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Season Preview: Next goals in the pool: Girls’ swim team members showing growth, potential for coming season

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Middleboro/Whitman-Hanson girls’ high school swimming/diving head coach Sean Siciliano feels his team has “good variety” in the events as it prepares for the new season.

The Middleboro/Whitman-Hanson girls’ swimming/diving team is eager to make a splash this winter.

Five years back, in an effort to offer more females the opportunity to participate in sports at Whitman-Hanson, the school partnered with the longstanding Middleboro girls’ swimming team to form a co-op.

Swimming is one of the unique sports which focus on both individual and team results. Not only can the club qualify for the postseason, but each individual swimmer can as well based on personal times throughout the season and as part of relay teams.

Legacy

One key swimmer the club will be poised with finding a replacement for is Abigail Bailey (Whitman-Hanson). The two-time captain was tabbed a Patriot League All-Star over her final two seasons and was part of the fastest 400-yard freestyle relay team in program history, ranks eighth in the 50 freestyle and ninth in the 200 individual medley.

From Middleboro, 2015-16 Patriot League All-Stars Lauren Foley and Alyssa Lusardi boasted lustrous careers also, having both qualified for states last winter.

Each meet features a wide array of events including: the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, 1-meter dive, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle relay, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke and 400-yard freestyle relay. Coach Sean Siciliano said depending on the meet and the other teams’ times, swimmers will be shuffled around so they can maximize their score.

“Based on the first couple weeks, I think we will have good variety,” Siciliano said. “We have many girls that should be very versatile in multiple events, which is always helpful in swimming.”

Returning

Junior Phoebe Bonney is one returning swimmer Siciliano said he will be leaning on to have a solid season for multiple factors.

“I think that her versatility and her leadership will be huge for the team this year,” the third-year coach said.

As for newcomers, freshman Niki Kamperides has caught the eye of Siciliano thus far.

“She has shown great growth through the first couple weeks and I feel that she will be a big part of the team’s success,” Siciliano said.

After its first two contests, the club will break for the holiday and Siciliano said he always looks ahead to that next battle, which will be on Tuesday, Jan. 3 this season.

“I am looking forward to the North Quincy meet,” Siciliano said. “We have double sessions all week. Our athletes come out in amazing shape and do some great times after this week.”

W-H on deck

In addition to Bonney and Kamperides, other Whitman-Hanson swimmers on the roster include: Mary Hutchings, Maeve McDonough, Maddie Navicky, Sabrina O’Connor and Nadear Suraphanpirosh.

Middleboro/Whitman-Hanson girls’ swimming will take on Rockland Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 4:30 p.m. at Burkland Pool in Middleboro to kick off its slate of meets.

“I hope to continue to grow the program and get more girls to swim and continue to grow the great partnership that we have with Middleborough,” Siciliano said.

Season Preview: Wrestlers hit mat with big plans for 2016-17 season

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Gary Rabinovitz is embarking on his first season as a wrestling head coach.

With its new campaign approaching, Whitman-Hanson Regional High wrestling team is expecting a lively season on the mat as it nears a major milestone.

After serving as an assistant coach to Dr. Kevin Broderick for the past two seasons, Gary Rabinovitz has taken over the reins of the wrestling squad.

Rabinovitz is no stranger to W-H, having also served as an assistant to Bob Gray back in 1988-89, as well as participating on the first ever Panther wrestling squad in 1977-78.

The 1990 Whitman-Hanson Hall of Fame inductee said the camaraderie within the team has been exceptional out of the gate and feels it will work in its favor this winter.

“Wrestling is like family,” Rabinovitz said. “One of our biggest strengths is helping each other to get better every day.”

Leading the charge at either the 106- or 113-pound class will be one of the Panthers’ key returnees from a year ago, co-captain Jake Filicicchia.

“Jake had an outstanding year in 2015-16 and continued all offseason, wrestling and preparing for a great senior year,” Rabinovitz said. “Jake is truly committed to be the best he can be and works hard at getting better every day.”

Senior John Will joins Filicicchia as a co-captain this year and will anchor the 220-pound weight class.

