Athletics

SUMMIT

SILVER KNIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW

By Erica Miknius

The Silver Knights enjoyed competitive play for the fall and winter seasons before the coronavirus pandemic. Even so, the school won one state championship and excelled locally and regionally. Here’s a look at the year.

National Team Academic Awards: Girls’ Soccer.

Scholar All-American: Rachel Martin ’20.

State Champs: Boys’ Cross Country.

SPORTS

All-State: Evan Lakhia ’21, Boys’ Cross Country

State Qualifying Events: Boys’ Cross Country, Girls’ Cross Country.

State Team Academic Awards: Boys’ Soccer, Girls’ Soccer.

Academic All-State Awards: Catherine Coldiron ’20: Cross Country; Matt Brumfield ’21, Brian DeWine ’20, Evan Lakhia ’21, Sean LaMacchia ’21 and Andrew Wagner ’21: Cross Country; Mac Hoeweler ’20, Alex Hood ’20, Pierce Kreider ’20 and Ben Schmerge ’20: Boys’ Soccer; Peyton Bulla ’20, Rachel Martin ’20, Leah Neltner ’20 and Madeline Riley’20: Girls’ Soccer; Rachel Martin ’20: Girls’ Basketball.

Regional Champion: Boys’ Cross Country.

District Champions: Boys’ Cross County; Girls’ Basketball; Girls Cross Country – Runner Up.

District 16 Player of the Year: Rachel Martin ’20, Girls’ Basketball

Southwest Ohio: Coach of the Year Beth Simmons, Girls’ Basketball; Player of the Year, Rachel Martin ’20, Girls’ Basketball; Runner of the Year, Catherine Coldiron’20, Girls’ Cross Country; Runner of the Year, Evan Lakhia ’21, Boys’ Cross Country.

Miami Valley Conference (MVC) Champs: Boys’ Cross Country, Boys’ Golf, Boys’ Soccer (Tied), Girls’ Basketball (Tied), Wrestling Individual – Jack Stewart ’21. MVC Coaches of the Year: Kurtis Smith, Boys’ Cross Country; Jeff Stayton, Boys’ Golf; Beth Simmons, Girls’ Basketball.

MVC Players of the Year: Catherine Coldiron ’20, Girls’ Cross Country; Doug Simpson ’20, Boys’ Soccer; Jake Simpson ’20, Boys’ Golf; Rachel Martin ’20, Girls’ Basketball

Southwest Ohio Field Hockey League (SWOFL) Player of the Year: Abby Moore ’22.

SWOFL Coach of the Year: Emily Betz.

United Soccer Coaches All-Region: Rachel Martin’20. Senior Excellence Award, Peyton Bulla’20.

Evan Lakhia looks to keep up the pace.

Rachel Martin dribbles up the court.

Lacrosse Is Life For Coach Pat Collura

By Nick Robbe

On Long Island, N.Y., lacrosse is king. It’s bigger than football. It’s bigger than basketball. When he was a freshman at East Meadow High School, lacrosse dug its hooks into Pat Collura, and it has not let go since.

Mr. Collura, who has served as the boys’ lacrosse coach at The Summit since 2011, was inducted into the Ohio Lacrosse Hall of Fame in June. He has been involved with the game in various capacities for more than five decades.

He started playing lacrosse to stay in shape for football, a sport in which he admitted he was not particularly skilled. One practice, he traded his short stick for his best friend’s goalie stick. That swap served as the launching point for his affinity for lacrosse.

As East Meadow’s netminder, he played a pivotal role in his team’s success.

“My high school team, and this was in the days before all the computer ranking systems, was arguably the best team in the nation during the 1971-72 season,” the coach says. “We would go play the best teams in upstate New York or teams around Baltimore, and we would beat them.”

New York and Maryland serve as hotbeds for lacrosse in this country. He continued his career at Bowling Green State University where he helped the Falcons win the Midwest Lacrosse Association championship twice. Mr. Collura was also named all-Midwest goalie thrice from 1973-75.

The next year, Mr. Collura began officiating games, a role he has held for 44 years. He referees matches at all levels: youth, middle school, high school, collegiate and club.

“That’s my first love,” Mr. Collura says. “You go out, do a good job and no one knows you were there.”

In 2011, his career path led him to the Williams Field sidelines.

During his time at Summit, Coach Collura has compiled a 97-54 record, his teams have been state finalists twice and he’s coached three all-Americans: Lennox Brooks ‘17 (academic), Henry Schertzinger ‘18 and Harrison Schertzinger ‘18. He’s also been Miami Valley Conference coach of the year thrice.

Coaches want their teams to have onfield success, but they also seek to prepare their student-athletes for later in life.

Preparing the student-athletes, who are under his tutelage, is a duty that Coach Collura takes seriously. If he was to do it all over again, he said he would be involved within a school’s day-to-day operations so he could be around the students more and have more of an influence than he already has. “I love the energy in the hallways. The kids are a hoot. You never know what they will do or say.”

From February to June, he and his coaches see the players more than their parents do. During the season, they go to school and then off to practice, not returning home until 7 p.m. Then, they quickly grab dinner and it’s off to complete homework before bed.

With these busy schedules that studentathletes keep, it’s imperative for coaches to serve as an extension of the parents. “Coaching is a huge responsibility,” he says. “The players absorb everything, they see every inflection. They are like sponges. You have to be aware of that. You have to be good role models.”

It’s why he’s come up with basic tenants for his program: “Win with class. Lose with grace. And always, always have good sportsmanship.”

“Everything we do with sports translates very well into the social world,” the coach says. “Some coaches treat their best athletes differently than the guys at the end of the bench. I do not feel that way. They don’t get a pass. It translates well into what we are grooming them to be: good teammates, good brothers, good dads, good husbands.”

His contributions to Summit are many, but his contributions to the sport in Ohio loom larger as the induction to the Ohio Lacrosse Hall of Fame attests. Inductees can be enshrined as a coach, official or as a contributor to the game. Coach Collura was inducted as a contributor/official.

“It’s incredible,” Mr. Collura said of the honor. “The best part about it was the emails from guys I have not talked to since high school. It was cool to reach back and touch bases with all those guys.