George Santangelo – Baseball
Demonstrating leadership and tenacious spirit, George Santangelo has become an important pillar of Hackley’s Baseball program. While George has numerous awards during his baseball career, George believes that his greatest achievements as a player are the relationships he has formed and the growth in his personal character.
George Santangelo smacks a single.
“Baseball is just like other sports, in that it has been a major part of my life,” said George, “I grew up playing baseball all the time, and formed some of my best friendships playing it.”
George believes that part of his success comes from his ambitious personality. “I am a very competitive person and baseball is a sport where I can express this competitive edge. The sport has helped me build a greater character within me throughout my life.”
This competitive edge has helped seventh- seeded Hackley defeat second-seeded Poly Prep and third-seeded Dalton to reach the NYSAIS championship. Unfortunately, the underdog Hackley Baseball team lost in a 3-2 extra in- nings heartbreaker to first seeded Rye Country Day. This incredible effort by the team ended a 10-year drought in which Hackley never made it to the finals for the NYSAIS championship.
Leaving Hackley, George believes that he will miss his teammates the most. “We have a blast every time we take the field, and we have a great bond with each other. I will miss spending time with them everyday.” Although George will not be playing at the varsity level in college, he hopes to continue playing baseball at the club level.
Sofie Alabaster – Girls’ Lacrosse
It was only natural for Sofie Alabaster to join the Girls’ Lacrosse team, having a brother who played lacrosse for his whole life. She started playing lacrosse in 7th grade and began to fully commit herself to the sport during her sophomore year.
Hackley Girls’ Lacrosse will be going to the Ivy League Championship this year for the fourth time in a row after losing in a close, thrilling, double overtime loss against Rye Country Day School last year.
Unfortunately, Hackley lost in a close game with Fieldston, 13-12, and lost their bid to make the NYSAIS championship.
But during the regular season, the Hackley Girls’ Lacrosse team was ranked second in the Ivy Preparatory League, only trailing Rye Country Day for the top spot.
Sofie Alabaster evades a defender.
After committing countless hours to practices and games for the Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse team in her high school years here at Hackley, Sofie hopes to continue her career in lacrosse at least at the club level in college. Although she is not officially joining the lacrosse team at Duke University, she is looking to either walk on to the team or play recreationally.
“Overall, I think the season has been really fun,” said Sofie, “The girls got along very well, and there was a real strong sense of camaraderie on the team. We had the level of intensity when we really needed it, but we also had fun with each other playing the sport. I am really excited to see how the underclassmen develop and wish them the best of luck in the future!”
Kento Sasada – Boys’ Tennis
Holding the league’s best doubles tennis record with his partner and fellow senior Josh Clark, Kento Sasada is a formidable opponent on the court. While he has many memorable achievements during his Hackley tennis career, Kento believes that the team’s greatest moment was when the Hackley Boys’ Varsity Tennis team defeated Horace Mann’s team this year, breaking their 67-year losing streak against Horace Mann. To Josh and Kento, this season was not only a total success, but also yielded a better outcome than they ever expected to achieve. “We have always finished second in the league, but we finally held the best record in doubles in the Ivy Preparatory League, an accomplishment I am very proud of,” Kento said.
Kento Sasada hits a warm up volley.
Kento attributes part of his success to his teammates and coaches. “I will miss my coaches, Sykes and Pawel, and my other teammates. They have made my experience as an athlete extremely enjoyable and I can’t see myself having a better team around me. But most of all, I am certainly going to miss all the Touch the Fence games we had at the end of practices.”
In spite of leaving Hackley’s Boys’ Tennis team, Kento hopes to continue pursuing his passion for tennis in college.“Tennis has always been the way I can get away from school and relax. It has always been an important part of my life and I really hope I can continue it during my college years,” said Kento. “I wish the best of luck to all my teammates and coaches and am excited to see what the team looks like in the future.”
Amanda Flock and Lauren Fallon – Girls’ Golf
As the only two seniors on the golf team, Amanda Flock and Lauren Fallon always bring the energetic team spirit to the team.
This season, as the most senior members of the team, Amanda and Lauren got close to the underclass- men and took on many new captain responsibilities and tasks. For example, for the away matches, they always brought speakers and music to every bus ride.
Amanda Flock and Lauren Fallon pose before a match.
With a successful season of 5-3-1 in the Ivy Preparatory League, Lauren recalled the challenges of this season. “We had tough competition, but our team has strong players in each grade, which helped a lot,” she said. Despite the loss of the two seniors, this success of underclassmen players this season gives the Girls’ Golf team hope for new seasons in the near future.
“Our season was not our strongest but definitely our most fun. [I remember] when I was playing Sacred Heart and I hit my ball and it hit a tree, bouncing behind where I started, so I went backwards,” Amanda said laughingly. “That moment was definitely a low point in the season, although the season turned out great.”
After their golf career in Hackley, the two seniors will follow different paths. Lauren, who had been playing golf ever since she was seven, will be continuing the sport on a college team. On the other hand, Amanda will not continue to play golf competitively in college, but will continue to play the sport recreationally.
In her final words to the Girls’ Golf team, Lauren said, “I love Hackley Girls’ Varsity Golf and am very sad to leave, but I am also very excited to see all of the great things the girls will do in the upcoming years!”
