Port Chester HS Senior Athletic Recognition Ceremony: 107 athletes, 17 All-Stars and 15 best-of-best awardees
June 5, 2024 at 10:19 p.m.
The Port Chester High School gym was rocking. And well it should have been.
The Rams and Lady Rams were playing their best games of the year all rolled into one without a bat being swung, a ball swishing through the net, a touchdown being scored, a soccer ball splitting the goal posts, a race being run, a splash being splashed, a bowling ball rolling or a tennis ball hitting the sweet spot of a racquet.
And while no games were being played in the gym at that time, the year's outstanding athletic events were being replayed in the audience's mind. And the Port Chester senior student-athletes who made those events happen were reliving them even as their names were called to come out of the stands to be recognized for their accomplishments and the hometown crowd roared their appreciation.
It all happened last Wednesday (5/29) at the Port Chester High School Senior Athletic Recognition Ceremony.
It started at 6 p.m. and by 7:30 p.m., 15 of the best senior student-athletes received 10 specialty awards in categories ranging from sportsmanship to citizenship to scholarship along with the school's choices as the outstanding male and female athlete. Basketball ace Guillermo (Memo) Zabala and hoops, soccer and softball triple threat Samantha (Sam) Munoz were the winners in that category.
In all, 107 student-athletes were called up to the podium by their coaches, including 17 All-League and All-Section designees while the specialty award winners were introduced by various Port Chester sports luminaries and living legends.
Emotions ran high, tributes were heartfelt, one coach broke down crying as she mentioned girls she had coached since childhood (including one upcoming graduate, swimmer Melody Sapione, now headed to Yale) and legends paid tribute to Port Chester's storied athletic past as well as the current top-tier athletes.
It was quite a memorable show with one side of the gym filled with parents, friends, relatives and students, the center filled with coaches, invited special guests and VIPs while in the center of it all was Port Chester's athletic director James Ryan acting as master of ceremonies, calling up the respective team coaches as well as the luminaries to introduce the honorees.
Because you only graduate high school once, and it was such a special day to remember for every senior student-athlete, a complete roster filled with all the honorees follows, starting with Port Chester's best male and female athletes, followed by the top male and female student scholar athletes. And then come the rest of the local heroes, the known and the unknown, the sung and unsung, like baseball's John (Tommy) Tomassetti, winner of an academic scholarship to the University of South Carolina, soccer's Raul Morgan Jr. who will play college ball for American International University and. Lady Rams triple threat Taby Sanchez (wrestling, soccer, softball) who will continue her career at Delhi University.
Guillermo Zabala (#2) is Port Chester High School’s Most Outstanding Male Athlete for 2024.By File Photo
*Guillermo (Memo) Zabala, who set the school's single game scoring record with 60 points, averaged 33 points per game to lead Section 1 in scoring and made the All-Section and All-League team, was chosen as the school's outstanding male athlete.
*Samantha (Sam) Munoz, Lady Rams All-League basketball player, All-League Honorable Mention in soccer, and a solid softball player and Track & File sprinter in her early years, was named the school's outstanding female athlete.
*Orhan Eski, a dedicated Rams varsity cross-country runner and basketball player, was the school's top scorer on the SATs and Port Chester's outstanding male student-athlete while versatile Lady Rams swimmer Melody Sapione was his female counterpart.
*In the other Senior Specialty Award categories, baseball player John (Tommy) Tomassetti, All-League Honorable Mention, and varsity distance runner Alejandro Salinas won the Peter Pergamo Sportsmanship Award (Male) while Track & Field runner, cheerleader and scholar athlete Allegra Burke and All-League soccer player Valeria Novoa won the Hank Birdsall Sportsmanship Award (Female).
*Kathleen Scarola, Lady Rams softball pitcher and clutch hitter, was named the Mark Santora female citizenship award winner while football/wrestling captain Jaden Barbour and swim team co-captain Matthew Palma tied for the Richard Conetta Citizenship Award (Male).
*Ramaul Morgan Jr., All-Section and All-League soccer player and ace sprinter, and football and Track & Field co-captain John DelCid tied in the race for the athletic director award for males while cheerleading student scholar Mayelin Gonzalez tied in the female athletic director award-winning category with middle distance running ace Alexandra (Alee) Cruz, who had a 98.2 GPA.
The various team varsity athlete awardees included:
FOOTBALL: Brian Aguilera, Jaden Arbusto, Barbour, Franklin Cabrera, DelCid, Anthony Escobedo, Nathan Provencher, Miguel Valdovinos, Fabrizio Vasquez, Alejandro Velasquez and Danny Zhagui.
CHEERLEADING: Burke, Veleryn Deras, Angela Esquivel, Christian Flores, Mariana Gamez, Mayelin Gonzalez, Adrian Osorio, Allison Recinos and Olivia Tejada.
Melody Sapione, winner of Port Chester High School’s Most Outstanding Female Scholar Athlete Award.Courtesy of Colleen Cahill
LADY RAMS SOCCER: Evelyn Aguilar, Yareli Cruz (All-League Honorable Mention), Daisy Herrera, Ariana Llanos. Sophia Maldonado, Sam Munoz, Valeria Novoa (All-League) and Taby Sanchez (All-League Honorable Mention).
