Winter Teams Recognized at Sports Assembly

March 24, 2008

With the winter sports season at an end, Exeter paused to recognize the hard work and team play of the school's athletes. Captains and coaches were seated on stage as Athletic Director Rob Morris thanked the teams for their outstanding performances and congratulated them on their dedication. "Each day that you bond with your team, you are developing yourself as a whole person. You all have met the challenge, with hard work and perseverance."

After a rousing cheer from the student body, Morris congratulated JV athletes on their outstanding 62-16 record overall, which bodes well for varsity team recruiting next year.

Team captains and Most Valuable Players (MVPs) were then called to the stage to cheers and congratulatory hoots from fellow students. Here's a sample of what contributed to their athletic success this year:

Swimming: MVP Kate Foley '08 felt a renewed focus as a co-captain. "Because I was a captain, I wanted to set a good example by working hard. It was nice to be a diver and receive this award because that doesn't happen often. It felt great to be recognized by my team."

Squash: The effort of MVP Andrew Maruca '10 was sparked by a defeat last year. "I lost in the finals of my draw in Interschols last year after having a really good season. So I pushed this season to make it just a little bit better."

Wrestling: The season highlight for MVP Gregory Vaughan '08 was his win in his finals match at the New Englands. "Going into the third period, my opponent was up one point, and I knew that I would have a tough time scoring on him if I stood up. Instead of standing up, I was able to get a reversal, so I had the point advantage, and from there I was able to dominate him through the third period. By the end, I had scored 8 more points ending the match 10-1." He added, "The main reason for my success was my training partner, Julien Dumont. He pushed me, made sure I was working hard and motivated me to perform my best."

Girls basketball: MVP Alex Comolli '08 valued her team's support. "This particular team showed tremendous support for one another both on and off the court. Every Tuesday and Friday night, a team dinner brought laughter and camaraderie. That's what was so great about this team: we had our ups and downs, but we were always willing to work that much harder together to better ourselves for the next game."

The collective school community also took a moment to recognize and honor legendary coach Roger Nekton with sustained applause. He retires this year after coaching boys swimming and diving for 45 years, inspiring his athletes far beyond the pool. Coach Nekton has been a model of commitment, class and excellence in teaching throughout his long career at Exeter.

Winter season highlights include:

  Boys basketball set a school record of 17 wins in a season, winning 12 of their last 13 regular games. Seeded 6th in the Class A New England Tournament, they lost 72-71 in a hard-fought battle against St. Thomas More, the 7th ranked prep school in the nation.
  This was the sixth best scoring team in Exeter girls basketball history with 51 points per game.
  Boys squash placed 7th out of 51 teams at the National High School Team Championships.
  Girls squash placed 14th out of 43 teams at the National High School Team Championships.
  Boys ice hockey was seeded third in the New England tournament where they played Belmont Hill in one of the longest games in Exeter hockey history, losing 4-3 in triple overtime.
  Big wins for girls ice hockey included a 2 -1 win over New England powerhouse Cushing and a huge 2-0 win over Andover in January.
  Boys swimming and diving ended the season with a solid third place finish at the New England Championships. The medley relay team of Adam Lebovitz '10, Chris Slodden '08, Niall Janney '08 and Richard Falk-Wallace '08 earned automatic All-American status at this year's championship.
  Girls swimming and diving ended the season with a fourth place finish at the New England Championships. Over the course of the season, team members achieved 93 personal career best performances.
  With 142 athletes on the roster, this was the largest indoor track team in school history. Katrina Coogan '11 set a new prep record in the mile, which was the fastest time run by a ninth grader in the United States thus far this year.
  Exeter placed seven wrestlers at the Class A Wrestling Championships where Greg Vaughn '08 took first place in his weight division. Vaughan had an outstanding season that included a 17-0 record in dual meets. He was Champion at the Eight School Tournament, the Northfield Mt. Hermon Holiday Tournament, the Class A Tournament, and the New England Tournament. Vaughan also earned All-America status when he placed 4th at the Prep National Tournament held at Lehigh University several weeks ago. To show how dominant Vaughan was in New England this year, he had only one point scored on him this season, and that was in the finals of the New England Tournament.

Team	Captain(s)	MVP
BV Basketball	Maxwell Gordon '08, Nathan Schwarze '08, Jabari Trotter '08	Jabari Trotter
GV Basketball	Alexandra Comolli, Rory Erickson-Kulas '08	Alexandra Comolli
BV Ice Hockey	James Clayton '08, James Core '08, Blair Lalonde '08	James Clayton, Ryan Purdy '08
GV Ice Hockey	Keely Covo '08, Madison Gilmore '08, Lauren Greer '08, Rebecca Snelling '08	Lauren Greer, Lisa Marshall '10
BV Squash	Jung Do Lee '08	Andrew Maruca
GV Squash	Leah Stork '08	Leah Stork
BV Swimming and Diving	Niall Janney, Owen McAleer '08	Niall Janney
GV Swimming and Diving	Kathleen Foley, Laura Pond '08	Kathleen Foley
Indoor Track	Girls: Amy Schuman '08 and Ivana Moses '08 Boys: Graham Keggi '08 and Josh Howard '08	Cailean Robinson '08, Chisom Ude '08
Wrestling	Julien Dumont, Paul Nagao '09, Gregory Vaughan	Gregory Vaughan

Spring sports aren't far off. Check the athletics pages to see game schedules, team pages and team season summaries.

Interested in learning more?

Check out this recent Exeter Bulletin sports page...

Read about Exeter hockey teams' recent induction into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame...

See photos from the GV Hockey Senior Day...