Girls’ Varsity Basketball won their 2nd consecutive Blackburn Tournament with impressive wins over Marianapolis Prep and the Tilton School. WA’s high-powered offense was certainly on full display as the team averaged 80 ppg for the weekend. Late game defensive stops, however, and a barrage of 2nd half 3-point field goals (Sage Youngberg and Kailee McDonald) proved decisive in the Championship game against Tilton. Senior forward, Cam Rust, was terrific and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Junior guard, Elyse MacDonough, secured a spot on the All-Tournament team and WA also received strong contributions from Gianna Nichols ’25 and Ella Getz ’26. The Hilltoppers welcome Tabor Academy to Rowe Court on Wednesday for a pivotal Class AA contest.
Boys’ Varsity Basketball rolled along with their 4th consecutive Blackburn Championship and did so with an impressive display of team defense. The Hilltoppers limited both the Darrow School and Kimball Union Academy to sub-50-point outings as they secured their 3rd consecutive win on the young season. Senior guard, Kayvaun Mulready, continues his fine 2-way play and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tourney and was joined by senior forward, James Jones ’24 on the All-Tournament team. Junior guard Jake Blackburn provided a 2nd half spark with 4-3-pointers in the win over KUA and WA received solid play throughout from Peyton Kamin ’25, Ryan Sullivan ’25 and others to earn the title.
Swim team got their season underway on Wednesday with a solid performance against Wilbraham & Monson Academy. On the boys’ side, Miles Gao was a two-event winner and his times qualified for the NEPSAC Championships. Freshman Johann Innis-Grant also qualified for the Championships with an impressive time in the 50m race. On the Girls’ side, Claire Puffer (50 and 100 free) captured two events as did Elise Drake (200 IM and 100 Fly) to propel the team to a nice 48-36 win. Additional WA swimmers qualified for the New England Championship on Saturday in the meet at St. George’s School so a pleasant start to the year on all fronts for our swim program.
Boys’ Ice Hockey went 1-2 on the week with a Holt Conference victory over Kents Hill sandwiched around a pair of losses to St. Mark’s (7-2) and to league foe, Hebron by a 5-4 tally in overtime. The week ahead features 3 contests in the Barber Tournament with the opening 2 games scheduled for the Middlesex rink in Concord, Ma. Starting on Friday, 5:00 pm.
Girls’ Ice Hockey fell by a 3-2 count on Wednesday against Austin Prep and rebounded nicely with a 7-0 win over Pingree on Saturday. The Watkins Holiday Tournament (hosted by Cushing Academy) will run Thursday through Saturday morning and WA is slated to face off with Cushing at 2:30 pm on Thursday.
Congratulations to Coach Jordan Monts on his 1st career win here at WA as the Varsity 2 team powered by Bradford Christian Academy on Wednesday. Kyle Keveaney ’27 and Aadrash Yalamachili ’27 led the way for the Hilltoppers with 17 and 15 points respectively.
The 3rds team continues to acquire plenty of travel miles as they ventured to Western, MA to play Williston on Wednesday (a tough 6-point loss) and then turned around on Saturday morning and played games in the Suffield Academy “Play-Day” event. Although the games were more scrimmage than actual contests, the team competed well and continues to show signs of improvement in the early part of the campaign. They will travel to Portsmouth Abbey on Wednesday ( 4:00 pm start) in search of their 1st win of the season.
Co-Athlete of the Week: Cameron Rust ’24– Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team — Named Most Outstanding Player in Blackburn Tournament in leading her team to the Championship Miles Gao ’24– Varsity Swim — Won multiple events in season opening meet against Wilbraham & Monson Academy