Twelve Points Separated Girls Swimming from Big North Title

At the first ever Big North swim meet, held at the Felix Festa Middle School in West Nyack, NY, River Dell girls (356) came in second place, a mere 12 points behind Pascack Regional (368). The Lady Hawk relay teams came in third place in the 200 medley, first place in the 200 free and 400 free. Eilish Devine took second place in the 200 and 500 freestyle while Emily Reynolds notched first place finishes in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke; Hayley Degnan took third place in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Also placing for the Lady Hawks wer Kristen Sullivan (6th in the 200 IM), Gabrielle Denicola (1st in 100 Fly and 4th in 500 freestyle), Lienne Barrise (4th in 100 fly and 3rd 100 backstroke) and Maddy Toohey (4th in 100 freestyle).

The boys swim team placed 5th with 163 points with: the relay team placing fourth in both the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle, Brian Seeber coming in sixth for the 200 freeystle and fifth in the 100 freestyle, Albert Figueierdo with third place finishes in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke and Matt Starace with a sixth place finish in the 50 freestyle and fifth place in the 100 backstroke.

For the Crusaders swimming, there was no question they could dominate the competition and take home the Big North United title with a final score of 517 points, well ahead of Paramus Catholic (340) and Don Bosco (337). The top finishers for Bergen were: 200 medley relay teams in first, third and fifth place, 200 freestyle relay teams in first, third and sixth, and the 400 freestyle relay in first, fourth and sixth place. Josh Sembrano (first in 200 freestyle, 1st in 100 backstroke), John Om (1st in 200 IM, 1st in 100 breastroke), Liam Kelly (1st in 50 freestyle, 1st in 100 freestyle),  Sebastian Lopez (2nd in 100 butterfly, 5th in 100 backstroke).

Also placing highly for Bergen were Tom Marsella (fifth in 200 freestyle, 4th in 500 freestyle), William Fullerton (6th in 200 freestyle), Ryan McGeary (5th in 200 IM, 2nd in 500 freestyle), Rob Farrell (2nd in 50 freestyle, 4th in 100 freestyle), Anthony Bradshaw (5th in 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle), Jack Bruno (4th in 100 butterfly) and Brendan Sweeney (5th in 100 butterfly, 4th in 100 backstroke), Mike Munafo (3rd in 100 breaststroke).

On Saturday River Dell swimming could not overcome the mighty Highlanders as the girls fell 116-54 and the boys were downed 103-67. Hayley Degnan had the lone first place finish in the 500 Free in 5:40.34 while the boys were bolstered by Matt Starace (200 IM, 2:36.44), Liam Oberlander (100 Free and 100 Fly), and the combination of Brian Seeber, Starace, Albert Figueiredo, and Oberlander in the 200 free relay and 400 free relay.

Even with a gaff by Ridgewood's senior swingman Alex Cohen to allow the Golden Hawks basketball to close a short deficit, Tim Barnes (15 points) and Ryan Duran (15 points) were not able to hold off the Maroons for much longer in a 49-44 loss. This was the third loss by River Dell (5-6) in a row where the squad has come up shy by a basket or two.

Bergen Catholic basketball (5-5) over came the DePaul Catholic Spartans (9-1) in surprising fashion in a nailbiting 56-54 victory after controlling the tempo the whole first half and then needing to hang on in the second. Nadi Beciri led all Crusaders with 16 points.

BC wrestling rode the lower and upper weights to victory over St. Joseph of Montvale, 34-25. Tyler Casamenti and JP Ascolese started the night off with a pair of wins before Connor Melde came in with a pin followed by Matt Mangini's 7-5 victory. Johnny Sebastian, Lukas Iorio, and Christian Jenco finished for the Crusaders to win.

Hawks wrestling retained their undefeated record with a 52-20 decimation of rival Mahwah on Friday behind Dylan Mitchell, DJ Tirelli, Danny Lynch, John McLaughlin, Brendan Campbell, Vincent Cariddi, Will Hancock, Nick Baranello, Lenny Smith and Brian Coyman. But that undefeated streak ended on Saturday with a 49-23 loss to a tough Emerson/Park Ridge co-op. Also on Saturday, the Hawks rode a 53-18 victory over Cresskill and a 60-16 win against Bogota/Weehawken.

The River Dell/Westwood hockey program could not get a break against Bernards High School on Saturday in a 5-1 loss with the loan goal by Zach Rosenoff. Chris Detitta got the call to guard the posts and made 29 saves.