& Matt Pra, Contributing Writer ’26

During this winter season, each team has worked hard and each athlete has demonstrated true dedication to their sport.

All records are current as of January 22, 2024.

Boys Bowling

Indian Hills Boys Bowling is undefeated, and has yet to lose a match, winning against Mahwah, River Dell, Pascack Hills, and other schools. This senior-loaded team has started off having one of their best seasons in Indian Hills history. Justin Becker and Jake Willis, seniors, have proven to be valuable assets to the team averaging just about 200 pins per game. Maddox Chlewicki, senior, is right behind them, averaging 197 pins per game. The highest game so far this season is held by Justin Becker with 279 pins knocked down in one game, while the highest set is held by Jake Willis, with 724.  Justin Becker states, “My season is going great so far. I’m having fun and making memories with my friends as well as leading the team.” Becker has broken his own personal records from last season regarding his best game, series, and his own average pins per game. Still undefeated, the Braves are ranked as the best team in the North Jersey Conference, and hope to have their success continue throughout the rest of the season.

Current Record: 10-0

Girls Bowling

After losing their first match against Mahwah, the Indian Hills Girls Bowling team has been on a hot streak of 7 wins in a row. At the beginning of December, Indian Hills Girls Bowling placed second at the Big North Patriot Tournament to Mahwah, having them rank in the top 20 of the Big North Conference. On January 13, the girls came in fourth in the Baker’s Tournament. During their win streak, the girls have broken two Indian Hills school records. They broke the record for the highest score of a 4-person team combined with 817 pins and broke the record for the highest score of a 5-person team combined with 921 pins. Senior Allison Babino remarks, “It was awesome to accomplish this and now my teammates and I could potentially be up on the leaderboard forever at IHHS!” Babino is currently ranked 7th in Bergen County and 1st in her division with an average of 168 pins per game. She has beaten her personal record with 252, and has a goal of beating the school record of 268 pins. Babino reflects on her four years of high school: “Bowling is something I never thought to do when I was younger but once I got to highschool, I realized it would impact my life on a whole ’nother level and I am so grateful for it.” 

Current Record: 8-2

Girls Varsity Basketball

The Girls Varsity Basketball Team started off their season with a really close finish against Lakeland with a final score of 51-50. After an upsetting loss against Ridgefield a few days later, the girls team went on to win 5 games in a row. Each girl’s hard work and dedication to the sport really shows when they step onto the court. They arrive at each game looking for a challenge and never fail to work as a team to play the game efficiently. In a later game against Harrison, the girls team won 58-28. Madison Trocolar, senior, racked in 17 points that game, and Veronica Baryla, senior, scored an additional 14 points. Throughout this whole season, the girls team has shown trust in their coaches, respect for each player on the team, and execution of strategies that have helped them during practice and during games. Emily Morello, a senior on the team, explains, “We all have been playing together since we were little girls.” This year’s seniors on the girls varsity team are all sharing a very special moment in their lives. Morello continues, “We picked up a basketball together and are gonna put it down together. The bond the 5 of us have is inseparable.” Seniors Emily Morello, Madison Trocolar, Veronica Baryla, Alina Cappiello and Kayla Valecko have built such a close bond through basketball throughout their years of playing together. Basketball has given them “sisters and a family” Emily adds. 

Current Record: 10-4

Boys Varsity Basketball

Michael Caso and Anthony Franchina, seniors, led the Braves to win their first two games of the season, and have been in many close games along the way. The most nail-biting games were the 61-57 loss to Dwight-Morrow and the 53-51 home win against Ridgefield Park. In the game against Ridgefield Park, Senior Michael Caso scored a 2-point layup at the last second to take the lead, giving them their second win of the season. Although the Braves have lost a few games as of late, they are still working hard and hoping to get back on track. The top 3 leading scorers on the team are Michael Caso with 201 total points, Connor Matthews with 189 total points, and Dylan Biernacki with 141 total points. On the weekend of the 20th, the Braves won two games, getting back on track and being only one game below .500. The Braves now hope to finish the season over .500 and continue to win.

Current Record: 6-7

Ramsey Indian Hills “Rills” Hockey

The first combined season for Ramsey and Indian Hills hockey has been an exciting, yet difficult one. The “Rills” were hot to start the season, with a 5-1-1 record. Although the team is made up of players from different schools, they are constantly picking each other up as if they were brothers. Tim Downes, a senior who plays for Rills hockey, says, “It’s great being combined with Ramsey. I played with a lot of the Ramsey guys throughout elementary and middle school, so playing with them again is a good time. It took some time, but we have built and are continuing to build chemistry with the Ramsey players which has made us a stronger team as the season progresses.” Rills hockey then went on to beat their rivals, Mahwah, twice. In the first game of their rivalry, the score ended up being 3-0, and the second game’s final score was 5-0. But, with the difficulty of dealing with injuries and students being sick, the team went through a rough patch, missing some valuable players, and playing strong teams like West Essex and defending state champions Governor Livingston. Even though the team has lost a few games since their victories against Mahwah, they are still working hard and putting in the effort, hoping to finish strong with lots of winnable games yet to be played.