“John had an impressive junior season, winning a majority of his matches by pinfall,” Rabinovitz said.

Rabinovitz also expects contributions from seniors Josh Baker (145 pounds), Alex O’Roak (182) and Kevin Smith (145).

Rabinovitz said he credits the Whitman-Hanson youth program for helping develop numerous wrestlers, including freshman Steven Brooks (138) and Matt Rock (120) and sophomore Joel McInnis (132-138), who he feels will provide key contributions down the road on his club.

“We look to these young men to play important roles this season,” Rabinovitz said.

Junior Steve Osborne (160-170), who took a year off from the mat last season, was the recipient of captain of the week, a newly installed crown to entice additional leadership within the program.

“I am looking for great things from Steve this season,” Rabinovitz said.

Also, catching the eye of the first-year Panther head coach thus far has been junior Logan Scriven (152-160).

“[He] seems to be coming into his own,” Rabinovitz said. “Logan competes hard day in and day out and I look for great things to come from him.”

With wrestling being one of the more unique sports, relying on individual and team performance, Rabinovitz said he is looking forward to two big dates on his club’s docket of contests.

On Wednesday, Dec. 14, W-H will be unveiling its brand-new state champions banner before its meet against Quincy. The wrestling squad has produced eight individual state champions, who have been invited back for this event.

The Panthers will compete in a quad home meet Saturday, Jan. 21 and celebrate with hopefully all their past state champions, four of whom live out of state, over the past near four decades of W-H wrestling. Rabinovitz said hopes all former Panther wrestlers attend.

One key number to focus on is 500. The Panthers sit at 498 career victories as the season approaches.

W-H opens its schedule Saturday, Dec. 10 at North Attleboro against East Providence and Pathfinder.

“We are a very young team with several empty weight classes so I look to be competitive in every match we wrestle,” Rabinovitz said.

No. 300 for Floeck: W-H coach credits his staff consistency for milestone win

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Photo by: Sue Moss

David Floeck has won his 300th game at Whitman-Hanson Regional High.

After the dust settled, the final whistle was blown and the score final, Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer head coach David Floeck had recorded his 300th career victory on the sidelines for the Panthers.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have great players,” Floeck said. “Year in and year out, great players come to us, and that’s a credit to the youth leagues.” 

It was a hard-fought game for the W-H on Tuesday, Oct. 18, but its 2-0 win over Plymouth North was enough to secure the milestone for Floeck.

After W-H athletic director Bob Rodgers alerted fans Floeck, who also serves as the school’s assistant principal, was on the verge of the 300 mark, more emphasis was put on W-H’s Saturday tilt versus Hingham as he sat at 299. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Floeck was turned back after a 2-1 loss, so he had to wait until Tuesday’s game.

Besides the constant infusion of talented players into the system, Floeck credits the consistency of his coaching staff as a large piece of his success. Tom Zamagni has been with Floeck since he started coaching at W-H 21 years ago, Brandon Dineen has guided the Panthers’ JV team for 13 years and Glenn Ward, who Floeck replaced in 1996, is now the head coach of the freshman team.

“When you try to implement a philosophy in the program, in terms of our core values and things that we stand for, it’s nice when we have a coaching staff that knows what we’re trying to do at all three levels,” Floeck said.

Floeck’s coaching career began in 1990, when he was hired to head the East Bridgewater boys’ soccer team, where he worked until 1995. Ironically for Floeck, he said he actually never thought about coaching girls.

“It was a difficult switch,” Floeck said. “But, I took the leap and I couldn’t be happier.”

One of the most influential figures in Floeck’s life he said was his father. Josef Floeck, born in Germany, played an instrumental role in getting his son involved in the game and also played a key role in helping establish soccer at East Bridgewater High School and was one of the founding members of the South Shore League.

“Soccer has always been a huge part of our family and it still is today,” Floeck said. “As soon as we could walk in the house, we were kicking a soccer ball.”

The girls’ soccer team will be back on the field Saturday at 6 p.m. when it hosts Weymouth.