Sport Shorts

sportshorts By Jared Lowy

The Varsity Baseball team, coached by Bruce Shatel, had another successful season on the diamond, finishing with a 20-7 record, another Morris County Tournament title, a trip to the Non-Public A North semifinal and a #16 ranking in the final NJ.com top 20 rankings. The month of April brought ups and downs for a young Green Wave squad. The team earned big wins over Chatham, Montville, Middletown South, and Pope John, before losing three straight games at the end of the month. On April 30, Chris Accardo ’23 and

Christian Zebrowski ’24

combined to throw a 14-0 no-hitter against St. Mary’s, jump starting a nine-game winning streak. The team would enter the county tournament with a trip to the final on its mind once again. The boys did not disappoint, with wins over West Morris, Chatham and Mendham, setting up a matchup with Randolph in the Morris County Tournament final. Tournament MVP Aiden Dill ’24 saved his best performance of the season for the final, throwing 7 shutout innings, allowing just two hits, while striking out 9 in Delbarton’s 5-0 win over Randolph, its third straight Morris County Tournament title. In the NJSIAA Non-Public A North Tournament, Delbarton would throw its second combined nohitter of the season, with Dill and Zebrowski combining for 5 no-hit innings, while striking out 4 in the 14-0 quarterfinal win over St. Peter’s Prep. While the season would end in heartbreaking fashion in the semifinal against Don Bosco Prep, the incredibly successful season was also highlighted by dominating pitching performances and timely hitting from Connor Dreyer ’22, Jack

Harley ’24, Kevin Hager ’23,

Matt Dahl ’23 and Robert Russo

’23.

L o w y J a r e d

Lacrosse

Delbarton Varsity Lacrosse, coached by Matt Kovachik, began the season with high expectations, with a strong core of returning veterans and young talent. The team would finish a respectable 15-6 record and with a trip to the Non-Public A Final.

Delbarton’s regular season featured wins over Chatham, Summit and a 14-13 home victory over Chaminade. It also had some very hard fought, close loses to Mountain Lakes, Seton Hall Prep and Malvern Prep. Despite the four loses leading up to the county tournament, Coach Kovachik had his team prepared to make another run at a championship. In the Morris County Tournament, the Green Wave would outscore its first two opponents 17-3 before a huge 10-4 win over West Morris in the tournament semifinal. Delbarton would face a familiar opponent in Mountain Lakes in the county final, dropping a heartbreaking 8-7 decision in the final to the Lakers. A 1-0 advantage in the first quarter would be the difference maker as both teams matched goals in the second, third and fourth quarters. In the state tournament, Delbarton’s offense would get hot, with 16-6, 12-8 and 11-3 wins leading to a spot in the Non-Public A final. In what was the biggest (and longest) upset of the season, Delbarton defeated #1 Don Bosco Prep 11-3 in a game that took two days to finish. With a 9-2 lead, lightning caused a disruption in play. After a lengthy delay, the teams were told they would finish the fourth quarter the next morning, where Delbarton immediately went right back to work, solidifying the upset and earning a spot in the NPA final. Delbarton would go on to lose a heartbreaking 6-5 final against St. Augustine. Goalies Charlie Medd ’23 and Aidan Troy ’23 were solid in net all season for Green Wave. Ryan Johnson ’22, David Link ’22 and Joseph Leone ’22 anchored the Green Wave offense, while Jake Melchionni ’23 was dominate on defense. Ryan Trafford ’24 was reliable as ever this season, winning over 60% of his faceoffs.

N J . c o m

Golf

The Varsity Golf team, coached by Sean Flanagan, enjoyed a successful season on the links, finishing the season with an 12-3 record and a Non-Public Individual champion. The team finished 2nd in the state sectionals and Tyler Lee’23 won the individual Non-Public championship. The team opened the season 5-0 for the first time since 2019, playing some of the best golf the school has seen in quite a while. In April, the Green Wave defeated Newark Academy, one of the state’s top programs, 146-151, finishing with one of the lowest team scores in program history. The team also took third at the Morris County Tournament, with Lee coming in second with an even par 72, losing in the second playoff. At the state sectionals, Lee shot a one-over par 73 enroute to his first individual Non-Public A title. Along with Lee, seniors Finn O’Rourke ’22, Charlie Foley ’22, Matt Failla ’22 and Christian Carbeau ’22 helped lead the Green Wave to a 12-win season. Congratulations to the Green Wave on another terrific season and to Tyler Lee on his NonPublic A title.

