E.B. student-athletes honored at awards dinner
BY JIMMY ALLINDER Staff Writer
The dinner program presented to those in attendance at the East Brunswick Sports Award Dinner on June 10 closely resembled a textbook one might use for a course on, say, multivariable calculus. There are that many student-athletes to honor as the 2008-09 sports year comes to a close.

While East Brunswick has long held on to a rich tradition of combining athletics with academics, this has been a particularly sterling year for producing athletes who will move on to college in the fall. A total of 140 … count'em … 140 seniors participated in varsity sports who will enroll in colleges and universities that span across the entire country.

Perhaps just as impressive is the fact that more than a handful will continue to compete in sports in college.

Start with the boys volleyball team, which was again ranked among the best in the state. Andrew Balint is headed to Ramapo College where he will play for the North Jersey school. Michael Kvidahl, at 6-foot-8, was devastating as a defender and setter and led the team in kills, and has earned a full scholarship to George Mason University in Virginia. A third all-star, Rohan Patel, although pursued by colleges for his volleyball ability, has elected to head to Boston University, which does not field a team.

Two members of the football team, Dustin Schuld and Justin Price, plan to continue playing the sport next year. Schuld will be moving on to Rennsselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and Price plans to enroll at Fairleigh

Dickinson.

Soccer players Zach Stahl and Ryan Norland concluded their careers winning a GMC conference tournament title, but plan to play the sport next year. Stahl will be headed to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and Norland will be at Ithaca College.

The golf team produced two of the best players in the GMC and both Gene Yang and Dave Kafafian are planning to play for their colleges. Yang will stay local, enrolling at Rutgers, while Kafafian will play at Lafayette College. Basketball players Kevin Johnson and Alec Mayo have not called it a career either and will be playing in college. Johnson, a quality student, will be headed to either Yale or Harvard, while Mayo will be playing at Moravian.

On the girls side, the list is impressive. Multisports star Samantha Ur, who excelled at soccer, basketball and softball, will play the latter sport when she matriculates at Ramapo this fall. Another member of the softball team, Melanie Morrison, will also be continuing her athletic career at Ithaca College.

Soccer players Kathleen Chace and Monnica Farag will also be playing their specialties in college next year. Chace, a scholar-athlete, is headed to Tufts University, and Farag will be moving on to Rutgers.

Field hockey player, Jamie Hatala, who also played lacrosse, is headed to Seton Hall next year where she plans to play for the Pirates. And tennis player Sonia Tsay is expected to play her sport at Hofstra.