The Boys and Girls of Winter: Senior Athletes from Past Season Honored

All of the head coaches of ’s winter sports teams had the opportunity to honor their senior players Wednesday at the high school auditorium, where the FLHS Athletic Booster Club hosted a Senior Appreciation Night for winter student-athletes.

Bowling coach Dennis Sayer, cheerleading coach Nina Anderson, wrestling coach Alex Almeyda, boys basketball coach John Ziemba, girls basketball coach Stacie Zafiris and indoor track coach Ed Garrison took turns not only talking about their respective teams and seasons, but also about each individual senior athlete who helped lead them, with some of the coaches choking back tears as they did so.

Fort Lee Athletic Director Patrick Ambrosio, who served as master of ceremonies and distributed commemorative paper weights to each player inscribed with their name and sport, noted that while the school’s annual sports awards dinner at the end of the school year is a “much more formal affair,” with as many as 400 people in attendance, Wednesday’s event was more intimate—one last chance for those seniors who don’t play spring sports to get together and be recognized in front of families, friends, peers, coaches and teammates.

 “I work for you people,” Ambrosio said. “And you have no idea how much love I have for everybody in this room because I get to talk about sports all day long. I get to talk about kids and education; going through the district levels and doing all those things. And you have no idea how grateful I am that it’s because of you that I’m here.”

The coaches then stood before the audience in turn—their senior players by their side—and spoke about each and every one of them.

Sayer began his comments by thanking Ambrosio for finding it in his budget “to keep the bowling team alive.”

“There was a question about two years ago,” Sayer said. “And the 16 kids we have on the two varsity bowling teams for boys and girls were greatly appreciative, and it showed in their bowling.”

Anderson, who will be turning the reigns over to assistant coach Nikki Luppino next season after 25 years of coaching and yet another national championship, noted that while last Friday was “Read Across America Day,” Wednesday was “Read Aloud Day.”

In that spirit, Anderson read what she called “a little story,” which began, “’Twas my last year of coaching at FLHS; cheering perfection, I take nothing less.”

Choking up slightly toward the end, Anderson read, “Seniors, I love you—each one so unique. You are my family, and yes, I am a geek. ’11, ‘12 cheering, the best of the best, who’s number one? Well, it’s FLHS.”

The girls then took turns reading lines from their own poem dedicated to their coaches, expressing their gratitude and love and imploring Anderson, “Please don’t go away.”

Almeyda said he entered the wrestling season with doubts. He had lost 12 of 14 starters and was facing one of the toughest schedules he’s had in his 21 years of coaching. He even considered going to a JV schedule, but he said it was his son who convinced him “not to give up on the team.”

“I’m going to remember this year for the rest of my life because this is probably one of the most learning experience years I’ve ever had as a coach,” Almeyda said. “And I would do it all over again; I love you guys.”

Ziemba, who celebrated his 300th career win this season, echoed Almeyda in calling his senior players “our leaders” to whom the other players look up.

“You guys did a great job, and I appreciate it,” Ziemba told his seniors.

Zafiris also fought back tears, saying of her senior players, “This group of seniors is truly a special group for me.”

“These four young women have really changed the morale and the culture of this entire program,” she said. “Each four of these ladies have created a program where every single game is a battle. And every single coach has come up to me after the game and said, ‘Your girls play hard; I wish my girls could play that hard.’ It’s a tribute to them and what they’ve done for the program.”

Zafiris added, “You’ve taught the underclassmen to work hard.”

Garrison, who’s been coaching for 38 years, said the team’s philosophy is “Carpe Diem—seize the day.”

“We want our kids to seize the day—do their best—and that’s all we ask for,” Garrison said. “Take the day, and then move on, and that’s what it’s all about. And I think we give a lot to the kids, and the kids give a lot back to us and make it a lot of fun.”

After the ceremony, the crowd reconvened in the high school cafeteria, where they were treated to pizza and hot dogs thanks to the booster club—Thumann’s donated 225 hot dogs to the cause, according to Fort Lee Girls Recreation Basketball League president Michael Klein, who helped serve them up.

The following student-athletes were recognized Wednesday at the booster club’s Senior Appreciation Night:

Boys Bowling: Kei Kase and Andrew Lee

Girls Bowling: Valintina Gomez, Grace Park, Healin Park, Alexa Sudol, Lea Tejada and Justine Valdez

Cheerleading: Judy Ahn, Alyssa Bonardi, Victoria Chang, Michelle Dean, Donna Hong, Erika Morishita, Michelle Pepe, Jelena Sutovic and Milica Sutovic

Wrestling: Michael Erenberg, Anthony Durden, Daniel Choe, Raymond Corona and Hratch Marashian

Boys Basketball: Sean Omeragic, Rany Mishal, Luis Ramirez and Tyler Sanders

Girls Basketball: Ally Long, Megan Gimson, Anthe Nikolaidis and Natalia Kim

Indoor Track: Matheus Barebosa, Christian Buonsanto, Alex Chong, Jenya Dyagilev, YuYu Fahmy, Nikola Gogic, Frankie Goris, Sophia Luppino, Nicolette Pappas, Evan Sophias, Jonathan Spenst and Yuki Takahashi