Student Standouts: Hamilton ’22, Boys Basketball, Boys Squash, Girls Squash, Girls Swimming & Diving
Congratulations to this week’s standouts below. Way to go #RamNation! And as always, if you have a story to share, please email weeklynews@micds.org.
Hamilton '22 Earns Silver at Pan American Fencing Challenge, Selected for Canadian National Fencing Team
Bogdan Hamilton ’22 won the silver medal in Cadet Men’s Foil at the 2020 Pan American Fencing Championships held in El Salvador on February 23. This tournament draws the top youth (under age 20) fencers from North and South America and crowns the champion of the Americas in each fencing weapon. Representing Canada, Bogdan defeated opponents from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and the United States before losing in the finals. Bogdan has been selected to the Canadian national fencing team and will represent Canada at the Cadet and Junior World Fencing Championships held in April. Outstanding job, Bogdan!
Boys Basketball Slips Past Priory
On Monday, the MICDS boys basketball team slid past Priory to defeat the Rebels 52-51. Top scorers included Nick Roper ’21 (17 points) and Brandon Mitchell-Day ’22 (14 points). Read the recap on STL High School Sports here.
2020 Upper School Boys Squash High School Nationals Tournament
Varsity Boys Squash finished their season at Avon Old Farms with a 3-1 record at the 2020 Head U.S. High School Nationals Tournament. The Varsity Boys finished 5th in Division 4 out of 160 male teams from across the nation, securing the Classic Plate win on Sunday afternoon. Tournament play began on Friday with a decisive 6-1 win against Kingswood Oxford (CT).
Wins were recorded by Eli Paul ’20, Haadis Amin ’23, Henry Byrne ’23, Jude Sorkin ’20, Sully Keeley ’20 and Garrett Christian ’20. After a nail-bitingly close 3-4 loss to Suffield Academy (CT) in the Quarterfinals (wins by Christian, Sorkin and Byrne), MICDS Varsity Boys Squash defeated Greenwich A (CT) 5-2 (wins by Byrne, Sorkin, Keeley, Christian and Carson James ’22) to advance to the Classic Plate final on Sunday afternoon. Seniors Keeley, Sorkin, and Christian, along with freshman Byrne and sophomore James, sealed the deal with hard-fought losses at #1 (senior Paul) and #2 (freshman Amin). This was the best result in their most challenging division since the inception of the MICDS squash program in 2010. This outcome at Nationals, along with winning the Flanagan Tournament at Mercersburg Academy for the second year in a row and wins at the Pendennis Club and Louisville Boat Club in Kentucky, illustrates that the Squash Rams are a formidable force to be reckoned with at the National level!
2020 Upper School Girls Squash High School Nationals Tournament
The Girls Squash team qualified for Division 3 after a strong performance at the Mercersburg tournament in December. Last year, the girls were in Division 4. This year, the girls finished 8th in Division 3 (40th in the nation), improving from 6th in Division 4 (54th in the nation) in 2019.
For the first-round match on Friday, MICDS played Brearley School (NY) and won 5-2. Wins came from Imaan Amin ’21 (3-0), Lily Baker ’21 (3-1), Ria Patil ’22 (3-1), Rhea Patnana ’23 (3-0) and Courtney Shands ’21 (3-1). In the quarter-finals on Saturday, MICDS played St. Mark’s School (MA), losing 6-1. The lone win came from Shands (3-1).
In the 5th-8th Consolation Draw on Saturday, MICDS played Phillips Exeter Academy (NH). MICDS was narrowly defeated 4-3. Wins came from Raneem Alzahabi ’21 (3-0), Baker (3-1) and Patil (3-0). In the final round of the 5th-8th Consolation Draw on Sunday, MICDS played a familiar foe, Hopkins School. MICDS again narrowly lost 4-3 after a number of closely contested matches that could have gone either way. Wins came from Annalisa Goot ’21 (3-1), Patnana (3-1) and Shands (3-0). Katie Mikulec ’22 also won her exhibition match 3-0 at the number 8 position.
Also on Sunday, the girls team took a quick trip down to Yale University to watch the 2020 CSA National Collegiate Women’s Squash Team Championships. They were able to watch the 3rd/4th place playoff between Yale and Trinity College (Coach Williams’ alma mater). “It was a great experience for the team to be able to watch highly competitive squash at the college level,” shares Girls Varsity Squash Coach Robyn Williams.
During the High School Nationals, the 2020 CSA National Collegiate Women’s Squash Team Championships were also taking place. MICDS had four alumni competing in this tournament: Sophia Puertas ’19 (#1 at Wellesley College), Connie Gonzalez Navarrine ’18 (#1 at Washington University, St. Louis), Ameera Zafar ’19 (#10 at Washington University, St. Louis) and Meghana Patnana ’16 (#5 at Boston University, not pictured). Gonzalez Navarrine and Puertas played against each other at the number 1 position in the final team match (Wash U vs. Wellesley) with Gonzalez Navarrine declared the winner.
Way to go, Rams and alumnae Rams!
Girls Swimming and Diving Action at State
Last week, several members of our girls swimming and diving team competed in the state finals. In the individual level of competition, Renee Stanec ’20 placed 10th in Class 1 Diving.
- Isabella Haines ’21
- Madigan Kinsey ’21
- Anna Scott Baur ’22
- Erica Engelhardt ’23
- Anna Scott Baur ’22
- Madigan Kinsey ’21
- Meaghan Cannon ’20
- Erica Engelhardt ’23
Way to go, Rams!
