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The Roll Dons Report is a monthly e-newsletter for the whole of our Loyola Blakefield community. Read on for the latest updates from our Athletics Department, including upcoming events, recent scores, team news and shoutouts.
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Dear Loyola Blakefield Community,
Our student-athletes and teams are having an exciting winter season. The swim and dive team recently won the National Catholic Championship at Loyola University! Congratulations to the team and program! Our squash team is gearing up to participate in the High School Nationals held in Philadelphia, later in February. Wrestling is competing for the MIAA “A” conference championship dual and tournament title and has some key matches coming up over the next couple of weeks. Our ice hockey team has senior day on February 7 and will participate in the MIAA playoffs beginning on February 12. Indoor Track has its MIAA championship meet coming up on January 26 at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex. Basketball is in the midst of heavy competition to secure a playoff spot.
Please consider coming out to support our Dons as they finish up the winter season. We appreciate and need your support! Roll Dons Roll!
Blake Henry '98
Director of Athletics
bhenry@loyolablakefield.org |
Upcoming Events & IMPORTANT INFORMATION |
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SPRING SPORTS BEGIN
Upper School – February 20
Middle School – March 5
Preseason Parent Meeting (Virtual) – March 4, details to come
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ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
March 9, 2024 | 6:00 PM
We are excited to celebrate the newest members of our Athletics Hall of Fame during a special ceremony in Knott Hall on Saturday, March 9.
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ONLINE TEAM STORES
Our Nike Spirit Shop is open! Fall, winter, and spring sports have stores that are up and running. A portion of proceeds from each purchase made on the team stores will go back to that sport program.
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We have a tremendous coaching staff at Loyola Blakefield, comprised of talented men and women from a variety of backgrounds. Each month we'll highlight one of our coaches and share how they Form leaders to serve with and for others; Develop the mind, body and spirit of student-athletes; and Build programs that foster a culture of champions.
INTRODUCING COACH CZERSKI
Head Coach Josh Czerski is in his 1st year with the Loyola Basketball program. In his time here, Coach Czerski’s team has started 15-8 so far through the year and won their bracket at the Governors Challenge in Salisbury, MD over holiday break. The Varsity Basketball Dons have been ranked as high as #3 in the Baltimore Sun.
How do you form leaders to serve with and for others on your team?
Basketball is a team sport, but individual leaders are needed and essential within the team. Every member of the team participates daily in practice which allows us to bond and work together. Consistency in practice and games throughout the long season is where leaders really present themselves.
The Varsity Dons team have two team captains to help lead the squad to a successful season. Senior J’Lin Brown and Junior Marlon Williams were selected for their leadership qualities and their willingness to serve others. The team responds to their leadership style, and they are able to lead through their actions on and off the court.
How do you develop the mind, body, and spirit of each student-athlete on your team?
To develop a successful basketball player, it is much more than just shooting or dribbling a ball. It takes mental and physical toughness to be able to execute on the court. We currently work on the boy’s mindset by reading a team book (It Takes What It Takes) which helps them think about the game and how their mindset can foster success onto the court. We as a team lift weights year-round to make sure that the boys’ bodies stay in peak shape for a long grueling season. Our practices are developed to push each of our players not only physically but mentally, which further develops them as players.
How is the aquatics program at Loyola being built to foster a culture of champions?
Loyola Blakefield basketball program is looking to build a winning culture on a daily basis day in and day out. This will entail winning each day whether it is in the weight room, film study, book study, practice, or the off-season. Winning each day and establishing our identity as workers will bread our culture of being champions daily. This will carry over to games during the season. The games should be the easy part if we put the work in prior to. Our mindset is currently undergoing the process of being a champion and what it takes. I think there has been a lot of growth from where we started, and we are really excited to see what the future hold for the Basketball Dons.
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SPORTS Updates
Please note that the updates below from our coaches refLect status of teams as of publication deadline. Track all results on our website. |
VARSITY
The Varsity Dons are off to a 15-8 start with 10 games remaining before the playoffs. The Dons are looking to build off early success to get back on track at the right time leading into the playoffs. The team has been focused on getting better in practice and building chemistry off the court to help further there run deep into the playoffs. The coaching staff is excited for how our Dons close out the 2023-2024 season.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The JV Basketball dons are having a very good season so far. We are ready and prepared to head into the final stretch of the regular season. We are currently sitting at 13 wins and 5 losses. Everyone on the team has made improvement on and off the court! The Chemistry this team has built over the past couple months is amazing! Everyone is connected and everyone has the same mindset and goal! The coaches could not ask for the better group of young men!
