Here’s What Happened At This Year’s Athletics Banquet
On Thursday May 17 the Annual Grace High School Athletics banquet took place, for the final time at the 86 gym. Next year we’ll move over to our new gym here at 46 Cooper Square. At the banquet there were two keynote speakers: David Heller, a minority owner of the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers, who shared his journey that brought him from a fan to an owner as well as Elise Young, a personal trainer and Grace 5/6 basketball coach, who told a motivational story of how she gained her confidence through athletics. In addition to having the two speakers, teams from all three seasons handed out two different awards, the first being ACIS All-League Awards and the second being the Coaches Award which was awarded to a player that showed strong commitment to the team throughout the season.
Junior and Varsity Boys Basketball and Soccer Captain Malcolm Gibson who won the Coaches Award said, “It has been a honor to be the captain of both the varsity soccer and basketball teams. I felt it was also well deserved as I have worked hard each season but the recognition from the coaches as a leader and hard worker is great and motivating”
Varsity Girls soccer player Ava Pingree said, “Being the only junior on the team allowed me to make new friends outside of my grade and take a leadership role on the team.”
Varsity Softball Captain Katy Arons ‘20 said, “It felt very rewarding to win an award because softball is my favorite sport and being a captain we put in a lot of work so it felt great. Throughout the year we all really bonded. Everyone really improved and we really came together as a team. It was great and I’m super excited for next year.”
Sophomore Varsity Swimming Captain Kaitlyn Lu said, “It was a big honor for me to be named a captain of a varsity team as an underclassman. This has been a great year, all of us have improved our times for most of our events and we gained a lot of promising freshmen.”
Athletics Director Ms. Armijos said, “We had a spectacular year, many of our teams made playoffs, won tournaments, and Varsity Girls Cross Country brought home a championship banner. A big thank you to Mr. Quinn. I’m VERY PROUD of all our student athletes, you were rockstars and I can’t wait for next year!”
Click here for more pictures from the Athletics Banquet.
| Sport | ACIS All-League Award | ACIS All-League Award | Coaches Award |
| Varsity Boys Soccer | Jiwon Simpkins | Jack Pickard | Malcolm Gibson |
| Varsity Girls Soccer | Begonia El Koury | Jane Platt | Leanne Coulthard |
| JV Boys Soccer | Theo Attanasio | Henry Pallesen | Sam Murphy |
| Varsity Girls Volleyball | Gigi Diserio | Kayla Diaz | Julie Morse |
| JV Girls Volleyball | Emma Seitz | Mason Rudnick | Chelsea Phillips & Lillian Davis-Bosch |
| Varsity Girls Cross Country | Talli Weiss | Daniela Monteys- ACIS 1st place Champion | Lauren Holland |
| Varsity Boys Cross Country | Harry Mander | Albert Kyi | Ian Vicars-Harris |
| Varsity Girls Tennis | Avery Rahr | Lila Dupont | Elizabeth Pace |
| Varsity Girls Basketball | Angelika Rodriguez | Casey Donnelly | Jane Platt |
| Varsity Boys Basketball | Malcolm Gibson | Chase Gardner | Jack Pickard |
| JV Boys Basketball | Daniel Samoon | Henry Epstein | Jackson Sohn |
| Varsity Fencing | Harry Mander- Fencers Club 1st place Men’s Foil Champion | Theo Usher- Fencers Club All-Star | Teodora Kanlic |
| Varsity Boys Swimming | Desta Mutisya & Louis Schoeppach | Luke Morris | Paul Hirschorn |
| Varsity Girls Swimming | Leanne Coulthard | Kaitlyn Lu | Lily Liu |
| Varsity Boys Squash | Noah Lindsell | Wyatt Schiff | Preston Wilson |
| Varsity Softball | Katy Arons | Julie Silverman | Piper Phillips & Ellen Jorgensen |
| Varsity Baseball | Jake Scherr | Luke Eisman | Daniel Han |
| Varsity Girls Track & Field | Charlotte Giddings | Maud Etheridge | Alice Lelyveld |
| Varsity Boys Track & Field | Harry Mander | Ben Mander | Langston Henry |
| Varsity Boys Tennis | Brody Pontarelli | Jasper Yang | Henry Pallesen |
| Varsity Golf | Jane Platt | Adrian DiCarlo | Ethan Martin |