The All-Everything athlete was a four-year starter for both the soccer and basketball teams, and served as captain on each Garnet squad as well. Greer helped lead the soccer team to a second consecutive undefeated season, a No. 1 ranking in the country, a Section championship, and a second trip to the State finals in three years. On the hardcourt, she pushed the Garnets to a League championship and propelled them to a County Center appearance as the second-leading scorer on the team.

Greer, who earned the Con Ed Athlete of the Week for soccer in October, was taken aback when her name was called.

“I didn’t expect the athletic staff would feel that I was the one most worthy of this award, and it was one of the best surprises ever,” she said.

Greer added that her success comes from an attitude that is equal parts competitive and positive. “Leadership is very important when it comes to sports,” she continued, “and I believe that I am able to set good examples and teach the younger players.”

Rich Savage, the Rye girls’ soccer coach, believes the award could not have gone to a more deserving student.

“Aside from being the best marker in the game, Catharine is a dedicated and hard-working athlete who goes above and beyond on every occasion. She’s a role model, showing grit and determination while never getting emotional. In short, she’s a coach’s dream and an opposing team’s nightmare.”

Mary Henwood, who coached Greer for four years on the girls’ basketball team, summarized the multi-sport star’s prowess and importance to her team with an example of a typical on-court moment: “Catharine would be in an impossible defensive situation, somehow steal the ball, break away, and do some incredible move through three defenders to score,” said the coach. “All I could do was turn to the bench and say, ‘Did you see that? Did you see that?’”

Henwood went on to praise Greer’s never-say-die mentality. She also mentioned her nerves of steel at the foul line. “Looking at Catharine you couldn’t tell if the team was ahead, behind, or tied with one second to go.”

Greer’s teammates were effusive in their praise as well. Rising senior Victoria Pacos, who played both soccer and basketball with Greer the past three years, said, “Catharine works and plays harder than any other athlete. She’s a natural leader who pushes everyone around her to be better. The way she encouraged us to try harder and constantly improve … it’s a gift she has.”

Greer has been at it on the pitch and basketball court since she was 6, following in the footsteps of three older brothers and sisters. She also saves time for snowboarding, a passion she pursued despite the concern of her varsity coaches.

Off the field, court, and slopes, Greer has achieved incredible academic success. She made the All-Academic Team at Rye High and graduated with High Honors and a 94 GPA. She gained early admission to Tufts, a Division 3 school, where she plans to play soccer. Greer is undecided about a career choice, but is considering dentistry or medical school.

“I am excited to play soccer at the college level, but I’m also nervous because I don’t know what to expect. I’m just hoping that my college athletic career goes as well as my high school one went.”

And the final words go to Catharine’s father, David Greer: “Catharine is an incredible kid – any parent’s dream. She takes care of everything she needs to without a complaint. Homework, schoolwork, part-time work at her mom’s business. If she wins or loses a game she has the same attitude – you could not tell the difference. No matter how much pressure there is, she looks and acts the same.”

Billy Chabot slams a fourth-inning homer.

Undefeated Harrison had plenty to be anxious about in the bottom of the sixth. Though they’d beaten this same Rye roster 7-3 just four days earlier, the Huskies were in obvious awe of their rivals’ bats.

People’s Exhibit One: Billy Chabot’s leadoff homer in the top of the fourth, tomahawked over the left-field fence, that tied the game 1-1. Exhibit Two: Dusty Mion’s huge opposite-field homer the next inning after Harrison had taken a 6-3 lead in the top of the frame. And Exhibit Three: after Rye conceded three more runs in the top of the sixth, Owen Hull boomed a two-out, three-run homer, his team’s third in three innings, to make it 9-7.

Chabot’s teammates greet him at home.

When Max Kenney and Mat Bruno both walked, Mion stepped in again as the winning run. After a dubious called first strike, Mion eventually went down swinging and Rye’s season came, abruptly, to an end.

As dramatic as it was, the championship game was nothing compared to the semifinal. In that one, Eastchester scored six runs in the top of the first before Mion got half of them back with a three-run dinger. A string of hits by Bruno, Mion, Forbes Crowley, Sean Hale, and Chabot tied things up, 6-6. Rye built a 13-9 lead going into the top of the fifth when the bottom fell out: Eastchester used walks and singles to rattle off ten straight runs.

