Athletic Director Mark Conroy stood before the school during an assembly on November 30, 2022, and listed the highlights of the fall athletic programs. Here are his remarks.
Happy Winter everyone! I hope everyone is back in the swing of things after a wonderful break.
Welcome to the Fall Athletic Awards Assembly!
I wanted to take this opportunity this morning to recognize each of our 9 fall programs by sharing a few highlights and then recognizing the individual award winners that were announced at our Banquet Night gatherings just before Thanksgiving vacation.
Horseback Riding:
Ten students traveled out to the Amethyst Farm in Amherst this fall to ride for the Infinity Equestrian team under the direction of Laura Etzel. The riders brought a range of riding experience from novice to advanced. Sophia DiTerlizzi and Pierceson Squires competed on both the dressage and hunt seat teams while Avery Blumberg and Maggie Hunter also competed on the hunt seat team. Avery and Sophia earned enough points to make it the individual Regional Finals which will take place in December at Stoneleigh Burnham. Coach Etzel says Sophia is the dressage team captain and demonstrated strong leadership skills all fall in the riding program.
I want to recognize the individual award winners in the Riding program this fall. Please stand when I read your names. We will applaud you as a group at the end. Thanks!
JV Riding Awards:
Most Valuable Rider: Avery Blumberg ’27,
Most Improved Rider: Mia Pasternak ’28, Maggie Hunter ‘27
Sportsmanship Award: Audree Edmunds ‘25
Varsity Riding Awards:
Most Valuable Rider: Sophia DiTerrlizzi ’25, Pierceson Squires ‘23
Most Improved Rider: Gabe Follone ’26, Gavin Kim ‘25
Sportsmanship Award: Sophie Edmunds ’23, Mayphia Zhou ‘24
Congratulations Riders!
Girls Soccer:
-The girls’ soccer program enjoyed a successful season. The 21 member JV team demonstrated great improvement and esprit de corps during their season! Led by Coaches Kurt Whipple and Jesus Lopez Diez the girls had exciting wins over Cushing and Bement as well as impressive shutouts of both Taft and Suffield.
-The varsity squad led by coaches Sara Reid and Erin Davey enjoyed a competitive season with notable improvement and exceptional team comradery! The girls went 4-2 in their last six games including a terrific 2-1 over rival Pomfret at their Family Weekend and shutting out local rival NMH 3-0 on our Senior Day. The biggest win of the season took place when we hosted the defending NEPSAC champion Suffield Academy out on the Galbraith turf. Monique Lyons scored twice and captain Annika Jensen netted the winner on a terrific free kick late in the contest to give the Wildcats the win. Come to think of it that was a particularly great day for Wildcat athletics as our varsity teams went 8-0 over our arch rival!!
In terms of postseason individual recognition, two girls received honors. Annika Jensen and Emily Crovo were both chosen to participate in the Western New England all-star game. Additionally, Annika earned All NEPSAC Honorable Mention recognition while Emily was named a Boston Globe all-star.
I would like to recognize the award winners in the girls’ soccer program –
JV:
Most Valuable Player: Olivia Zaiken ‘27
Most Improved Player: Lila Parsons ‘28
Sportsmanship: Sam Yunes ‘23
Varsity:
Most Valuable Player Award – Emily Crovo ‘23
Most Improved Player Award – Ava Hunter ‘24
Sportsmanship Award – Emily Hamann ‘24
Alumnae Award for outstanding contribution to the program – Annika Jensen ‘23
Next year’s captains will be Emily Hamann ’24 and Catie Spence ’24.
Girls Volleyball:
-Comprising three teams, 46 girls participated in our volleyball program this fall. Coach Rohan and KaneLong’s Thirds team demonstrated great improvement and comradery all season highlighted by two exciting wins over KO and Miss Porters!
-Led by Coaches Schmidt and Camacho-Sanchez, the JV team enjoyed a very competitive season finishing with a record of 7-8 including thrilling wins over Pomfret, Berkshire, Cheshire and Miss Porters.
-Led by coaches Ken Choo and Tyla Taylor, varsity volleyball finished with an excellent record of 10-6 narrowly missing out on a tournament berth. Our ten wins tie last year’s total for the best record for varsity volleyball in the past 14 years! There were many highlights during their season including defeating Berkshire 3-1 in our annual Pink Game during Family Weekend, a thrilling 3-2 victory over Cheshire after being down 0-1 and 1-2 and shutting out rival Suffield 3-0. Without question, the biggest and most satisfying victory of the season was earning a tremendous win over the #2 ranked team in NEPSAC Kingswood Oxford 3-2.