FROSH
The Frosh Dons, due to scheduling and weather conditions, had a month between contests. The Dons were back in action on Monday and suffered a loss to Mt. St. Joe. Heading into the back stretch of the season with 6 regular season games left on the schedule, the Frosh Dons hope to get into a groove prior to the Baltimore Catholic League Tournament. The Frosh Dons have a 4-3 record.
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VARSITY
The Dons are currently 4-1 in conference play. After a dominating 11-1 victory over Archbishop Curley, Loyola fell 7-3 to Boys Latin in their first game in over a month. Loyola currently in 2nd place, behind Boys Latin; however, BL has played 2 more league games than the Dons. Next up the Dons face Gilman at home 1/24/24 and then travel to Ice World to face Gilman on their home turf 1/31/24.
SCHEDULES & MORE:
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VARSITY
January sees the Dons in the full swing of the indoor season. The delayed opening of Prince George’s Center caused the Dons to visit some new meets. In December we attended the Dickinson Invite in Pennsylvania. Senior Jack Wachter tied the school record in the pole vault. Sophomore Khary Adams won the 200 and qualified for indoor nationals in the 55. Senior Matt Johnson moved to # 3 on the all time shot put list.
Over Christmas break, we made the trip to New York to run in the history Armory Track Center. The highlight of that meet was Wachter breaking the school and all-time MIAA record with a pole vault of 14’6”.
We finally got back to PG Center last weekend and had a very solid effort with 3rd out of 15 teams in the MIAA league meet.
Goals for the season are always to have our best showing at MIAA Indoor Championships and qualify athletes for Indoor Nationals. The coaching staff feels confident that Loyola will perform very well at the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on January 26. Additionally, we are happy that we have qualified athletes for indoor nationals: Wachter in the pole vault, Adams in the 55 and 200 and Sean Wilson, Andrew Rowan, Bryce Robinson and Liam Lucas in the 4 x 800.
Junior Varsity
January saw the Dons return to Prince George’s Center for our first league meet. The goal of the JV track and field team has always been for the student-athletes to learn about the sport, improve in their events, develop a love for the sport and hopefully carry that passion on to varsity in future years. The team seems to be well on its way to achieving those goals.
There is a palpable energy to the group which is a good mix of enthusiastic freshmen with older Dons who are providing excellent leadership.
We are proud of the efforts of all of the JV team but here are some highlights. Freshman Carston Brown has excelled in the sprints and is starting to develop into a very good pole vaulter. Juniors Alex Bowie and Gabe Pimental are running strong in the long sprints. Junor Daniel Longe had an exciting first meet in the long and triple jump and could make the leap to varsity. Freshman Matt Allen is doing very well in the shot put. Sophomore Pat Bradley is leading the way for the JV distance runners.
The young Dons hope to finish the season strong at the MIAA Championships on January 26.
SCHEDULES & MORE:
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Varsity & JUNIOR VARSITY
Since mid-December, both JV and Varsity squash have had a challenging time getting into a rhythm. First, there were other MIAA schools having exams before Christmas, then the holiday break, followed by our exams with two snow days mixed in. Since before the holidays, varsity has only played two matches, a win against SquashWise and a loss to St. Paul’s. The victory versus SquashWise reversed an earlier seasonal confrontation which SquashWise won 6-1. In early January, the varsity defeated SquashWise 5-2. Our 6-1 loss was much closer than their 5-2 loss. The Varsity showed significant improvement, the win highlighting the strength of this squash: its depth. Loyola also displayed resiliency by winning all the five-game matches, something that didn’t happen in the first meeting. Currently, the Varsity is 7-8 overall and 3-3 in the MIAA. On Tuesday, January 23 (just after deadline for this article), they play Boys’ Latin to determine fourth place in the regular season.
JV also defeated SquashWise 4-3 in their rematch. The score was closer than the actual match. Earlier in November, the JV lost to SquashWise 4-3, in a match they probably should have won. JV continues to improve. It’s led by its top five, except one, being freshmen, a positive heading into the future.
The rest of the season, less than three weeks for JV, and about a month for Varsity, returns to two to three matches a week. Varsity is working to improve its placement in the National High School tournament to be played the last weekend in February in Philadelphia. JV, as always, looks for players to build their skills and gain experience. Varsity will be losing six seniors, so there’s plenty of room for players to move up, both on Varsity and from the JV.