Andy Bach scored after an RBI bunt on two wild pitches and a bad throw.

“When our kids finally came into the dugout after an inning the coaches thought would never end, none of them seemed dejected,” said manager Greg Hale. “They just wanted a chance to bat and get back into the game. And they did.”

Owen Hull and Max Kenney led off the bottom of the fifth with singles, Bruno hit a three-run blast, followed by a Chabot double that scored two more.

Max Kenney about to strike out Harrison’s cleanup hitter.

With Rye down 19-18 after holding Eastchester scoreless in the top of the sixth, Forbes Crowley’s infield hit tied the game. Mion, who’d already homered twice, was intentionally walked to load the bases. Then a passed ball by Eastchester’s catcher allowed Bruno to steal home and advance his team to the title game.

Hale, who had high praise for Gavin Kenny in right field, summed up the season. “This team showed they wouldn’t give up no matter what the score was. Our comeback against Harrison fell short but I was very proud of the work and effort all the kids put in this summer.”

Familiar faces returned for the Invitational

Although the temperatures didn’t quite reach triple digits as in 2010, the mixed doubles team of Heather Sweeney and Jake Wilson was more than happy to take the victory plunge into the Apawamis Club pool July 9. The duo won the eighth annual Alana Dupont Invitational tournament, with over 50 friends, family, and club members on hand for the always-enjoyable affair.

Heather Sweeney and Jake Wilson take the ceremonial dip

Photos by Marilyn Gerrish

Benny Goldman, Jordan Eck, and Dan Orlovsky

Rye High School graduate Jordan Eck, who quarterbacked the Garnets to a State football championship in 2007, took part in a special tutoring session at The Harvey School July 12. Houston Texans’ backup QB Dan Orlovsky, a former standout at UConn, was the special guest coach.

Eck, a senior, is expected to call the signals this year on the gridiron for Hamilton College. Harvey’s new quarterback, Benny Goldman, also benefited from the professional tutelage.

– Photo by Mark Brandon

Jonah Shainberg

Shainberg also competed in the North American Cup (NAC), another national competition held in Reno the same week. He placed 10th out of 190 Junior male sabre fencers (under 20) and 10th out of 160 Cadet male sabre fencers (under 17). His strong results in the NAC earned him a national Cadet ranking in the top 10, making him eligible to compete internationally at World Cup events in Poland, Russia, Hungary, and England, in addition to national-level events around the U.S. beginning this fall.

The fencing phenom also received an Academic All-American Recognition Award, presented annually at the Summer National Championships. This USA Fencing program acknowledges high school-age competitive fencers who posted a cumulative GPA of at least 3.7 for the academic year. He competes for the Fencing Academy of Westchester in Hawthorne, and has been coached by Archil Lortkipanidze since he was 9.

Manursing Men’s B Champion Arnold Diaz with runner-up Mark Keegan

He’s on a tear, after having had double knee replacement surgery last summer. The question is: can he match his Emmy Award number, which at last count was approaching 40.

Rye started slowly, with four batters going down swinging in the first two innings. But the floodgates opened in the third, when Rye’s No. 8 and 9 hitters, Owen Hull and Max Kenny, stroked a pair of singles through the middle. Everyone was safe when Eastchester’s third sacker muffed Matt Bruno’s grounder, and Dusty Mion’s hard single to center plated all three runners, aided by some sloppy Eastchester defense. Billy Chabot’s groundout to short scored Rye’s fourth run of the frame.

Front row: Andy Bach, Jared Olbrys, Forbes Crowley, Billy Chabot, Gavin Kenny, and Sean Hale; middle row: Dusty Mion, Max Kenney, TJ Lavelle, Owen Hull, Brett Egan, and Matt Bruno; back row: Coaches Brian Bach and Michael Kenny, and Manager Greg Hale.

Unfortunately, pitcher Max Kenny’s own defense was porous early on, and Eastchester was ahead 5-4 when Chabot settled things with a towering homer to right-center in the fifth. Mion’s second hit of the day, a double, drove in Bruno for Rye’s ninth run in the sixth inning, after which Mion took the mound and closed out the game.