-Two team members received postseason recognition. Senior Izzy Ireland was named to the All NEPSAC Class B team while sophomore Annika Song was named Honorable Mention.
-I would like to ask the individual award winners in the volleyball program to stand and remain standing after I read their names. We will applaud them as a group at the end.
Thirds:
MVP – Livia Locke ‘26
MIP – Elise Edmunds ‘28
Sportsmanship – MaryEllen Choo ‘27
JV:
Most Valuable Player – Cali Keenan ‘27
Most Improved Player – Mina Sugiyama ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Lauren Counter ’26, Maya Mallett ‘26
Varsity:
Most Valuable Player – Izzy Ireland ’23
Most Improved Player – Nina Coffee ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Tu Thieu ‘23
Next year’s captains will be Daliah Elvin ’24, Annika Song ‘25
Girls Cross Country:
Led by Coaches Martha McCullagh and Kevin Hillman, the 18 girls who ran cross country at Williston this fall enjoyed another strong season recording our 35th winning season in the past 36 years finishing at 8-3. According to Coach McCullagh, the varsity team’s highlights included defeating Division 1 schools NMH and Porters, a strong showing at the Shaler Invitational where more than half the team’s runners ran their fastest time ever on our course and a strong season ending performance in the multi-school meet at Berkshire. Individually, sophomore Lucy Hoyt moved to #5 on the course honor roll for fastest times ever run on our course while Coraly Siegel and Hannah Roche joined the Honor Roll at #11 and #14.
At the season ending NEPSAC championship held at St. Mark’s, Lucy Hoyt finished at #31 to win All NEPSAC honorable mention.
-I would like to ask the individual award winners to stand and remain standing after I read their names. We will applaud them as a group at the end.
Most Valuable Runner Award – Hannah Roche ‘23
Most Improved Runner Award – Katy Guo ‘24, Taline Lichocki ‘26
Sportsmanship Award –Gabi Bobiak ‘25
Captains: Katy Krasnovskaya ’24, Brooke Manfredi ‘24
Boys Cross Country:
The 41 member boys cross country team enjoyed another terrific season finishing at 10-2. Led by captains Will Chalfant and Henry Foster, there were many highlights during the dual meet season including beating Kent in the season’s first race, defeating KO and Westminster at home and a first ever narrow two point win over Division 1 NMH. At the Westminster Invitational held at mid-season, the team ran exceptionally well outrunning the other 7 schools competing to come in first place. At our own Shaler Invitational the boys ran exceptionally well against the other 11 teams finishing runner up to Loomis!
-At the Division II NEPSAC championships held here at St. Mark’s on the final Saturday of the season, the team ran their hearts out coming in 5th out of the 16 teams that competed. Individually, four boys earned individual recognition – senior Will Chalfant and freshman Brody Richardson both earned all NEPSAC honors for top 20 finishes and an invitation to the NEPSAC all-star meet while Jeffrey Warner, Jackson Ayres and Carter Cleary all earned Honorable Mention honors. Remarkably, of the 15 fastest times ever run on our cross-country course 10 were recorded this fall by members of this year’s team.
Another example of the depth of this year’s boys cross country program was the outstanding performance of our JV team. How’s this for a great season? Finished 1st the Westminster Invitational, 1st at the Shaler Invitational and, to top it off, we finished 1st at the NEPSAC D2 championships. Additionally, the JV boys were undefeated at 12-0. Can I ask the boys who competed on the JV team this fall to stand so we can recognize them?
-I would like to ask the individual award winners to stand and remain standing after I read their names. We will applaud them as a group at the end.
JV:
Most Valuable: Shiv Patel ‘25
Most Improved: Junwon Park ‘26
Sportsmanship: Owen Dietrich ‘23
Varsity:
“Alan Shaler” Most Valuable Runner Award – Will Chalfant ’23 (second year in a row)
Most Improved Runner Award – Brody Richardson ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Henry Foster ’23, Chance Thorne-Begland ‘23
Next year’s captains will be Jeremy Dube ’24 and Calvin Klumpp ‘24
Water Polo:
– Led by Coaches Bill Berghoff and Teddy Schaffer, this fall’s boys water polo team had another terrific season building on last year’s success. The team finished with a record of 11-9 – the second most wins we have had in 20 years – falling just shy of last’s year’s 12 wins! Led by a veteran core of seniors, the team enjoyed several highlights including sweeping Loomis, Suffield and Westminster, avenging an early season loss with a gritty road win at Hopkins, and a terrific late season win at home over Andover. For the second consecutive year, the team’s excellent regular season earned them a berth in the NEPSAC tournament held at Brunswick. Unfortunately, despite leading going into the fourth quarter, the boys came up short 14-11 to Exeter to end their season.
