Today in Sports: End of Winter Sports! Welcome Spring Sports 2023
March 21, 2023
Winter sports have come to an end and now spring sports are up and running! Spring track, baseball, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, and boys tennis are back at Valley. Stats and updates are coming soon.
Winter Sports Recap!
BASKETBALL (BOYS): The team ended the season with a record of 16-13. They were able to win the Big North Independence Division Championship for the third season in a row! In the County Tournament, they defeated Passaic Valley, Clifton, and Paterson Kennedy allowing them to reach the finals where they lost to Paterson Eastside. Coach Leicht won his 600th career game in a win over Lakeland 81-23 and is very proud of how the team performed this season.
BASKETBALL (GIRLS): Our varsity team had an 11-12 season. They finished with five straight wins, including some wins against divisional opponents. Some noteworthy games include their game against West Milford when the team by 16 points. The girls also beat Paterson Kennedy with Olivia Isaacson scoring 17 points in the game. They were able to tie for second in their division and Coach Sinram believes the team greatly improved throughout the season.
BOWLING (BOYS): The team finished their season with a 10-4 overall record, earning them second place in their division. Jake Weiner and James Furler made 1st team Big North while Massimo Vivino and Ahmet Demirors made 2nd team Big North. Coach Wilke believes that a lot of underclassmen have very promising talent and will be key players next year!
BOWLING (GIRLS): The team gained many new players that have steadily improved. Alyssa Jones has been excellent as of late, with an average of 165 and she received first team all county for the girls. The team is hoping to continue to grow and improve.
COMPETITION CHEER: Wayne Valley Competition Cheerleading team has been doing outstanding already this season. Placed in the top two in in every competition this season! They competed in Orlando this week at the American Cup. In one of the competitions, they had no mistakes in it, and were titled Grand Champs of the competition. They also won 1st place Cheer and Dance Co-ed Highschool Division at ImPact Cheer and Dance Competition Spirit and Sportsmanship award first competition of the season.
DANCE TEAM: The team Competed at the DTU Nationals in Orlando this week . They did well at the competition at Ramapo College where they placed first in varsity jazz and second in varsity pom. The long practices and hard work have certainly paid off.
FENCING (BOYS): Coach Jim Camb leads the Boys Fencing team this year in a intense battle for a state title. The team was very young and finished the season with a 3-8 record. However, a lot of the matches were very close and next season, the team will be older and more experienced!
FENCING (GIRLS): The girls are the 2022-2023 County Champions and finished their season with a record of 9-2. Overall, the team placed 4th at Districts. Carina Festa, Nancy Mawajdeh, and Julia Wrobel competed in the NJ State Championship, with Festa placing 3rd. Also, Coach Jarger was named County Coach of the Year!
ICE HOCKEY: The final record for the team was 6-14-3. This season allowed underclassmen to gain more experience as a lot of seniors graduated last year. Coach Liscio believes that this will help the team improve for the next season.
SKI TEAM (BOYS and GIRLS): Unfortunately, the unseasonal weather has put a damper on the snow conditions both literally and figuratively! The ski team has had 6 races this year. Our girls team placed 11th in the state. Their best placing race was 2nd on 1/26 and have qualified for States which are happening this Friday and upcoming Monday. The boys had a bit of a rebuilding year; they placed 15th overall in the state and did not qualify for states.
SWIMMING (BOYS):Finished their season with a record of 6-3. They will begin the state tournament this week. Some notable wins include their triumphs against Paramus and Hackensack.
SWIMMING (GIRLS): The girls’ swim team, coached by Monica Voinov, had some tough losses this season including one to Wayne Hills 125-45, and to Tenafly 105-65. That being said, they had some successes both as a team and individually. The girls are led by seniors including Erin Potter and Caileigh O’Donnell and sophomore Sara Rodriguez. Rodriguez will represent the team in the NJ State Meet of Champions on March 5th..
TRACK AND FIELD: The boys team managed to finish 3rd in the Conference and 5th in the County. The girls finished 3rd in the Conference and 4th in the County. Christian Mercado, Sean Matthews, Ava Maher all qualified for the State Group Championship. Christian Mercado broke the school record in the Triple Jump with a distance of 42’8.5″ and Sean Matthews in the 3200 with a time of 9:37.03. These are the most remarkable scores: Winston Calvo earned 3rd place in boy’s shot put finals, while the school finished 6th in boy’s distance medley relay finals and 11th in girl’s sprint medley relay finals.
WRESTLING: The Wrestling team had a rough beginning to their season with a 1-6 record. However, they were able to make a comeback and ended the season with a 12-10 record! They ended as the best public school in District 5 and sent 11 of Wayne Valley’s wrestlers to the Region 2 Tournament, which was the largest amount from a public school!