SCHEDULES & MORE:
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VARSITY
The Loyola Swimming Dons won National Catholic Swimming Championship for the third year in a row. The team was led by Senior Teddy McQuaid and freshman Daniel Branon. Both won individual events. Teddy winning the 100 butterfly and Daniel winning the 200 IM.
The Dons had a bunch of fast swims during prelims. These swims allowed the Dons to place in the top 8 for Sunday. These guys contributed big points to victory! Harry (100 fly 8th place, 200 free 6th place), Spencer (200 IM 6th place, 100 breaststroke 8thplace), Ethan (50 free 8th place), Alex (50 free 5th place, 100 free 7th place), Matt ( 50 free 6th place), Bradin (500 free 6th place), Daniel (500 Free 2ndplace), Liam (500 free 8th place), Teddy (100 back 2nd place).
Come out and cheer on your Dons in their last dual meet on Thursday January 25th at McDonogh. Then the Dons will wrap up their season at MIAA Championship on February 3rd at Loyola University. The Don will face their rival McDonogh and looked to prevent them from winning their 7th straight MIAA victory.
Junior Varsity
JV has continued to be undefeated in league meets. The jv has now finished ahead of Calvert Hall, Mount St. Joe, Arch Bishop Spalding, and recently Gilman. The JV has a very big test against McDonogh on Thursday January 25 at McDonogh.
Leading the way for JV are five young men who also even though on JV were fast enough and qualified for The National Catholic Meet. Those young men are sophomores Sal Anello and Ian Durham and juniors Ben Farls, Charlie Kunkel, and Topher Mitchell.
There is no question that the big test will be at MIAA Championships where we not only get the five guys mentioned above but also a number of young guys who have really improved this season.
Final Meets = Jan 25 at McDonogh and then MIAA Championships on Feb 3 at Loyola University.
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VARSITY
The Varsity wrestling team continues to excel in and out of conference. Out of the 14 weight classes, twelve Loyola wrestlers are ranked inside the top 25 in Maryland. Of those twelve, four are ranked in the top fifteen, three in the top ten, and three others are currently ranked #1 in the Maryland (Jayden Jackson - 113, Judah Aybar - 150, and Luke Randazzo - HWT).
The team is currently 11-3, ranked #3 in the area and #4 statewide. We have defeated local private school rivals Spalding and McDonogh along with public school powers CM Wright and Huntington.
We have six remaining MIAA matches left in our dual meet schedule followed by the end of season tournaments. With good health and some hard work, we look forward to seeing what we can accomplish on and off the mat.
SCHEDULES & MORE:
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BASKETBALL - 8th GRADE
After starting the season 0-5, the 8th grade had back-to-back wins. We are looking to finish up strong with four games over the next three weeks. The latest win was a roller coaster of a game with the Dons coming out on top. Being short-handed with injuries, it was a team effort with Cooper Lewis and Cole Showalter leading the way and contributing to a strong offensive finish.
BASKETBALL - 7th GRADE
As of January 20th, the 7th grade Don’s Basketball team are 2-4. On December 12th the Don’s traveled to Boy’s Latin. They fought hard till the end but came up short with a 44-38 loss. The Dons were led by Luke Szeliga who had a hot hand and dropped a season high 18 points. On December 14th Loyola traveled to St. Paul’s and came home with a 32-29 victory. Leading the way for the Dons was James Hunter who had a career high of 14 points. Just before the Holidays 7th grade traveled down to Ellicott City to take on Chapelgates 8th grade team. With a short-handed team the Dons fought hard pulling within 3 with 45 seconds left but had to start fouling at the end. Chapelgate couldn’t miss from the line and took home the victory 40-35. Kumi Edmondson-Deigh lead the team with a team high of 15 points and Luke Marshall got 4 key points to pull the team within 3. The Dons will be off for a month for the holidays and exams but will return January 22nd at home against St. Paul’s.
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Did you capture exciting moments from our fall sports season? Already catch some action this winter? Submit your best photo and take part in a fun pre-holiday photo contest! The winning image will be share on our social media channels and the photographer will receive a $50 School Store gift card.
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GET IN TOUCH
Blake Henry
Director of Athletics
Loyola Blakefield
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Loyola Blakefield
500 Chestnut Ave. Towson, MD 21204
Ph: 410-823-0601
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