The Envoy

The Winter season for Hunter Athletics can be summarized in one word: gritty. This winter brought us two more conference champions, two runners up along with some national coverage. A long awaited championship came to women’s basketball. Women’s swimming continued their dominant streak in conference. In track and field, both sides went toe to toe with a conference rival. In the end, the only setback was men’s basketball missing the playoffs. And even then, the Hawks still grabbed some gold to end the season.

Wrestling

Wrestling’s season ended with a 7-18 record overall. The Hawks had key wins against Keystone and Mariner. The highlight of this year was arguably homecoming night. That night saw the hawks soar past Keystone with a 42-12 win. It was a full team effort with underclassmen such as (165) Isaiah Harris, (174) Oscar O’Donnell-Powell, and (141) Komiljon Ismoilov. Comparatively, the upperclassmen, such as (149) Jayden Medina and (165) Isaiah Harris also anchored the team with their wins.

The season for the wrestling team ended at the NCAA Regionals on March 1, Bauzile was Hunter’s top finisher at 8th place and received all region honors.  Jayden Medina and Nasser Johnson won two matches each.  This year showed great promise, and you can be sure that the Wrestling team will be back even stronger next year.

Fencing

The men’s and women’s fencing teams this year had a year of ups and downs. The men’s team record was 1-6 overall and the women’s was 6-12.

The men’s team picked up their only win against Yeshiva University during their Pool B match at MACFA. The women’s team racked up statement wins against Yeshiva University, Drew College and City College at the EWFC Championship. Sophomore Julia Stenger was Hunter’s standout, as she placed third  in foil with a perfect 13-0 record at the championships. Brean Tobin (foil) also stood out with a 12-2 record. 

Other fencers with notable performances this year include Foil David Xing, Epee Steven Zhang, Epee Katherine Hanin and Sabre Mariama Berry.

Women’s Swimming

The Women’s swimming team had another incredible year, sweeping meets with individual and conference records. The Hawks were looking to win their sixth back to back conference title in women’s swimming. They had a 7-6 record overall, but went unbeaten in conference with a 5-0 record. This season’s goal was still ready to be claimed: a repeat as conference champions for potentially the sixth time! The season came to a head at the CUNYAC conference championships, where the Hawks would be facing off against conference rival Baruch. 

Day 1 ended with Hunter leading at 76 and Baruch trailing with 64. Grace Valette took first place in the 500 meter relay. Lily Bradshaw took second place in the 50 yard freestyle. Valette, Lian Winter and Cara Chang took second place in the 200 free relay. Day 2 continued on, with the Hawks leading with 178 points to Baruch’s 149 points. Chang took first place in the 400 medley and 200 medley, while Valette took first in the 100 backstroke. 

Day 3 saw the culmination of events, in which Hunter won the conference championship with 267 points in total. The Hawks took more individual goals with post season trophies. Valette won Rookie of the Year. Parvinabone Makhamadalieva was named to the Sportsmanship team. All Conference awards were given to Lily Bradshaw, Cara Chang, Mia Chang, Hailey Madison Quiller and Lian Winter.

Men’s Basketball

The men’s basketball season was a tumultuous one as the Hawks missed the playoffs for a second season in a row. The Men’s Basketball team had a 6-19 record overall. The lone wins of the season came against Old Westbury, Mount Saint Vincent, and most notably, Baruch. 

This game happened near the end of the season at their homecoming night. Sloan Ireland had a standout performance as he had a double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds.

High performers this season on the team were Freshman JP Maaba, Sophomore Sloan Ireland, Sophomore Demetrios Kontos, and Forward Jayden Jarret Post season accolades came in the form of Aidan Glackin on the Sportsmanship team.

Women’s Basketball

This season would be an important one for the Hawks Firstly, this would be star guard Alexa Charles final season as a Hawk, and it would be the cherry on top of a layered cake filled with the frosting of a storied career. This season alone saw Charles become CUNYAC’s leading scorer in women’s basketball, while also becoming NCAA Division 3’s all time leader in steals and fourth in scoring. She’s been featured in multiple segments on D3hoops.com highlighting her incredible college career. One word comes to mind when describing Alexa as a player: Iconic.

The women’s basketball team would be facing off against conference giant, Brooklyn College. The Hawks had lost to them before in previous showdowns, with last year’s loss to them still fresh in the mind. The Hawks ended the season as the second seed and had an 11-3 record coming into the playoffs. Brooklyn was unbeaten in conference play prior to the championship. 

And then it happened. The Hawks, despite the odds, finally beat Brooklyn. The game was a fierce match from the start. The first half ended with a slight Brooklyn lead, 28-27. Hunter then began a steady lead in the second half which was kept throughout the rest of the game. Senior guard Mia Fuller had 15 points and six assists, while Senior center Gianna Henriques had 12 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and eight blocks. Charles had 31 points, four points, four rebounds, and three steals. Charles also took home championship MVP. The final score was 77-69. It was a combined team effort to lock in the championship and go onward to the NCAA Division 3 Women’s basketball tournament. 

The Hawks then played against  Johns Hopkins with a whopping 59-100 loss. Post season accolades came for multiple players. Charles was named Player of the Year for the second year in a row, while Gianna Henriques and Mia Fuller were named to the all-tournament team. Henriques was also called to the first team all conference. Kennedy Deruy was honored on the Sportsmanship team.

Indoor Track and Field

The men’s and women’s indoor track teams were competitive this season.  With personal bests and conference records marking this season’s success.The team’s distance runners were once again dominant in the conference championship. Shannon Ferri won the 3000m and mile, and s took  second place in the 800. Mikalle Cesar came in first in the 800m and second in the mile race. Taelyn Murray participated in several field events, in which she took second in long jump, triple jump and shot put. The 4×400 relay took first place and the distance medley relay team took silver. The women ended with 150 points to Medgar Evers 168.

The men were just as successful, with distance runners showing off in their events. Brian Arias took first place in the mile, while Hengzhi Zhu grabbed second place. Mateo Penafiel dominated in the 3000m, while Arias backed him up by finishing second. Dylan Asuncion took the field events by storm by coming second place in long jump and triple jump. The 4×400 relay team landed in third place and the distance medley relay team took first place.

Multiple players received post season accolades. All conference for the men’s team: Brian Arias, Dylan Asuncion, Leonardo Kaplan, Benjamin Landheim, Robert Liang-Xu, Mateo Penafiel, Jack Treacher and Hengzhi Zhu. All conference for the women’s team: Orianna Blackman, Mikaelle Cesar, Shannon Ferri, Rachelle Griffith, Peach Kilroy, Taelyn Murray, Daria Niebrzydowski, and Tiara Smith. Rubilyn Navarro was also named to the Sportsmanship team.

Looking Forward

The men’s volleyball team is gearing up for another conference title campaign, with a new coach and team to take on the challenge. The softball team is looking to win another conference title. Outdoor track and field will commence in a few weeks, and we can hope to see the track team have another successful tryst against Medgar Evers. Shaking off the coldness of the winter, the Hawks are set to have a loaded Spring season ahead of them.