RAMS SOCCER: Bayron Aguirre, Joseph Alvarez, Christian Antunez (All-League), Jonathan Bautista (All-League), Jason and Johaan Espinal. Aidan Espinoza, Pedro Goncalvez, Brendon Lalvay, Jorge and Juan Lopez, Julian Lopez (All-League), Ramaul Morgan, Andrew Palacios, Kevin Pintado, Jeremy Salazar, Nicholas Tellez (All-League, All-Section Honorable Mention) and Matias Vasquez.
LADY RAMS SWIMMING: Kaylee Dugilay, Jaina Gonzalez, Karen Gumarrigra, Nicole Ortega and Melody Sapione.
LADY RAMS TENNIS: Natalie Barreto (All-League), Alexandra Espinosa, Yazorah Handal, Kimberly Maldonado (All-League), Kayley Martinez and Melany Monroy.
LADY RAMS VOLLEYBALL: Katherine Cano, Nataly Garcia, Cindy Laynes, Esmeralda Navarro and Yanairas Tejada.
RAMS X-COUNTRY: Jonathan Abraham, Nicholas Bedoya, Orhan Eski, Juan Mejia and Alejandro Salinas.
RAMS BASKETBALL: Joey Ciciriello, Orhan Eski, Ryan Gagnon, David Pascual, Nathan Provencher, Kesley Sigueira and Zabala.
LADY RAMS BASKETBALL: Nataly Garcia, Sam Munoz.
VARSITY BOWLING: Pamela Cardeal, Gabriel Cueto, Diego Flores, Kyla Haley-Williams, Jaresiah MacDonald, Sophia Maldonado, Lesley Santamaria and Trevor Sullivan.
VARSITY INDOOR TRACK: Jonathan Abraham, Alee Cruz, John DelCid, Jonathan Espinal, Maria Garcia, Danelia Lucas, Kimberly Maldonado, Jordan Orellano and Alejandro Salinas.
RAMS SWIMMING: Jonathan Espinal, Miguel Infante-Rojas, Christian Jadan, William Lagenbach, Aldair Mallma, Juan Mejia, Jordan Moncada, Daniel Morales, Matthew Palma, Kevin Pintada, Irvin Rodriguez, Andrew Tapia, Aaron Vega and Jeremy Zhapon.
RAMS WRESTLING: Jaden Barbour, Franklin Cabrera, Lucas Cepeda, Erik Coyt (All-League), Christopher Gonzalez, Kevin Lorenzana, Christopher Ochoa, Giovanni Oliveros, Taby Sanchez and Alejandro Velasquez.
SPRING TRACK: Jonathan Abraham, Evelyn Aguilar, Allegra Burke, Alee Cruz, Gabriel Cueto, John DelCid, Steven Frias, Maria Garcia, Kimberly Maldonado, Ramaul Morgan, Jordan Orellano, Adrian Osorio, Alejandro Salinas, Miguel Valdovinos and Alejandro Velasquez.
In one of the most memorable moments, the Lady Rams swim coach Colleen Cahill became emotional and was close to tears as she introduced her Lady Rams, especially Melody Sapione. Afterwards, Cahill told Westmore News why Melody was so special: "Melody was a student who did it all. She had it academically (she was chosen as the school's top female student-athlete) and was a strong swimmer. It will be very hard to lose her this year from a team perspective as she was able to swim every single event we had. She was one of the most versatile swimmers on the team the last four years. Personally, it is even harder for me to say goodbye. I have known her since she was in kindergarten. Melody and the other four seniors had me choked up at the awards because I have known all of them for at least 13 years. Melody is off to Yale next year and that is amazing!"
Orhan Eski was selected as Port Chester High School’s Most Outstanding Male Scholar Athlete.By Sarah Wolpoff
Other amazing moments included reminders of Port Chester's storied athletic past including the late, great Paul Costa who made the collegiate All-American team at Notre Dame and went on to play pro-football in both the National Football League and the American Football League, winning an AFL championship and making the pro All-Star teams as a lineman. And Kathy Federici, a former multi-sport Lady Rams coach, casually mentioning her softball career coaching record was 62-3; Mark Santora's coaching feats included winding down by leading the last two Rams football teams to win consecutive junior varsity football championships in consecutive years.
Then there was the seemingly ageless Hank Birdsall, combat veteran in Vietnam, former Teacher of the Year at the Middle School, cancer survivor, and the longest-serving Port Chester coach ever, 51 years and still going as a volunteer T&F distance running coach, and Dr. Joe Durney, educator par excellence for more than 30 years, former coach, P.C. athletic director and deputy superintendent of schools, current STEER for Student Athletes CEO, having the school's newest specialty award for citizenship (female) named after him at this year's event.
So, yes, there were lots of memorable moments at the 2023-24 Port Chester High School Senior Athlete Recognition Ceremony including another first: Junior Varsity Lacrosse awards presented to Angelica Przyslak and John Pauletti, those awards becoming especially meaningful because LAX may become an official varsity sport at PCHS next year.
It took a lot of special athletes, coaches, administrators and local legends to make the awards ceremony happen while doing themselves and Port Chester proud.
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