HCIAA crowns three other champs; Griffin wins twice more
Besides St. Peter’s Prep winning the HCIAA Coviello baseball championship on Tuesday, three other champions were crowned last week by the league.
Holy Family Academy of Bayonne, which defeated North Bergen, 5-3, in the title game at New Jersey City University’s field on Wednesday afternoon, captured the HCIAA Coviello [larger schools] softball championship.
The HCIAA Seglio [smaller schools] champions were St. Joseph of the Palisades in baseball and High Tech in softball.
It really makes sense that the HCIAA has been separated into two divisions, with the larger schools playing for one title and the smaller schools fighting for the other. And it gives smaller schools like St. Joseph and High Tech the right to play for a county championship.
And it’s good that a really class act like St. Joseph veteran Head Coach Manny Cardenas could win an HCIAA crown. If there is a person who has paid his dues, stuck through the tough times and deserves a chance to be a champion, it’s the classy Cardenas…
McNair Academic’s brilliant sprinter Samantha Griffin was at it again at the Group I state meet in Egg Harbor Township last weekend, winning the overall state championship in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, duplicating the feat she accomplished at the state sectionals the week before.
Griffin pulled off the impressive double, winning the Group I 100 meters in 12.49 and capturing the 200 meters in 25.55. As Griffin headed to the NJSIAA Meet of Champions Wednesday at South Brunswick for her final high school meet, she left McNair Academic as one of the finest female performers in the history of Hudson County track and field…
Memorial’s Bryan Durango qualified for the Meet of Champions in two events, finishing third in the 100 and 200-meter dashes in the Group IV meet last weekend at Egg Harbor Township…
St. Dominic Academy sent two performers to the Meet of Champions, as Danielle Biondo finished third in the 1,600-meter run and Nicole Totino was second in the discus in the Parochial A meet last weekend in South Plainfield…
Congrats to Jersey Journal sportswriter Mike Rowan on his induction into the Hudson County Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame this week. The induction dinner will take place Wednesday night at the McKenzie Post in Bayonne. It’s an honor well deserved for Rowan, who has been the pulse of the local track and field scene for nearly 30 years…
The New Jersey Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Festival will take place next weekend in Princeton and several Hudson County products have been selected to participate in the North Jersey Section 1 All-Stars.
They are: Fran Rotella and Jimmy Supple of St. Peter’s Prep, Lavese Youmans of Dickinson, Jayson Rodriguez of Memorial, Joe Natale of Hoboken, Felix Urena of North Bergen and the two players drafted on Wednesday, Jhosandy Morel of Emerson and Fernando Fuentes of Weehawken.
If either Morel or Fuentes signs a professional contract before next weekend, then the first alternate will more than likely be Tom McCann of Hudson Catholic.
Either way, it appears as if Hudson County will be well represented in the All-Star game.
However, any team that doesn’t have Secaucus’ Chris Paciga on it isn’t an All-Star team. The kid was clearly one of the best pitchers in the state this season, never mind the North Jersey Section One area. Paciga definitely deserves his place on that team…
Heard a rumor that St. Peter’s College is seriously considering dropping its baseball program altogether, instead of finding a new head coach. Stay tuned. If that takes place, it will be the ultimate kick in the face for a lot of highly dedicated Hudson County products…
Hudson Reporter H.S. Baseball Top Five
1. St. Peter’s Prep (23-5)
2. Memorial (25-4)
3. North Bergen (22-8)
4. Weehawken (21-4)
5. Emerson (16-8)
Hudson Reporter H.S. Softball Top Five
1. North Bergen (16-9)
2. Secaucus (19-6)
3. Hoboken (19-7)
4. St. Dominic Academy (14-13)
5. Dickinson (13-8)