had a stellar season on and off the field. The team was crowned OCIAA Division II Champions. Antonio Amelio, Jack Bisaillon, Christopher Corin, Blake DelaCruz, Gabriel Ilioiu, Nicholas Kahrs, Isaiah Massa, Lorenzo Nunez, Jacob Rosenfeld, Jonathan Shaw and Connor Watkins were all named scholar-athletes. Nunez was named to the Varsity 845 first team and the Section 9 Soccer Coach’s Association first team.

Michael Dempsey was named to the Section 9 Soccer Coach’s Association second team.

Pine Bush football secured the Section 9 Championship. Scholar-athletes from the team were Antonio Amelio, Ian Barth, Michael Fisher, Steven Gage, Edward Garmendiz, Jose Giraldo, Collin Lumley, Joseph Mercurio, Christain Morgan, Aidan Nemeroff and Lorenzo Nunez. Seven players made Section 9 All-League, five were named All-Section. Kenneth Holland was named Back of the Year for Section 9. Soccer players Antonio Amelio and Lorenzo Nunez also kicked for the football team.

Girls soccer featured a tremendous amount of scholar-athletes from one team. Bayleigh Ardito, Kymorah Boddie, Gillian DeWitt, Emily Dimino, Krista Edwards, Kayla Grassi, Yadaris Guzman, Christina Kania, Emily McLean, Kayla McNamara, Francesca Mondelli, Courtney Obregon, Mary Regelski, Saige Reisert, Alexis Trojahn, Alexandra Watkins and Rosanna Weber all received the honor.

In recent years, the girls swimming and diving team has been a force to be reckoned with. This season they were named OCIAA Division I Team Champions and Section 9 Team Champions. They have not lost a swim meet since Sept. 25, 2017, going 25-0 in that time period. The team’s scholar-athletes included Sara Barry, Desiree Burgess, Nina Camacho, Sadie DeGeorge, Savannah Donaldson, Amanda Eagan, Ella Galloway, Grace Gibson, Desiray Green, Mackenzie Gula, Brooke Hornbeck, Samantha Hufcut, Sara Ippolito, Antonia Licardi, Sophia Licardi, Rebecca Lockward, Ashley Martin, Samantha McKee, Jaedyn Newberns, Madaghan O’Shea, Maya Oakes, Abigail Pearson, Katherine Sassi, Ava Schultz, Kayleen Tique Diaz, Gillian Valdez, Katie Webster and London Williams.

“I think it’s tough to be an athlete and also be a student at the same time,” said James Wright, head coach of the football team. “It just takes up a lot of time.”