Two boys garnered postseason individual recognition – Trip Bradbury was named to the All NEPSAC team while fellow senior Jack Coscia was named Honorable Mention.
I do want to recognize one of our boys who enjoyed a terrific career as our goalie and set a new school record for assists in a season with 30. Could I ask Getchell Gibbons to come forward so we can recognize this new school record?
-I would like to ask the following award winners to stand and be recognized. We will applaud them as a group at the end.
Most Valuable Player Award – Trip Bradbury ‘23
Most Improved Player Award – Herrick Stevenson ’24, Jay Ro ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Jack Coscia ’23, Adam Shatz ‘23
Field Hockey:
-Under Coaches Klumpp and Haas’s guidance, the 14 member JV team enjoyed a spirited season highlighted by an exciting 3-1 win over Westminster!
-The Varsity Field Hockey team, led by Coaches Alex Tancrell-Fontaine and Sarah Sawyer, enjoyed a tremendous season setting a new school record for most wins during the regular season with 13 as well as shutouts in a season with 10! Pretty incredible! Needless to say there were many highlights during their season including victories over rivals Pomfret, Berkshire and Suffield, shutting out a Class A tournament bound team from Loomis 1-0, knocking off an undefeated Westminster team at mid-season 3-0 and big wins over Deerfield and NMH in the final week of the season, the latter on our Senior Day. The team’s excellent regular season record earned them the #3 seed in the NEPSAC Class B tournament and a chance to host #6 Berkshire. Remarkably, this was field hockey’s 12th tournament appearance in the last 13 years! The girls beat Berkshire 2-0 to advance to the semifinal game at Middlesex where they came up just short. Despite the loss, it was a special season for Williston field hockey as they went undefeated against their Class B opponents in Western New England winning the league title for the 10th time in the past 12 years as well as tying the school record for most wins in a season!
Can I ask captains Louisa and Katherine to come forward to make a presentation to Mr. Hill?
In terms of individual recognition, four girls earned All NEPSAC recognition. Megan Carey and Zola Piekarski bother were named Honorable Mention while Camille Armaganian and Jenna Guglielmi were both named All NEPSAC.
-I would like to ask the individual award winners to stand and remain standing after I read their names. We will applaud them at the end.
JV:
Most Valuable Player Award – Mia Townshend ‘26
Most Improved Player Award – Audrey Capshaw ‘27
Sportsmanship Award – Abby Muscato ‘24
Varsity:
Most Valuable – Camille Armaganian ‘24
Most improved – Miranda Calderone ‘23
Sportsmanship – Louisa Coughlin ’23 and Katherine Kang ‘23
Next year’s captains will be Camille Armaganian ’24 and Anna Sawyer ‘24
Football:
-The 77 boys who participated in football this fall enjoyed a terrific season out on Sawyer Field. The JV squad, led by Coaches Ketcham and Malinowski, demonstrated great improvement with several terrific wins, none more thrilling than when sophomore Joseph Killcommons split the uprights with 2 seconds left on the clock to defeat Suffield at home 3-0.
– Building on the success of last year’s 5-3 season, varsity football enjoyed a terrific fall competing with many of the best prep programs in NEPSAC. There were a number of highlights during the season including decisive wins over Hotchkiss, Andover and rival Suffield and a number of thrilling wins that came down to the final seconds including a season opening 15-14 win over Cheshire, a 49-41 see saw battle at Deerfield and a heart stopping 38-37 win at Wyoming Seminary when Drew Renzella hit Colin Larson for two points and the overtime victory. Arguably, the most exciting game was played late in the season when the boys traveled up to play an undefeated Exeter team. The game proved to be a terrific back and forth contest decided late when junior Hudson Fulcher-Melendy split the uprights to give the Wildcats a 45-43 win. Finishing with a 7-1 record, the boys earned our first bowl berth since 2014 and a chance to compete with Loomis Chaffee. Unfortunately, despite a tremendous effort, the boys came up just short in the end. Can I ask the team captains to come forward to make a presentation to Mr. Hill?
