All recaps are as reported by team captains. Bear Facts makes every effort to contact any and all captains; any omission is therefore not the responsibility of the news staff.

Boys Varsity Basketball
Captain: Shane McLaughlin
Coaches: James McGee, Tom Nelligan
Seasonal record: 5-15

Highlights included Steven Switzer with 29 pts vs Portchester; Connor Griffin with 25 pts against Pleasantville; Shane McLaughlin, Connor Griffin, and Steve Switzer combined for 62 pts in their win against North Salem on Senior night. With a new coach coming and a lot of players returning, Brewster should have a solid team next year. Look for them to be a real threat in the league!

Boys JV Basketball
Captains: Kevin Fox, Colin LaMoreaux
Coach: Michael Nicastro
Seasonal record: 4-16

The team started the season strong, winning their first three games. The rest of the season was filled with numerous competitive games, including several one point decisions. One of the highlights featured a one-point win at North Salem. The team looks to build on their record next year by flipping their many close games with wins.

Girls Varsity Basketball
Captain: Grace Galgano
Head Coach: Michael Castaldo
Assistant Coach: Matthew Cunningham
League record: 16-4 (which tied the best record in girls basketball history)

One of the team’s best wins was against a previously undefeated Panas. Sophia was insane from behind the 3 point line, hitting 5 threes in that big win against Panas. Margo Cunningham had 4 big points at a crucial point in that game, and a Grace Galgano’s layup tied the game in the last minute of the fourth. A layup by Madison Dakin in the last 1.7 seconds won us the game 44-42. Adrianna Calicchia hit 7 threes in a big game against Lakeland finishing with 24 points. Sophia Alzugaray, Adrianna Calicchia, and Grace Galgano were All-League recipients. Grace was also awarded league MVP and All-Section after scoring her 1000th point and grabbing her 1000th rebound. She became the all-time leading scorer for girls in Brewster history.

Next season we are looking to fill the big shoes left behind by seniors Adrianna Calicchia, Grace Galgano, and Sophia Alzugaray. We hope that we can have another great season for the Bears.

Girls JV Basketball
Captain: Ava Fagin
Coach: Matthew Cunningham
Seasonal record: 10-8

One season highlight was when they were brutally losing against Nyack by about 20-30 points in the first half and came back and beat them in the second half with Olivia Francis contributing to about half of the team points. Another seasonal highlight was when the team beat Somers in their last game; it was a great performance from the whole team.

Looking forward, the team hopes to be able to win against John Jay Cross River and Dobbs Ferry. They came extremely close to beating them both times.

Varsity Cheerleading
Captain: Alicia Eder
Coach: Tori Fancis

This season, four of our athletes, Ashley O’Hara, Ariana Torke, Toni Munoz, and Alicia Eder were named Section One All-League Cheerleaders after trying out with tumbling, a cheer, and jumps. The team competed rewinds, one mans, and handspring ups. Toni Munoz threw a beautiful handspring handspring full, and Ashley O’Hara and Ariana Torke threw flawless roundoff handspring tucks. Alicia Eder received the first tier WPDRCCA Cheerleading Scholarship. Lindsay O’Hara received the Coaches’ Award and Alicia Eder received the MVP Award.

Next season, the team is losing five seniors; Alicia Eder, Bella LaLuna, Gabby Bartolomeo, Lindsay O’Hara, and Ashley Rampolia. However, with such a strong foundation of talented girls, the team is expected to grow with new members and is excited for the fall season.

Dance Team
Captains: Makayla Santangelo, Hannah Delamonico, Lauren Guarna
Coach: Laura Bald

The Dance Team came back with a bang after not being able to perform last year. The support from the Bears Den made each performance stronger for the team, even with interfering factors. On senior night, the girls were able to pull out an exciting half time show when they danced to no music! Not missing a beat and turning the performance into something positive showed the strength of this group. Aside from the iconic dances, the captains of the team also worked with the Mr. Brewster boys to create the longest dance thus far for the Mr. Brewster event. For two months the captains of the team coached the boys until they were show ready, and were excited to be a part of such a great cause.

Typically, the dance team season ends once football does, but they will be dancing at the Relay for Life event this June! They also held tryouts for the 22-23 season, on April 20th (which was open to all incoming freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors)!