Current Record: 6-9-1

Winter Track

This season for the Braves has so far been a good one. There is a new atmosphere with their new coaches, Coach Press, Coach Albano, Coach Buccino, and Coach Swayne. Each coach works with these runners every day to maximize their chances of qualifying for nationals, while each runner has worked hard to try and find their maximum potential. Some of this year’s jumpers are Max Daniels, Dom Cruciata, and Brendan Ross. Ross has recently jumped 36.8 ft which later earned him a 5th place medal in the Big North division championship. Ross says, “I’m pretty pleased with the season personally so far. I feel like I’m seeing a lot of improvement in myself and the team. The new coaches are great and they’ve been a big part of the success of the team, and I’ve loved this season with them so far.” Zander Graham, senior, has shown his skills as a runner, with a second-place finish in the Big North Championship racking a 6.77 second 55-meter run. Truman Lorenz, Joe Harris, and Matt Delano are also valuable runners when it comes to sprinting. They have been working tremendously to improve their speed and chances of a national appearance, just like last winter. On the distance side, Colin Kamn, Mikey Mickormic, Brian Gummere, Dylan Loundsbury, Tristan Castella, Justin Vitale, and Nico Tucci have been working extremely hard in practice, which has been shown in their races. Avery Bergen, Maggie Ferrary, Olivia Foulk, Kourtney Bergen, and Zafina Ajka have also been putting in their all for themselves and their relay teams to bring them closer and closer to medaling. Although the weather conditions have not been ideal, resulting in practicing inside, the team looks forward to finishing the season strong and potentially heading to nationals. Ross continues, “If I was to describe this season in one word, the word would be ‘adversity’ because as a team dealing with the bad weather and not being able to practice the way we want and also having a team that’s on the smaller side makes it harder for us to compete, but we make it work.”

Wrestling

Losing their first few matches of the season, this year’s Braves Wrestling team didn’t exactly start off on the right track; however, with hard work and everyone’s limits being pushed by Coach Ross, each wrestler has gotten better and better, being the best they could be. This year’s wrestling environment is different. To start, the addition of Coach AJ and Coach Bergen has elevated the team to a higher level of play, and with the posters around the school, more first-time wrestlers came out for the team. There’s a ton of new energy with the freshman class. Even with many of the starters being out, the Braves have worked hard, and their future looks bright. They have had close matches with several teams, most recently Passaic, which came down to the final match, 36-31. Brady Dransfield, the team’s captain, describes the season as being an “optimistic” one. Dransfield continues, “We have the pieces to do something special this season, it’s just about putting it all together. I believe that we can definitely get some more wins under our belt that can propel us into the postseason.” With lots of matches left to wrestle in, the Braves look to finish the season strong.

Current Record: 3-14

Cheerleading

So far, the cheerleaders have performed in one competition, at which they placed 3rd in their division. The coaches this year are focused on the execution of everything that they are doing, according to Gabby Talamini, senior. This is because they want to make sure everything is done cleanly and sharp. The cleaner a stunt looks, the more points are received at a competition. Talamini explains, “So far the season has been great! We have learned a lot of new stunts and skills that have been incorporated into our competition routine.” The cheerleading team still has many more competitions left in the season, and hope to have a strong finish to the year.

Girls Swimming

The Girls Swim Team has had a record breaking season so far. The team is currently 5-0 winning each meet with huge leads. On January 8th, the girls team won their meet 101-69, a 32-point lead, against Wayne Valley High School. Each athlete puts in the work and it really shows through their scores and attitude towards the sport. Coaches have a great influence on the athletes as well. Pauline Tsui, a junior on the swim team, comments, “Coach Todd gives us really good feedback during practice and pays attention to how we swim during our meets. Coach Brian also places us strategically in different events depending on who our opponent is so we can maximize the number of points we can get.” The girls team has won 18 meets straight during the regular season. This record started all the way back in 2021 and is currently still going three years later. The team has broken multiple school records as well. At their most recent meet, the relay team which consists of Camilia Bazan, Riley Horgan, Karolena Shaw, and Katie Lawerence, set two new school records in the freestyle relays. Katie Lawerence also went on to gain two more individual county titles and has set four school records. The Braves have a good chance of “qualifying for states again with our current winning streak so we’ll probably be pitted against some good teams,” adds Pauline Tsui when asked about her thoughts on the girls’ record so far. The team has two more meets this season and hopes to close out on a great note. 

Current Record: 5-0

Boys Swimming

With only three people on the team, there will be challenges that arise along the way. The Braves Boys Swimming Team has overcome hurdles throughout this season and always try their hardest at meets despite the small number of athletes that make up the team. Throughout practices and follow up meets, the team strives to produce fierce competition as they face new teams. Frank Coppa, a freshman on the team, comments, “the few swimmers we have are of high quality. Every meet the whole team improves, but when another one of our swimmers went down we had 3 left which meant we couldn’t field a relay team.” The team has two meets left in their season which means they still have a chance to improve and bring fierce competition to the pool. 

Current Record: 0-5

Boys Fencing 

The Boys Fencing Team has worked hard and are overcoming challenges as they arise this season. With a couple of hard losses in the beginning, the team won their match against Butler with a score of 19-8. Not only is fencing a physical sport, but it’s a mental sport as well. It is also a very challenging sport since you must keep “all of your movements precise. Including unnecessary movements will negatively affect you,” explains James Sabino. They still have five more matches to get through and they hope to have a strong finish to close out their 2023-2024 season. 

Current Record: 1-6

Girls Fencing

The Girls Fencing Team has had a challenging season so far. Each competitor they have faced has been a close call. The team’s match against Pompton Lakes, one of their biggest competitors, ended with a 14-13 loss after a neck-and-neck performance. With lots of hard work and strategy implemented throughout the match, the girls made an excellent comeback about midway through the meet. It is not only the team’s hard work that keeps them in these close matches, it is the supportiveness of all the girls on the team, cheering each other on. Ruhaab Shuja, a junior on the fencing team, says, “Our team is very close-knit and supportive, so that definitely helps take the edge off the pressure.” With a couple of matches left in their season, the Braves hope for a good close to their 2023-2024 season. 

Current Record 0-6