The following Monday, Rye was back at Disbrow to take on fellow first-round winners Elmsford, trouncing them, 8-2. The victory sets up a battle of the unbeatens July 15 at Eastchester’s O’Rourke Field against Harrison, which defeated White Plains, 8-4. The winner advances to the championship round, where they’ll need one victory in two games (if necessary) to win the District 20 title.

Front row, left to right: Henry Cetina, Aidan Anderson, Finn Westerink, Henry Friedrich, and Troy Egan; middle row: Jason Ciardiello, Jamie Abt, Grant Meyerson, Will Tonkel, Rick Burke, and Andrew Barbara; back row: Gary Ciardiello, Matt Anderson,and Steve Barbara. Not pictured: Yoshihide Sato.

The team, ironically designated as the visitors at Disbrow Field by the tournament schedule, took on Ardsley July 1. Lacking the services of starter Yoshihide Sato, they still came out swinging. After falling behind by a run in the first, Will Tonkel doubled to the fence in right-center, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a towering fly to left by Grant Meyerson.

Hurler Jason Ciardiello got a couple of comebackers to the mound and a strikeout to close out the second, and two more strikeouts in the bottom of the third, finishing with seven in all.

Rye edged ahead in the fourth, when Henry Cetina’s high fly beyond first base fell in for a double. He was safe on a bang-bang play at third after Tonkel’s hard grounder to short. Andrew Barbara came in to run for Cetina and immediately scored on another wild pitch. Rick Burke’s Texas Leaguer fell in later to make it 3-1.

Rye put the game away with a lot more of their patented “last-inning lightning”: Tonkel and Troy Egan smacked sharp singles to left and, with two down, a couple of walks forced in Rye’s fourth run. Barbara’s Baltimore chop plated another. Finally, Ciardiello helped himself by belting a double between right and center, clearing the bases. He took third on the throw, but was called out at home on one more Ardsley wild pitch, when he beat the throw but never reached the plate with his slide.

Still, it was 8-1, which is how it ended when a hard liner to right was gloved to take the game for Rye.

The following Tuesday, Rye fell to White Plains 3-2 when the Plainsmen managed to load the bases in the sixth and beat a throw home on the final play of the season. The loss left Harrison, White Plains, and Eastchester to battle it out for the title.

Kudos to coaches Anderson, Gary Ciardiello, and Steve Barbara for melding young but talented individuals into a “true team”, as Matt Anderson put it, in just two and a half weeks.

Greg Hale, Rye Little League Board Member, Bart, Micheline, and Micheline DiNardo, and Mike Hull, Rye Little League Board Member

Prior to the first pitch of Rye’s Major League Championship game last month, Micheline DiNardo was honored with the 4^th annual Ryan Adamson Sportsmanship Award. The trophy is named for the Rye Little League and Babe Ruth player who passed away four years ago at the age of 15.

“I was honored to be presented with such a meaningful award and it was a really special way to end my Little League career,” said Micheline, who plays for the Rays under coach Paul Turcotte.

The cast of the 2011 Rye Lacrosse Alumni Game

Many of Barton’s class of 2011 teammates played, including Max Bonsall, Michael Collins, Matt McReddie, Brian Pickup, and Gwynne Spencer. Several current college laxers – such as Donald Keough (Notre Dame), Kevin Gordon (Colgate), Mike Linehan (Marist), Neil Davis (Fairfield), Cole McCormack (Cornell), and Robert Santangelo (Union) – joined the fray as well. The young guns weren’t the only graduates to suit up, however, as Andy Ball, Ken Giaquinto, Adam McReddie, John Wood, and Eric Moy all hit the field. Moy, who played goalie for the red team, even donated the pinnies from Fong’s, his family’s dry cleaning store on Elm Place.

Four sets of brothers – the McReddies, Davis’s, Kochs, and Buttricks – played in the game.

“It was a lot of fun, and all 30-plus players took the game seriously,” said George McReddie, who is stepping down as Rye Lacrosse Association President, but will organize the contest going forward. “They all love the game and take the opportunity to play it any time they have the chance. The older guys said it was a lot faster than they remembered!”

Eric Moy, class of 1986, manned goal for the red team

After the game, which helped raise money for the Association, the competitors enjoyed a barbeque courtesy the Post Road Market.