Track ANDFIELD

S P R I N G A C T I O N

Delbarton’s Track and Field team, coached by Andrew Sherwood, had one of its best seasons in 2022, finishing 4-0 in the NJAC and a Morris County Champions. The team was led this season by the performances of Brian and Collin Boler ’23 along with senior Jeff Cianfrocca ’22. The team would earn 2nd place honors early in the season at the Morris Hills Relay and the Freshman/Sophomore Relays. On April 29, Delbarton sent seven competitors to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The team sent more qualifiers this season than they have in years to this prestigious competition. Cianfrocca finished 4th in the high jump with a leap of 6’4, finishing as the top high jumper from New Jersey in the event. Collin Boler raced to a 6th place finish in the boy’s mile against some of the top runners in the nation. His time of 4:14.82 was tops for all NJ runners in the mile race. Brian Boler ’23 capped off the event by finishing the 3000m championship in 11th place with a time of 8:43.11. From 1000m to 1400m mark, Boler went from 15th to 6th , jumping 9 spots to help solidify his 11th place finish. At the Morris County Championships, the team successfully defended its title, winning for the second year in a row, and second time overall. Collin Boler won the 1600m in 4:14.48, Jeff Cianfrocca won the high jump with a leap of 6’4. Nigel McSween ’23 set a personal best at the discus, winning the event. On day two, Collin Boler once again set the pace, winning the 800m and 3200m, completing a distance sweep! Chuck Nnaeto ’22 placed 5th in the shotput solidifying the county championship. Collin Boler capped off his historic season with a first-place finish in the 1600m event in the NonPublic A States!

Congratulations to the team on a great season and we look forward to seeing you build on your success next year.

S h e r w o o d A n d r e w

Tennis

The Varsity Tennis team, coached by John Thompson, had a very strong season, despite losing multiple members of the 2021 team including Michael Zheng ’23, John Walentowicz ’21 and Nicolas Gritz ’21. Despite the loss of all three singles, Delbarton went 18-8 in 2022, including a Morris County championship and a Non-Public A Sectional title.

The Green Wave had a very challenging schedule in 2022, including matches with Sidewell Friends, Westfield, Blair Academy and Chatham. In April, the Green Wave defeated Blair by an unorthodox score of 4.5.5, due to an April snow storm that hit during the match. In May, the Green Wave won its 19th Morris County Tournament, narrowly defeating Chatham 2320. Despite losing both doubles, the Green Wave won all three singles matches, including an exciting 6-4, 6-3 win for Arjun Bobba ’23 in third singles, who earned his first MCT title. In first and second singles, Will Robinson ’22 and Cameron Scarpati ’22 both overcame first second set loses to put Delbarton in very good position to win the county title. In the NJSIAA Tournament, Delbarton overcame the elements once again, this time playing in over 100-degree temperatures, defeating Dwight Englewood 5-0 to capture the NJSIAA Non-Public A North title. This was Delbarton’s first sectional title since 2019, with all three singles and both doubles winning their matches. Delbarton would lose 3-2 to Pingry in the Non-Public A final, but celebrates another successful season on the courts. The team looks forward to the 2023 season and beyond!

Michael Zheng ’23 Reaches Wimbledon Boy’s Singles Final

“If someone had said a week ago that I’d be in the Wimbledon final I would have thought, ‘you’re talking a load of rubbish’ , ” Michael Zheng told itftennis.com. “It’s incredible and I definitely wasn’t expecting it. I thought maybe I would go a couple of rounds, but this is amazing. ” Amazing is a perfect word to describe Zheng’s run at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) over the summer, winning five matches en route to his first grand slam final appearance in his very short professional career. Zheng faced #3 ranked Mili Poljicak of Croatia in the grand slam final. Zheng would open the match with a 5-2 advantage, but could not put the tough Croatian away. Poljicak fought back to tie the score 5-5, and 6-6 after Zheng retook the lead 6-5. Poljicak would win the first set tiebreaker 6-2, taking a 1-0 lead into the second set. Zheng once again took an early lead, going up 3-1 in the second set. Poljicak would rebound once again, taking a 4-3 lead, before Zheng tied the score at 4-4. Tied once again at 6-6, the second set would go to a tiebreaker. Falling behind 1-4, Zheng fought back to cut the lead to 3-4, but Poljicak would score three more points, with the match coming to an end on a forehand forced error by Zheng, dropping another heartbreaking tiebreaker 7-3. Despite the loss, this was a life changing experience for Michael Zheng and the Delbarton community congratulates him on his outstanding Wimbledon run.

Jack Leiter and Anthony Volpe Shine at 2022 MLB Future Stars Game

For the first time since the 2019 NonPublic final, Jack Leiter ’19 and Anthony Volpe ’19 returned to the same field, as teammates once again, representing the American League in the 2022 All Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, June 16. This year, Anthony was one of three Yankees prospects to represent the American League, while Jack was one of two Texas Rangers prospects playing in the game. Volpe started the game at shortstop, hitting fourth in the lineup for the American League, who won the game 6-3. While he finished 0-2 in the contest, Volpe made some great plays in the field, and enjoyed playing with some of the best young stars in the game. “It’s not too often that you get the opportunity to play against the best of the best, ” said Volpe. Leiter meanwhile, entered the game in the fourth inning, with a 6-3 lead. Leiter threw a 1-2-3 inning, on only nine pitches! “It’s always awesome playing with the best players in the world. ” said Leiter.

While the game was a hit, the big story was Volpe and Leiter together once again. “It was amazing playing with Anthony again, ” said Leiter after the game. “I wish he could have been at shortstop when I was on the mound, but maybe another time down the road. ”

Congratulations to Anthony and Jack on this exceptional honor, and best of luck to both athletes as they continue their journeys to the majors.