A number of boys distinguished themselves this fall including two who set new school records. Junior James Elliott tied two school records with 58 catches and 11 touchdown receptions. Can I ask James to come forward so we can acknowledge these school records?
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The second boy to set a school record was postgraduate running back JC Clerveaux who broke Williston’s all time individual season rushing record with 1,263 yards in 9 games. Can I ask JC to come forward so we can recognize him?
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In terms of postseason individual accolades, six boys were recognized. JC Clerveaux, Junior Poyser and James Elliott were named to the prestigious All NEPSAC football team while Drew Renzella, Joey Pallotta and Felix Antoine-Bouchard were named Honorable Mention.
-I would like to ask the individual winners for football to stand…
JV:
Most Valuable Player Award – Shane Bussard ’25, Riley McDonald ‘25
Most Improved Player Award – Jordyn Osorio ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Brendan Capshaw ‘25
Varsity:
“Jim Purce Memorial” Award for Overall Excellence – Jayden “JC” Clerveaux ‘23
“Edward Stimets Jr. Memorial” Defensive Excellence Award – Junior Poyser ‘23
“Lindy Hanson Memorial” Offensive Excellence Award – Drew Renzella ‘23
“Richard R. Francis” Most Improved Player Award – Tate Kuster ‘23
Mills Kicking Game Award – Hudson Fulcher-Melendy ‘24
Sportsmanship Award – Jack Morrison ’23, Joey Pallotta ‘24
Boys Soccer:
-77 boys came out for soccer at Williston this fall comprising our four teams. The Junior team had a terrific season losing their first game and then going undefeated the rest of the way! The JV B team led by Coaches Garcia and Hanford enjoyed terrific team comradery with a season highlighted by decisive wins over Pomfret and Cheshire and a thrilling 3-2 win over rival Suffield.
-Led by coaches Tom Johnson and Liam McMahon, the JV A team also had another excellent season with a record of 7-5-2 including 4 shutouts! The most exciting wins were shutouts of rivals Suffield and Deerfield and a narrow 4-3 win over Salisbury.
– The varsity boys soccer team, led by Coaches Chiavaroli and Syfu, built on the success of recent seasons by winning a school record 17 games this fall. It was a dominant season by all accounts – amazingly, the team scored 70 goals to go along with 10 shutouts. Against our Class B opponents, we were 9-0 outscoring our opponents by a remarkable 50-6. We were also undefeated against all the Class A teams on our schedule going 7-0 including wins over tournament bound teams from Choate, NMH and Berkshire.
-The team’s excellent regular season earned them the top seed in the NEPSAC Class B tournament and two home games. In the quarterfinals, they soundly defeated Greenwich Country Day while the semifinals proved to be a nailbiter decided on penalty kicks after finishing the game knotted at 0-0. Alex Wolter’s save and Noah Kooistra’s successful final penalty kick proved decisive catapulting the Wildcats into the NEPSA championship game for the first time in 23 years. In the championship game against Brooks, the boys played their hearts out but came up short 2-1 ending their incredible season.
Could I ask the team captains Luke and Manu to come forward to make a presentation to Mr. Hill?
-In terms of individual recognition, Hakim Karamoko and Jabari Decoteau were both named All NEPSAC while Nicolas Fonseca Morales and Manuel Gonzalez Hudson were named honorable mention. Additionally Max Fujimori was selected as an All-Region player by the United Soccer Coaches Association.
-I would like to recognize the award winners at all the different levels. Please stand and remain standing while I read your name. We will applaud you at the end.
Junior:
Most Valuable Player Award – Reece Berrien ‘27
Most Improved Player Award – Noah Comrie ‘27
Sportsmanship Award – Sam Dietrich ‘27
JV B:
Most Valuable Player Award – Jack Ballinger ’24, Graham Williams ‘25
Most Improved Player Award – Ollie Haynes ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Onion Quan ’27, Durgin Shields ‘24
JV A:
Most Valuable Player Award – Junseok Hwang ‘23
Most Improved Player Award – Alex Landon ‘26
Sportsmanship Award – Dyson Haaland ‘23
Varsity: has not done their awards yet
I wanted to thank all of you who wore the blue and green this fall for competing so hard and so well. You represented Williston with distinction. I also want to thank and congratulate all of you who came out to cheer on your classmates at games – your school spirit and sportsmanship was exceptional.
Good luck to all the winter teams.
Thanks very much for your attention.
