Spring Sports Assembly Closes out 2012 Season

June 7, 2012

With the school year winding down to its last days, athletes and coaches assembled last Tuesday evening to celebrate the spring season. After hours of practice, long bus rides and hard-fought competition, this was a chance to acknowledge the many goals achieved and the hard work that made the season a success.

Athletic Director Rob Morris opened the assembly by congratulating the athletes and coaches on their commitment and effort through a long season. Captains then distributed Certificates to all the members of their teams.

After team highlights, Most Valuable Players (MVPs) were called to the stage to cheers and congratulatory calls from fellow students. Here are comments from several MVP winners:

Baseball MVP Charles Gould '12: "Walking up on stage to grab that plaque was pretty cool! It's an award that means I helped the team the best I could have. That's a great feeling. The baseball team this year was full of great guys… When you're in a comfortable atmosphere like we were, it's easy to mesh and hard not to want to succeed. The group made me love to play."

Cycling MVP Kaitlin Kimberling '12: "Sometime earlier this year, I decided that I could be the number 1 girl cyclist in the league, so I did what I thought was necessary to achieve that goal, including training hard over the winter and focusing on improving my technique. My passion for cycling also drove me to success.... This season was great for me because I got to ride with a great group of people every day. I don't think I have been on a team before that I have enjoyed this much."

Golf MVP Ryan Baker '12: "The best part about receiving this award is knowing who the past recipients are and knowing I helped pass on their legacy. As a 4-year player, I have seen some fantastic people golf for Exeter and it's an honor to be part of a group that includes them."

Softball MVP Ashley Metcalf '13: "A few key players saw the need to increase the intensity level in our practices and that carried over into our games. The highlight of the season without a doubt was when we beat Andover in extra innings. That game could have gone either way but we came out with the win. We lost 4 extremely close 1-run games before the Andover game, so this was exceptionally rewarding after our hard work."

Boys Tennis MVP Kenneth Tao '15: "A lot of my success was due to a combination of hard work, a lot of support from teammates, our coach, as well as my friends back in the dorm. The practice that I got here every day was really helpful, and also I was able to take lessons from a coach on the weekends. It's such a great feeling to be playing for a team with your friends cheering you on. I think without this kind of support, I wouldn't have done as well this season."

Morris also presented highlights from each team's season. Here are several noteworthy ones:

Girls Crew: The crew of 2012 had a fantastic season for all 6 boats. G2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 were undefeated, while G1 lost only to St. Paul's during the season. At the NEIRA championship regatta, G1 won the silver in a hard-fought race against St. Paul's. G2 won their race by a remarkable 11-second margin, while G3 held their ground in a tough 500 sprint to the finish, winning by 2.6 seconds. The girls won the NEIRA E. Arthur Gilcreast Bowl team point trophy for the second consecutive year.

Boys Crew: For the first varsity eight, the regular season finished at 10-2. At the NEIRA championship regatta, all 3 boats medaled. The third and second varsity boats earned silver and the first boat earned bronze against great competition.

Cycling: The team capped off a strong season by finishing second in the New England Championship series. They followed this by defeating Andover in their annual time trial race on Exeter/Andover weekend.

Boys Lacrosse: It was a special season for the boys lacrosse team as they set the record for number of wins in a single season by virtue of their 20-2 record. A double-overtime loss to nationally ranked Deerfield was one of the best and most exciting lacrosse games ever played in Phelps Stadium.

Softball: The team had set the goal of reaching the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. The tournament was stacked with great teams, and Big Red went in to the tournament as the No. 8 seed. After dropping the first game to 1st-seeded Tabor, the team knocked off No. 4 seed Nobles 6-1, and 3rd-seeded Governor's 10-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. In a great defensive battle, Big Red again lost to Tabor 3-2 in the quarterfinal game but finished overall in 4th place.

Boys Tennis: The boys varsity tennis team had their best record in 10 years. During the regular season, they were undefeated against class A opponents. Besides sweeping their 2 matches against Andover, they also beat perennial powerhouses Choate, Deerfield and Milton. Their biggest win of the season occurred in the semifinals of the class A tournament when they shut out undefeated No. 1 seed Dexter. Unfortunately on the next day the team came up just short, losing an incredibly close match to Hotchkiss in the finals to finish in 2nd place.

Boys/Girls Track: At Interschols, the boys placed third and the girls second, along with a season of 27 Hall-of-Fame performances.

Principal Hassan stepped to the podium to congratulate girls crew for their great performance at the NEIRA championship. Hassan brought the assembly to a close by handing out the Goodwin '25 Awards – awarded to the 4-year athletes who best embody the qualities of sportsmanship and participation – to three seniors: Martha Griffin, Avery Reavill and Brooks Reavill.

Congratulations to all of this year's award recipients and participating athletes!

Team	Captain(s)	MVP(s)
Baseball	Hunter Carey '13	Charles Gould '12
Boys Crew	Isaiah Brown '12	Avery Reavill '12, Brooks Reavill '12
Girls Crew	Catherine Closmore '12, Mary Reichenbach '12	Cassian Corey '12
Cycling	Alena Lovi-Borgmann '12, Fletcher Williams '12	Kaitlin Kimberling '12
Golf	Ryan Baker '12	Ryan Baker
Boys Lacrosse	Luke Brugger '12, Max Eberhart '12, Charles Gill '12	Charles Gill
Girls Lacrosse	Martha Griffin '12, Campbell Probert '12	Martha Griffin, Campbell Probert
Softball	Naomi Richardson '12, Shaitalya Vellanki '12	Ashley Metcalf '13
Boys A Tennis	Kelvin Lee '13	Kenneth Tao '15
Girls A Tennis	Kathleen Larkin '12, Lauren Lee '12	Nicole Yoon '13
Boys Track	Jabari Johnson '12, Maxwell Payson '12	Jabari Johnson
Girls Track	Sylvia Okafor '12, Lisa Scott '12, Grace Weatherall '12	Lisa Scott
Girls Water Polo	Sabrina Thulander '12, Renee Wang '12	Emma Nuzzo '12, Renee Wang

 

Interested in learning more?

See a photo album of girls crew G1 and G2 boats on the Squamscott River in Exeter...

Read more about Exeter's sports teams…

Prospective students can send information to Exeter coaches using the online Prospective Athletes form…

— Mike Catano