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March 23, 2005

Successful winter for former CAL stars

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist


You read here last week that the Cape-Atlantic League won three state basketball championships this year for only the second time in its history, the first in 24 years.

Here’s a better way to recognize the accomplishment. While the CAL was winning three titles this year, the Colonial Conference was winning one and the Olympic Conference one. The Burlington County Conference and Tri-County Conference were shut out. That’s two for the rest of South Jersey and three for the CAL.

In addition, at least one CAL basketball team has won a South Jersey title each of the last 35 seasons.

Pretty good stuff.

There’s also the great success in swimming (St. Augustine boys and Vineland girls were both No. 1 in the state) that included a sweep of the four swimmers and coaches of the year in the Courier-Post. Absegami wrestling took a half-step back but Buena, Egg Harbor Township and St. Augustine joined them among South Jersey’s top 20.

It was another strong winter season for the CAL. And some of the athletes who helped make previous seasons a success are still making a name for themselves at the next level.

Lets take another look at some of the fine athletes who helped build the reputation of the CAL and what they did this winter in college:

MARISSA FRANKLIN (Pleasantville) made a great debut at Bloomfield, leading the team in scoring while shooting 50 percent from the field and 70 percent from the line. SHANTAE BARNES (Absegami) also had a strong freshman year for Bloomfield, leading the team with 9.9 rebounds a game and 38 blocked shots while scoring 6.6 per contest.

JOEY GALANTE (Ocean City) finished fourth in the NCAA Division 3 wrestling tournament for The College of New Jersey. He finished the season with a 28-8 record and a spot on the All-American team. BRIAN DEMPSEY (Absegami) also earned All-American recognition at TCNJ by finishing fifth in the NCAAs.

MIKE GALANTE (Ocean City), Joey’s younger brother, won a National Prep Championship for Blair Academy, finishing with a 36-5 record. BRENDAN BYRNE (Lower Cape May) also won a National Prep Championship for Blair at 133 pounds.

SHAUNE McLAUGHLIN (Mainland) averaged 4.8 points for LaSalle while finishing second on the team in assists and shooting 74 percent from the foul line.

POPS MENSAH-BONSU (St. Augustine) is a junior who averaged 12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and nearly two blocked shots a game for George Washington, while shooting 56 percent from the floor.

Freshmen BASIMAH THOMPSON (Absegami) was named New York College Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year for LIU-C.W. Post. She averaged 10.0 points, 2.6 steals and 2.6 assists. Fellow freshman ERICA BELL (Oakcrest) chipped in with 7.9 points and 6.6 rebounds for C.W. Post.

The College of New Jersey got lots of help from two CAL athletes in indoor track. ANGIE TECCO (Lower Cape May) was part of the 4x400 meter relay team that won the national championship at D3. ED YOUNG (Wildwood Catholic) finished third in both the high jump and 55 meter hurdles for the TCNJ men at the national meet.

IKEA WITT (Sacred Heart) averaged 11.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Hartford.

BRIAN GERTZEN (Mainland) was named All-East in indoor track as part of Yale’s 4x800 meter relay team.

JEN DANIELS (Holy Spirit) led George Mason in scoring (11.2 ppg) and assists (2.3 apg) while making 38 percent of her three-pointers and 81 percent of her free throws as a junior.

OLU BABALOLA (St. Augustine) struggled with a foot injury during his senior year at Clemson. He averaged 6.9 points per game and 1.9 rebounds.

EMILY BATEMAN (Mainland) is a sophomore at Richmond where she had the second fastest time in the Atlantic-10 in the 100 meter freestyle and the third fastest in the 200 meter freestyle.

JENNY WILLIAMS (Ocean City) averaged 6.0 points and 6.2 rebounds a game for Cumberland County College.

SCOTT GREENMAN (St. Augustine) finished his junior year at Princeton averaging 8.6 points and 2.2 assists per game. He also led the Tigers with 52 three-pointers.

KRISTY COSTA (Absegami) was the leading scorer for McDaniel College with 11.7 points a game, led the team in rebounds with 5.6 a game, was second in steals and shot 71 percent from the line.

JOSH DAVIDSON (Ocean City), a freshman at Centenary, averaged 8.5 points and was second on the team with 41 three-pointers.

VIKA SHOLOKHOVA (Sacred Heart) finished her freshman year at Pitt averaging 6.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

TORY CAVALIERI (Atlantic City) completed his career averaging 15.6 ppg for St. Francis, where he made 76 three-pointers this year, tops in the Northeast Conference. He also averaged just under five assists per game, shot 78 percent from the foul line and led the NEC in steals with just over two per game. He was named to the conference second team.

MARK PORTER (St. Augustine) was named to the NEC third team at Wagner. He led all NEC freshmen with 10.8 points and 3.4 assists per game.

JOSE GONZALEZ (St. Augustine) averaged 11.6 points and 6.2 rebounds for Wheeling (WV) Jesuit, where he scored his 1,000th point earlier this season. He shot 41 percent from the field and 71 percent from the foul line.

Those are some athletes who contributed to the Cape-Atlantic League’s success and are now doing the same at the next level.



Read more of Tom Williams' columns