Student Athletes of the Month

Students from Shawnee, Cherokee, Audubon, Haddonfield, Gateway, and Washington Township, who participate in a variety of sports, have proved themselves to be aces both on and off the field.

Adam Franck: Shawnee, Baseball
A First Team all-Olympic Conference selection last year, in which he batted .418 with 22 runs and 18 RBI, the senior shortstop has picked up where he left off. Franck has shown no ill effects of a high right ankle sprain suffered during football season. In five games of the Ralph Shaw Classic at Audubon High School, Franck, who bats leadoff, went 9-for-15 (.600), scoring nine runs and knocking in five. The Renegades went 3-2 in the tournament; with their two losses coming to host and tournament champ Audubon. Franck, a standout defensive back in football, will continue his career at the University of Pennsylvania next fall.

Mollie Ahern: Cherokee, Softball
The Cherokee softball program has produced many successful players over the past 20 years. Add Ahern to that list. The senior fireballer is one reason the Chiefs are once again the team to beat in South Jersey. Along with junior Danielle Cohen, the two formed one of the top 1-2 combinations in the state, allowing just 34 runs in 33 games as the Chiefs captured another state Group 4 championship. Ahern did her part for the Chiefs, going 11-1 and allowing less than one earned run a game.

Nate Schilli: Audubon, Baseball
The name Schill in synonymous with success in the storied Audubon baseball program. Nate, whose brother Vaughn was a star at Audubon in the mid-1990s and later at Duke, is one of the top hitters in South Jersey. Last season, the senior batted .488 with 59 hits, tying the South Jersey record for hits in a season. While primarily a shortstop, Schill also posted a 6-1 record as a pitcher as the Green Wave captured another state Group 2 championship. Schill started the 2002 season going 10-for-14 with three doubles, three home runs and knocking in nine runs to lead host Audubon to the title of the annual Ralph Shaw Classic. Schill, who may follow his brother's footsteps by being drafted in June's amateur baseball draft, has signed a letter-of-intent to play for James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, next year.

Tracy Bolger: Haddonfield, Golf
If South Jersey has a first family in high school golf, the Bolger family is probably it. Tracey, the youngest, is one of the top female high school golfers in the state. A strong performer on the Colonial Conference runner-up Bulldogs, Bolger has one of the better 9-hole averages in the area — for both boys and girls. Bolger, whose sister Meghan was a star at Eastern High School and Tulane University and now is the women's golf coach at the University of Mississippi, averaged just over 41 strokes per hole, finished sixth last season in the state's girls' Tournament of Champions.

Chris Mazzone: Gateway, Tennis
After two seasons at second singles behind Matt Coin, a state runner-up who finished with the most wins in South Jersey history (146), Mazzone now must lead the way for Gateway in the Colonial Conference. An all-South Jersey Group 2 selection by the area tennis coaches last year, Mazzone won three matches in the state singles’ tournament and advanced in the Gloucester County and South Jersey Tennis Coaches’ Invitational in Vineland. Mazzone should be one of the players to watch in that tournament, as well as the Gloucester County tournament.

Latoya Benson: Washington Township, Track
A two-time state Group 4 champion in the 100-meter dash, Benson finished eighth in last year's Meet of Champions. This season, she enters the season with high expectations, and will be a threat as both a sprinter in the 100 and 200 meters as well as the long jump. She has already made her mark this season as she jumped 16 feet, 10 inches to team with Amanda Radinski to win the long jump relay at the Camden-Gloucester County relays. She was also a part of two sprint relays that finished second, enabling the Minutemaids to win the Division 2 title.

Content provided by South Jersey Sports Club.

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Author: Sean Fallon-SJ SportsClub