Senior Tasha Kewalramani was named this year’s NJSIAA scholar athlete as she holds a 4.548 GPA and is captain of the Summit High School swimming, tennis and softball teams. Since she was very young, Kewalramani said athletics were ingrained in her.  However, she added that balancing school and athletics each season is tough. “I love the work,” she said. “I love the challenge.” In addition to the three sports at Summit High School, Kewalramani has also been a member of the Summit Seals since eighth grade. She added that swimming is her favorite sport because she is the best at it. She holds …

  Senior Stuart Humphrey has been a member of the Girls' Varsity Soccer, Ice Hockey and Lacrosse teams for her entire high school career earning her 12 varsity letters, all while maintaining a 4.416 GPA. Humphrey said maintaining such a high GPA while participating in sports every season means getting very little sleep. She also said the weekend was a time not for friends, but to catch up on homework. Last year, Humphrey committed to playing lacrosse at Duke. She is so excited to attend the school and be a part of a new team, she said. However, leaving Summit High School will be bittersweet, …

  Senior Nick Abbott was named this year’s scholar athlete for maintaining a 4.426 GPA at Summit High School, while holding captain positions on the Summit wrestling, soccer and baseball teams. Abbott was awarded Outstanding Wrestler in the District this past wrestling season and also achieved his 100th varsity win of his wrestling career.Although Abbott started out playing soccer at age four, he said he is probably the best at wrestling, which he started in the fifth grade. He began wrestling due to a push from his father who wrestled 3rd in the state of New York during his high school years…

In his senior year at Summit High School, A.J. Iarussi placed sixth at the state wrestling tournament in Atlantic City this past weekend after winning three matches in the 220-pound weight class. Iarussi wasn’t always interested in wrestling; he’s a football player who in eighth grade had a wrestling coach suggest he join the team. Originally Iarussi did not want to wrestle, but his dad suggested wrestling might make him a better overall athlete. Iarussi said he decided to join and once he did, he ended up liking and enjoying it. During the 2012-2013 wrestling season, Iarussi was a two-time …

Swimmer Ryan Sebastian has never lost an individual race during the 2013 season, including his first place wins in the 100 Fly and 100 Breast, which helped the Summit Boys' Varsity Swim Team win the State Title for the first time in Summit High School history on Feb. 23. The team defeated Moorestown 88-82 at The College of New Jersey. Coach Luke Piede said in a previous Patch article, “It was an extremely competitive meet.” Although it was never Sebastian’s goal to be undefeated, once Piede pointed it out halfway through the season, Sebastian thought it would be a good goal not to lose any …

Junior Gillian McIlroy just finished a strong season with the Summit Girls’ Winter Track team. A member of the team at Summit High School since her freshman year, McIlroy primarily races in the 1600-meter run. She says her strategy is to try and stay with whoever is in the front and that seems to be working well for her. McIlroy placed 2nd in her heat and 21st overall in the mile run at the Meet of Champions last Saturday with a time of 5:12.31. She also ran 5:13.13 in the 1600-meter run at the State Group Championships, placing 7th overall, and placed first at the Union County Championships …

Ba’Shawn Mickens is having his best season yet with the Summit Boys’ Varsity Basketball team. The #3 senior point guard reached his 1,000th career point milestone against Hillside in mid-January and just last week, Mickens scored 20 points against A.L. Johnson to become the Hilltoppers’ all-time leading scorer. He needed 17 points entering the Feb. 14 game to break the record set by West Virginia University star and Summit native Wellington Smith in 2005. “I was actually nervous. My coach told me not to worry about it because he knew I would get my 1,000th point. He told me to get it done …

After dropping two straight games (one to close out the year and one to start the new year), the Summit Boys Hockey team needed a spark.They received one, from Athlete of the Week, sophomore Liam McLaughlin. This is McLaughlin's second time being recognized as an AotW.The 5-5, 130-pound forward has tallied six goals and five assists during the team's current four-game win streak, highlighted by a hat trick performance with an assist in an 8-2 home victory over Cranford on Jan. 9 to start the streak.During the streak, Summit has outscored its opponents, 30-7."Liam is the epitome of the phrase…

  Kate Martino is the starting point guard for the Hilltoppers' girls basketball team. The senior distributor currently averages 14.2 ppg, 5.7 apg (an impressive total for the high school level) and just over three steals per game. Kate currently sits at 900 points, good for sixth in the Hilltoppers' record book. Martino should easily pass the 1000 point barrier and move into the top three or four all time. But anyone who has seen Martino play knows that it is not about the stats or points. Instead, the point guard spends most of the game providing her teammates beautiful passes with …

