As the chestnuts begin to roast on the open fire, and the Fall sports season wraps up, the Winter sports teams are beginning their 2012-2013 campaigns. After a solid Fall sports season for Staples sports teams, headlined by an unbelievable football season, it’s about that time for Staples fans to turn their attention to the Winter seasons. Let me introduce the the Staples Wreckers winter sports teams.

Boys Basketball:

After a 2011-2012 season which ended with a 9-13 record and a 20-point first round loss in the state playoffs to Windsor, the Wreckers are more than ready for the new season to start. With players having the highest of expectations this season due to height, athleticism, and experience, the Wreckers return three starters from last years team. “We are returning a lot of players and the players that are joining us, who did not play last year, are a great fit for this team,” Peter Rankowitz ‘13 a captain of the team said. Rankowitz heads the list of players returning from last season along with fellow captain James Frusciante ‘13, as well as Ross Whelan ‘13 and Darryle Wiggins ‘14. One of the players who didn’t see much time last year is 6’8” Center Alex Addessi ‘13. “I’m excited to see how Alex Addessi will play this year. With his height he is one of the taller guys in the league.” Whelan said. “With that being said, I think his presence will be felt on both ends of the court.” David Katz ‘14 and Joe Greenwald ‘13, a senior who is returning to the team after taking a season off, will bring speed and added depth to Wreckers at the guard position. “We’re excited for Joe coming back. He took a year off but has put in work over the summer and he’s ready to make an impact on the team.” Whelan said. The Wreckers have a lot more depth this year in the both the front and backcourt than they’ve had in years past and with all experience on the team the Wreckers could be in for big things this season.

Girls Basketball:

The girls basketball team is coming off a solid 13-9 season which ended in the second round of the State tournament with a 74-49 loss to Career Magnet High School. Erica Stein ‘13 and Nikki Bukovsky ‘13 return this season after both averaging double figures in points last season and look to lead the wreckers back to the State playoffs this season. “My expectations for this year is to have good team chemistry like we did last year,” Bukovsky said. “I want to learn more from my teammates and coaches to become a better player”. As for supporting cast for Bukovsky and Stein, Bukovsky says there are players who could step up for this team and have huge roles. “There are a few players that have the potential to become great players but we will see when the season starts” Bukovsky said. A few of these players include Fallon Bottone ‘13 and Maggie Fair ‘15.

Boys Ice Hockey:

The boys’ Ice Hockey team is just two years removed from a State Championship game appearance but only one year removed from a disappointing 9-12 season. Steven Shulman ‘13, however, believes that this team is closer to the playoffs than it is to a losing record. “I expect us to go at least 15-5, and make both FCIACs and CIACs,” said Shulman, a senior defenseman who is returning for the Wreckers after being away the last year. “The last year I played for Staples was two years ago when we went to the state finals, we had a strong team that year but I believe this year we can easily be just as good.”
Captain Liam O’Leary ‘13 also has high expectations for the team this year. “This year, we have a ton of depth. Our first second and third lines are all extremely competitive with each other on a very high level of play, as well as our goalies.” O’Leary said. “Just from the captains practices, I can tell that we are in competition with all of the FCIAC and Division II teams, and I predict we will have great runs in both the FCIAC and Division II Tournaments.”

Girls Ice Hockey:

Last year, being just one season removed from winning their first game in five years, the Staples Girls Ice Hockey team began to be acknowledged as a solid team. Finishing 6-12 last season, a season after finishing 1-19, the Wreckers look to improve upon their success last season. Jessie Lepisto ‘13 is the leader of the team this year and looks to lead the Wreckers to their best season yet.

Boys Ski Team:

The Staples Boys ski team has one goal in mind, top five in the state. “We have a lot of solid skiers this year so I hope to place in the top five at states this year.,” said Henry Dumke ‘13. Dumke one of the top skiers on the team simply wants to do what he can to help his team achieve their goal. Captain Noel Berry ‘13 also looks to be a big time racer for the Wreckers this year as well as a sleeper on the team this year Ryan Ruggiano ‘14.

Girls Ski Team:

The Staples Girls ski team are the reigning State Champions and are reloaded to compete again this year. “We lost some good racers this year but we have some amazing sophomores and juniors who have a lot of potential.” Captain Hailey Garrison ‘13 said. “I think we are going to have a great season.”

