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St. Francis athletic award winners

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Mark Mesiha (10), shown in this file shot was named St. Francis’ male athlete of the year. BPSN photo.

Sophia Al-Kayed and Mark Mesiha were named St. Francis’ athletes of the year.

Sophia Al-Kayed

Al-Kayed competed in basketball, soccer and squash while  Mesiha was on the basketball and soccer squads.

Following are the rest of the high school’s athletic award winners:

Junior girls basketball: Rachel Bufalino, outstanding leadership.

Senior girls basketball: Abby Ruetz, MVP.

Boys cross country: Samuel Nolan and Nicholas Young, outstanding performance.

Football: Ethan Reid, outstanding offensive player; Mitchell Demers, outstanding defensive player.

Golf: Joshua Holjak, boys outstanding effort.

Mark Mesiha

Tennis: Cory Monterosso, boys outstanding performance; Dylan Wall and Alexandra Bula, girls outstanding performance.

Boys volleyball: Quinton Duemo, junior outstanding performance; Alexander D’Elia, senior outstanding performance.

Boys basketball: Grady Vandersloot, junior outstanding leadership; Tyrell MacLennan, senior MVP.

Curling: Evan Garland, boys most improved; Margret Akinlosotu, girls outstanding participation.

Hockey: Nick Young, varsity boys MVP; Matteo Costantini, junior boys MVP; Carly Thurston, girls outstanding leadership

Ski club: Wyatt Disher, most enthusiastic.

Swimming: Rebeca Hayden, girls outstanding commitment; Hunter Young, boys most improved.

Girls volleyball: Jenna Pasquale, junior outstanding effort; Lydia Seif, senior outstanding performance.

Badminton: Lydia Seif, girls outstanding participation; Cory Monterosso, boys outstanding effort.

Baseball: Cole Carpenter, MVP.

Slo-pitch: Chantal Girard, MVP.

Rowing: Keeghan Shanahan,novice oarswoman of the year; Maceo Tripodi, novice oarsman of the year; Grace Gill, junior oarswoman of the year; Luka Kartvelishvili, junior oarsman of the year; Francesca Siconolfi, senior oarswoman of the year; Stuart Wing and Hunter Young, senior oarsman of the year.

Soccer: Sophia Al-Kayed, girls outstanding performance; Alex D’Elia, boys outstanding performance.

Squash: Cory Monterosso, outstanding performance.

Track and field: Nicholas Young, boys MVP; Teresa Spedaliere, girls MVP.

Bernie Puchalski, a graduate of Brock University and Niagara College, worked in journalism in Niagara for more than 27 years before taking a voluntary buyout from The Standard at the end of 2016. He started his career as a news reporter for the Niagara Falls Review before switching to sports reporting. He was a sports reporter and sports editor at the Niagara Falls Review before joining the Standard's sports department in 1996. He was named the Standard's sports editor in 2000 and became the regional sports editor, in charge of the Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Standard, in 2015, a position he held until he left the company. During his time in newspapers, he was a multiple winner and finalist for numerous Ontario and Western Ontario Newspaper Awards for sports reporting, spot news reporting and humour writing. He was a member of the Standard Boys Basketball Tournament committee and co-chair of the Standard Girls Basketball Tournament, helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for bursaries presented to participants in the tournament. He also served on countless local sports committees both in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.

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