The old football adage says that championship-caliber teams are built from the inside out, starting with the interior linemen.  For proof, look no further than this year’s Summit football squad who has relied on a strong offensive line to pave the way for an overwhelming rushing attack.  The group features captain and center Andrew Perry ‘12, guards Andrew Oristanio ’13 and Tyler Reinmund ’13 and tackles Kyle Codey ’12 and Billy Hadley ’12. “They are an extremely tight-knit group who takes pride in what they do,” said Liberato. “They are their own worst critics and they try to improve every …

Jillian Nash is a senior captain on the Kent Place varsity volleyball team that has only suffered two losses so far on the 2011 campaign.  Nash has been a member of the varsity squad for four seasons and has been a starter for the past three seasons.  This season Nash occupies the opposite position for the Dragons, an important role that requires a versatile effort in each game. The three-sport athlete (Nash also competes in basketball and softball) is well respected amongst her teammates and coaches as shown by receiving the sportsmanship award for the past two seasons.  Nash leads a veteran…

Nick Abbott Nick Abbott, who was crowned the tournament champion at 130 pounds Feb. 19, is Summit's first District champ since 1994. In the finals, Abbott defeated senior Alex Lopez of Columbia 5-2 after winning the semifinal with an 8-2 decision over Robert Marcantonio of Union and the quarter final by pinning Lindley Jean-Philippe of Irvington. Cristina Ciaravalli and Jasmine Sondhi This week we have chosen two very special girls basketball players who played their game at Summit High School Thursday night. Cristina Ciaravalli and Jasmine Sondhi were honored Thursday night for their careers…

Kelly Osmulski Kelly Osmulski scored a career-high 41 points this week in the team's game against Linden High School, establishing a new school record for points in a game.  Osmlski was 17 for 24 in shots from the field. The previous women's record was held by Renee Green, who scored 34 points in a game in 1995. Will Brenn Will Brenn scored two goals in the boys hockey team's 7-1 victory over A. L Johnson High School Feb. 16.

Cris Cafiero Cris scored the game-winning bucket in the boys basketball team's second win of the season Thursday night over Roselle Catholic. Cris scored 13 points anf the game-winning bucket with 40 seconds left to give the Hilltopers a berth in the Union County Tournament. Below are his season stats prior to Thursday's game. Scored 31 points and grabbed seven rebounds in exciting double overtime game v. St Mary's. Cris hit three clutch free-throws to force first overtime and scored a big three point shot to put the game into second overtime Scored 25 points in a close game against Union …

Loring Bowen What a week for Loring Bowen. At the swim team's Union County Tournament last weekend, the 200 yard Medley Relay team of Loring Bowen, Ryan Sebastian, Cameron Simko, and Will Beckett broke the Summit High School record set last year, finishing in third place. The 400 yard Free Relay team of Cameron Simko, Will Benn, Ryan Sebastian, and Loring Bowen closed out the meet in third place. If that weren't enough, Loring was a two event County Champion in 100 yard Fly and 100 yard Back. Bowen is the first two Event County Champion since Ian Bowman in 1998 (200 and 500 Free). Bowen also …

Kristen Fedor Feder won both the 200 meter freestyle and 500 meter freestle in the girls swim team's meet against Governor Livingston. She was also the only girl to win in an event on in the meet against Scotch Plains, the 500 meter freestyle. No nominations were receieved for male athlete of the week.

The first athlete of the week for 2011 comes from the Summit High School boys hockey team. Michael Nyitray has three goals and one assist for the 6-1 Hilltoppers. No female athlete was nominated for the week of Dec. 27 through Jan. 2.

Liam Mclaughlin Freshman Liam Mclaughlin leads the boys ice hockey team in scoring with five goals and five assists after five games for the 4-1 Hilltoppers. Tasha Kewalramani  Tasha, a member of the girls swim team, has finished first in each of the first three meets in the 100 breastroke.

It was a hot week in playoff action. But we had two stellar athletes rise to top among some amazing play district-wide. Luke Shehata, from the boys soccer team, has scored a goal a in the last four games and has had an assist in each game as well. Congrats, Luke! Heather Pearson pulled out a two set 7-5,6-4 victory in New Providence leading Summit to a 3-2 victory in girls tennis.

Ryan O'Malley Senior Ryan O'Malley played an integral role in Summit's 36-19 win over New Providence on Saturday.  O'Malley scored the first touchdown of the game and over the course of the game had seven tackles, four tackles for loss, and three sacks. "Ryan is a Division I prospect and he played like a beast today," Summit Head Coach John Liberato said after the game. So far this season, O'Malley has scored 30 points for the team, which is currently 6-0. Katie Watson Captain of the Summit High School girls' cross country team Katie Watson helped bring her team to its second straight win at …