Boys Indoor Track:

One name stands out when discussing Boys Indoor Track, University of Virginia commit Henry Wynne ‘13. Coming off a State Open title in Cross Country in the Fall, Wynne looks to lead the Wreckers indoor track team to another historic season. Last Winter, Wynne won the 1000 and ran on the Wreckers’ first place 4×400 relay at the New England championships. Wynne also took home the gold in the 1000 at the State Open, Class LL, and FCIAC championships. Wynne earned All-Amercian honors as a part of the Wreckers’ sprint medley relay that was sixth at the national championships. “I think that the team will do really well this winter.” Wynne said. “We have had a strong cross country season so our distance events will do well and I know we have some good sprinters and field athletes joining us as well.” Doug Caffery ‘13 a pole vaulter also has high hopes for the team this season. “I’m hoping that our team can take the state open title again,” said Caffery. “I’m really looking for a repeat of last year’s indoor season even though we lost some key sprinters this year”. Some of the sprinters that Caffery mentioned were John Heil ‘12 and Zach Mitchell ‘12. With the loss of those seniors, Caffery thinks that this year’s sprinters could make up for the loss. “I think that a lot of our senior sprinters like Jackson Yang will have breakout seasons,” said Caffery. As for Caffery he intends on trying to vault over 13 feet this year.

Girls Indoor Track:

Coming off a solid cross country season, Girls Track are ready to have a solid indoor track season. After finishing sixth in the Class LL last season, they look to improve on last season’s finish. “The senior ‘trackletes’ last year were very strong, so it is unfortunate to no longer have them on the team,” Georgia Kursten ‘13 said. That being said, Kursten has faith in this year’s team. “We have a lot of hard working girls and a lot of strong underclassmen who only continue to improve,” said Kursten, “we hope to place well in FCIACs and qualify for the state open and New England meets in as many events as we can.”

Swimming and Diving:

Much like boys track, one name stands out when discussing the Staples Wreckers Swimming and Diving team this season, Williams College commit Nathaniel Boley ‘13. Boley won the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke at the FCIAC championships last season and finished second in the 100 backstroke, fourth in the 100 freestyle and swam on the Wreckers’ sixth place 200 medley relay in the Class LL States meet. “I think we’ll do pretty well this year.” Boley said. “We lost a couple valuable seniors last year but we have a number of really good incoming freshman.” Boley highlighted the lack of divers as a possible concern this season but really likes what the swimmers bring the table. “A potential breakout swimmer for us is Chris Mombello. He had a great year last year and we’re looking for him to step up even more this year and be one of our top swimmers.”
Mombello ‘14, has high expectations for the team this year as well. “We saw what we could do last year, and I think this year is only going to get better. I don’t see why our team would have more than one loss in the regular season and hopefully at least a top three finish at FCIACS,” said Mombello, “I’m gearing up for a successful season.” He also sees another potential breakout star on the Staples swim team. “I am looking at Michael Deluca for a great year. He has been training hard everyday and I can totally see him dropping lots of time in all his events.” The FCIAC is looking much stronger this year but the Wreckers are hoping to come in top 3 at FCIACs in February.

Wrestling:

The Staples Wreckers wrestling team intend on doing much better this year than last year but admit that this is still a rebuilding year for the program. “It’s definitely a building year but it should be the start of a better wrestling program.” Captain Alex Brown ‘13 said. “I expect the team to be much better this year because it’s a fresh start with new coaches.”
Max Kahn ‘13 has higher expectations for the team this year. “The results may vary on how much the team works together as a whole and what kind of rising freshman we may have in the works,” said Kahn. “I believe we have a lot of talent this year, expect an exciting season.”

Gymnastics:

The gymnastics team is coming off a disappointing performance in the State championships last year. Seeded fourth, the Wreckers finished sixth with 124.175 points. The Wreckers, however, return their best all around performer from last year’s State Championships, Captain Anna Violette ‘14 who personally had a score of 31.65. “Shes going to be an amazing captain,” said the team manager and former gymnast Lindsay Keidaisch ‘14. Keidaisch, whose gymnastics career has come to an end recently because of a back injury, is still “focused on getting this team to be extremely strong physically and socially”. The loss of an experienced gymnast like Keidaisch hurts a team that already has no senior leadership but she doesn’t think that will be a huge problem. “I am expecting this season to go very well,” said Keidaisch.
Other members of the team who should be key performers outside of Violette are Andrea Mahieu ‘15, Deanna Baris ‘14, and Sophia Stanley ‘16.

Cheerleading:

This Winter, the Wrecker cheerleaders will be competing in competitions. “All season we are training for competition but we start really putting our routines together in the Winter”. Hannah Weinberg ‘13 said. “We’ve been improving alot since our new coach Avery Watson took over”.
Zoe Googe ‘13, a captain of the team, has high expectations for the team this year. “As a team we would hope to place top five at FCIACS and States,” said Googe. “Personally I think we can make top five since we did it last year and our team has only improved since then.” The team last year was fourth in FCIACs and look to improve on that this year.