By S. Quinn DeJoy and J. Murrer

Jul. 19, 2017:  Eleven athletes from Bronxville High School Class of 2014 will be entering their fourth and final year of playing at the college level. While the recruiting process in high school can be challenging, playing four years of a college sport takes tremendous time and true dedication.

Five of the BHS graduates are playing lacrosse in college. Matt Behrens plays attack on the Georgetown lacrosse team and has seen time on the field in every game since he was a freshman. This past season he had three goals and three assists and was named to the Big East All-Academic Team fthree years in a row. 

Henry Lilly, who plays for Holy Cross, was named to the 2017 Academic All-Patriot League lacrosse team.  Only twelve male lacrosse players from the Patriot League earn this honor. Lilly played in all 13 games this season and led the Crusaders with 20 caused turnovers.

Also playing lacrosse from the Class of 2014 are Declan Borcich (Tufts), Will Duncan (Providence), and Owen Jones (Yale).

Jones and his entire family have had a great experience. “I never imagined I would meet so many wonderful families through this team,” said Jones’s mother, Joanne. “I know we will all be at each other’s kids' weddings at some point in the future. It is like a big happy family.”          

The Conaton family feels the same way about the Stanford swim team where their son, Patrick, has been named captain for the second year in a row. He is the first two-time captain in the program’s history. Conaton, a 2014 Fordham Prep grad, was named All-American in the 200 backstroke and was a first-team Academic All American. He was ninth at the NCAAs this year in the 200 back and has competed in the past two Olympic trials.

John Flannery has been running cross country and track and field at Notre Dame for the past three years. Flannery has had several injuries during his college years and was sidelined with an injury this spring, but he will be ready to start the cross country season in August.

“There are so many injuries in track and field,” said Flannery. “Everyone is way too stubborn to throw in the towel. There have been times when I thought about stopping, but I stay because I love my teammates. Those people are my best friends.”

Two other Bronxville 2014 grads are running in college. Morgan Nobles is a distance runner at Lafayette, and J.P. Donohue competes in middle distance races at Holy Cross.

This past spring, Claire Sargent broke the Haverford school record in the shot put (40’10.5”) to win the Centennial Conference Championship event title. She is a two-time conference champion, also having won an indoor shot put title in 2016.

Pierson Broadwater, Bronxville resident and 2014 Horace Mann grad, is a three-year varsity top-nine squash player at Yale. Yale won the Ivy Championship and National Championship in 2016.

Bridget Reilly, a swimmer at Providence College, missed part of her junior season because she was studying in Barcelona. As a sophomore, she qualified for the Big East Championships in the 200y, 500y, and 1650y freestyle, and while she is excited about her senior season, it is just starting to hit her that this is her last season.

“We have already started thinking that certain things we do will be the last time we do them, but all you can do is enjoy it. We have one more season to push ourselves. Swimming has shaped my college experience, and it is like another family. You could never be the best you could be without your teammates.”

Go Broncos.

Pictured here (rotating): Patrick Conaton swimming for Stanford (photo by M. Conaton); Matt Behrens playing for Georgetown (photo courtesy Georgetown University); Claire Sargent on the podium at the Centennial Conference Championships (photo by L. Sargent); Bridget Reilly (R) and teammate Erin Cunningham at the 2016 Big East Championships (photo by P. Reilly).