Sports

Sports Round-Up March 31

March 27, 2018
By

The Catholic Youth Organization boys’ basketball season wrapped up with the following teams winning diocesan titles:

Pee Wee Div. I: St. Helen, Howard Beach

Pee Wee Div. II: Holy Family, Flushing

Novice Div. I: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Williamsburg

Novice Div. II: Corpus Christi, Woodside

Bantam Div. I: Our Lady of the Angelus, Rego Park

Bantam Div. II: St. Gregory the Great, Bellerose

Rookie Div. I: Our Lady of the Angelus

Rookie Div. II: Immaculate Conception Monastery, Jamaica

Intermediate Div. I: Immaculate Heart of Mary, Windsor Terrace

Intermediate Div. II: St. Pancras, Glendale

Cadet: St. Columba, Marine Park

Tyro: Our Lady of Lourdes, Queens Village

Junior: Sacred Heart, Cambria Heights

The varsity hockey team from Xavier H.S., Manhattan, captured its fourth CHSHL ‘B’ division title in five years with a series sweep over rival Xaverian H.S., Bay Ridge. The Knights finished with a 27-4 overall record and were an undefeated 22-0 in league play.

Photo courtesy Forrest Gurl

A number of the team’s players have ties to the Diocese of Brooklyn. Local parishioners include team captain Peter Gurl (Immaculate Heart of Mary, Windsor Terrace), assistant captain Hudson Abel (Sacred Heart/St. Stephen, Carroll Gardens), Joseph Cosenza (Good Shepherd, Marine Park), Daniyal Dzhaniyev (St. Stanislaus Kostka, Greenpoint), Luca D’Ambrosio (St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor), Kevin Erhard (St. Francis de Sales), Nicholas Rogers (St. Francis de Sales), James Owen (St. Anselm, Bay Ridge), Charles Gardephe (Holy Family/St. Thomas Aquinas, Park Slope), Sean Gurl (Holy Family/St. Thomas Aquinas) and Patrick Nilan (St. Thomas Aquinas, Flatlands).

Two GCHSAA hoops stars were recognized for their outstanding senior seasons.

Jordan Nixon, a point guard and team captain of The Mary Louis Academy, Jamaica Estates, varsity basketball team, was unanimously named 2018 Miss New York Basketball by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Nixon averaged 22.0 pts., 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game this season for the Hilltoppers. The McDonald’s All-American and Tablet All-Star is set to continue her hoops career at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind.

Emily Engstler, a senior forward for the St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, varsity girls’ basketball team, was named New York State Gatorade Player of the Year. This season for the L’il Terriers, she averaged 18.5 pts., 11.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 3.4 steals and 2.2 blocks per game. Engstler, a Tablet All-Star, was also named a McDonald’s All-American and was selected to play in the annual Jordan Brand Classic Game. She is set to play basketball in the fall at Syracuse University, N.Y.

At the Catholic Youth Organization’s girls’ swimming Olympics at the Eisenhower Park Aquatics Center, East Meadow, L.I., a total of six new records were set.

  • The Bantam Medley Relay team from St. Sebastian, Woodside, (Olivia Callahan, Azana Karim, Cathy O’Neill and Maya Bieganowski) broke the record by 1.2 seconds with the time of 1:02.91.
  • Felicity Zhao of LIAM (Our Lady of Lourdes, Queens Village/Incarnation, Queens Village/American Martyrs, Bayside/Our Lady of the Snows, North Floral Park) broke a 13-year-old record in the Bantam 25-yd. Butterfly by half a second with a time of 13.97.
  • Tess Howley from St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor, broke the Junior 50-yd. Backstroke record by more than 2 seconds with a time of 27.13. Tess now owns four CYO records.
  • Grace Adams from ANSOLA (St. Anselm/Our Lady of Angels, Bay Ridge) broke her own record in the Senior 50-yd. Backstroke with a time of 27.07.
  • LIAM’s Germayne Chau broke the Senior 50-yd. Butterfly record with time of 27.23.
  • Maggie Donlevy from Sacred Heart, Bayside, smashed a seven-year-old record by almost 3 seconds with a time of 1:00.54 in the 100-yd. Individual Medley.

The following teams took home diocesan titles following this year’s Catholic Youth Organization indoor track season. Our Lady of Lourdes, Queens Village, finished in first place in the boys’ and girls’ Eastern Division, while St. Joan of Arc, Jackson Heights, swept the diocesan championships in both the boys’ and girls’ Western Division.