Girls Varsity Gymnastics
Captains: Erica Hamel, Anaya Marte, and Emily Taylor
Coach: Vincent Savastano and Jennifer Purcell

This year, the Girls Varsity Gymnastics team went undefeated in their league! The team won against Scarsdale, Edgemont, and Clarkstown, and even had some very close competitions against teams in a different league. At the last meet of the season, the Section 1 Novice Tournament, every girl who competed placed! In the all-around competition, Sammi Miller won 1st place, Anaya Marte won 2nd, and Bianca Torke won 3rd. On balance beam, Erica Hamel won 1st place, Sanna Blad won 2nd, and Emily Taylor won 4th. On floor exercise, Erica Hamel won 2nd place and Aimee Harris won 3rd. On vault, Aimee Harris won 1st place, Emmaleigh Seidel won 2nd, and Gia Santos won 3rd. Finally, on the uneven bars, Sanna Blad won 1st place and Emily Taylor won 3rd. Freshman Alex Agustin also qualified for divisionals, where she won 3rd place all around. She then qualified for sectionals and advanced to the New York state competition in Buffalo to represent Section 1 on the uneven bars. This was the first time since 2017 a Brewster Gymnast made it to states! At states she had a stellar performance and the Section 1 team won 4th place.

Looking forward, the team is excited to continue to grow and improve. This year, the team was doubled from last year, and hopefully the trend will continue! Many of the new girls already showed great growth this season and learned many new skills, so graduates can’t wait to follow their journeys as they grow even more talented. Also, the members of the team this year all grew very close, and the bond between them made for a better season, so they can’t wait to keep that up in future years, too!

Ice Hockey
Captains: Jacob Gasparini
Coach: John Veteri
Seasonal Record: 12-6-2

Highlight of the season was the playoff win against New Rochelle. Next year, the team is hoping they can start where they left off.

Boys Track and Field
Captain: Michael Brill, Duncan Carruth, and Owen Lennon
Coaches: Mike Court, Tim Nilsen, and Dan Rossi
Seasonal record: 5-6.

The Boys team came in second place at the league championship meet. Michael Brill won Most Valuable Player and qualified for the Section 1 State Qualifier Meet. The team is looking forward to the athletes returning in the spring who plan to work hard to win the league championship.

Girls Track and Field
Captains: Mikayla Goldberg and Anna Peterson
Coaches: Michael Courte and Daniel Rossi

Our girls team placed 4th out of 5 in our league champions with only 8 girls on the entire team. Ellie Cassidy won All-County and qualified for state quals in the 1500 meter racewalk. Our 4×800 team of Anna Peterson, Mikayla Goldberg, Valentina Brenes, and Charly Handal won 2nd at leagues even after multiple falls happened during the race. The team is looking to continue working hard and are currently getting ready to aim higher at leagues for Spring now that they’ll have more girls.

Skiing
Captains: Emily Rusinko, Michael Rusinko, Andrian Rybka, Charlotte Smith
Coaches: Michael Bellucci, Kirsten Rusinko
Seasonal record: 11-8

Highlights were the fact that it was a very fun year with lots of great runs. The team made lots of improvements very fast and became strong competitors. Next year, the team is looking to earn All League again!

Swimming – Girls Varsity
Captains: Madalyn Mattson and Fiona O’Reilly
Coach: Patty Kaufman
Seasonal record: 5-6.

The team had all in-person meets opposed to last year when we had none. The team even won a few, improved their times, had bake sales, and participated in divisionals and sectionals. The team also grew very close with all of their trips to McDonald’s after every meet. The team is hoping the newcomers continue to improve on their skills and find time to get closer as a team. They are expecting to win more meets in the future and become overall better swimmers.

Wrestling
Captains: Shane Daly, Nick DiFabbio, Ian Sutherland
Coaches: Mike Ford and Thomas Looby

Seasonal record: 9-13.

As a team, they didn’t have as good of a year as they would have liked, having a few holes in the line up hurting us in dual matches. Captain Ian Sutherland had a standout year taking first in his Divisional tournament and qualifying for the Sectional tournament. Freshman Ryan Brace also had a stand out year, qualifying for the Sectional tournament and battling through a hard weight for his age. Junior Andrew Pfeffer had a breakout year this year, going from last year winning one varsity match to this year being a Division champ and being at the Sectional tournament placing 5th in his weight, earning All Section honors. Junior Massimo Parello was another post-season standout battling through a weight with many standouts. He fought like a dog in every match and ended up placing 6th at the Sectional tournament and earning All Section honors. Senior Captain Shane Daly lead the team in wins with an individual record of 31-9, battling through a hard first match at Sectionals winning in double overtime to go on to place 4th, also earning All Section honors.

With two returning All Section wrestlers and so many young standouts, the Brewster wrestling varsity program is looking forward to a bright year. The young team will have its sights set on a League Team Championship and hopefully even further after that. As well, they will be hoping to bring home a Section Title next year and hopefully a few qualifiers to make the trek to Albany for the State Championships.