Athletes Honored at NMH Fall Athletics Celebration

"All of us have to push off the footplates to get to the finish line – no one is doing it alone since the boat only goes as fast as the slowest person." — Maggie Provencal ’25

On the evening of Nov. 15, the Northfield Mount Hermon community gathered to celebrate its student-athletes and coaches at the Fall Athletics Celebration.

NMH decided to tweak the format for the ceremony — formerly known as the Fall Sports Banquet — after consulting with team captains, athletics department staff, and the campus life team. Rather than holding the entire event in Alumni Hall, as in previous years, this year’s celebration was split into two parts. First, students and community members gathered in Alumni Hall for group photos and dinner. Afterward, the campus community convened in Memorial Chapel to honor this year’s athletes and coaches.

The ceremony in Memorial Chapel kicked off with comments from Athletics Director Rick Hendrickson and Head of School Brian Hargrove.

Hendrickson said the new format allowed for a more equitable layout for attendees to hear the presentation, alleviated the burden on NMH dining staff, and allowed more people to attend the ceremony, while still holding true to the traditions of the event.

“I thought we could take the opportunity to live more of our mission and say who we really are,” Hendrickson said in his opening remarks. “We want the thirds teams to have the same view as the varsity teams. We don't want anybody off in the corner.”

Hargrove emphasized the important role sports play in energizing the campus community. “What I really appreciate is the spirit that I saw every team this fall bring with them – the heartiness and good nature,” he said. “Thank you for going out and giving of yourself, giving all that time to practices and competition.”

Several students then stepped to the lectern to share their reflections on the past season of NMH athletics.

John Murphy ’25, captain of the boys’ cross-country team, spoke of his gratitude for his coaches, the training staff, and the NMH community throughout his athletic career, emphasizing the central role that being part of a team plays in NMH athletics.

“When doing a sport like distance running, with many painful hours on the road, grass, trail, and track, you need to love your teammates,” Murphy reflected. “At home, over the summer, it can become difficult while spending all of my runs in solitude. At school, my teammates make this activity into a team sport. That is often a defining characteristic in athletics everywhere.”

Maggie Provencal ’25 spoke about her time on the field hockey, basketball, and rowing teams. Although she began rowing in her sophomore year, Provencal said that being part of the team taught her the most valuable lesson of her athletic career.

“Rowing showed me how a team is like a family: We all have to feel connected and engaged,” she said. “You're going to have some practices with rough water, but what really matters is you don’t give up and remember the calm water comes again.”

Provencal called on her fellow students to “fill your life with many opportunities to grow as a person and teammate,” highlighting the unique nature of her own NMH athletic career. “There is not one direct course that you have to take to find your team.”

Following these sentiments, Hendrickson invited coaches to the stage to hand out the Fall 2024 Coaches’ Awards, granted to one member of each team who exemplifies the NMH spirit.

The recipients of the Coaches’ Awards were:

• Girls’ JV Cross-country: Elle Zaidan Jones ’25
• Girls’ Varsity Cross-country: Liesl Barry ’26
• Boys’ JV Cross-country: Yu Hei (Kelvin) Cheung ’25
• Boys’ Varsity Cross-country: John Murphy ’25
• JV Field Hockey: Bea Donovan ’25
• Varsity Field Hockey: Patience Beasley ’25
• Mountain Biking: Leo Piamthipmanus ’25
• Boys’ Novice Rowing: Jason Yun ’28
• Boys’ Varsity Rowing: Chris Sparrow ’25
• Girls’ Novice Rowing: Neko Bull-Cohen ’28
• Girls’ Varsity Rowing: Madigan Pillsbury ’25
• Girls’ JV Soccer: Vittoria Pinci ’25
• Girls’ Varsity Soccer: Mahe-Lee Caron ’25
• Boys’ Thirds Soccer: Junsang Ryu ’27
• Boys’ JV Soccer: Alex Baron ’26
• Boys’ Varsity Soccer: Ivan Lau ’25
• Thirds Volleyball: Karen Nagasaki-Takemoto ’27
• JV Volleyball: Luisa Ortiz ’26
• Varsity Volleyball: Grace Cummiskey ’25

In addition to the Coaches’ Awards, several new awards were given out:

• Play of the Year:
• Contest of the Year: Varsity girls’ volleyball Sept. 28 16-14 comeback win vs. St. Paul’s
• Breakthrough Athletes of the Year: Livie Clough ’27 and Jonny Thomas ’27
• Best Individual Performance of the Year: Sonam Drema ’25 at the NMH Cross-country Invitational

Winners of the four new award categories will be honored with posters displayed around Forslund Gym.

The winner of the 2024 Excellence in Athletics Student Award – given to a student who “exemplifies the core values and principles of NMH Athletics, serving as a model for peers and as a standard for our community students, scholars, and athletes” – was the JV boys’ soccer team’s Zach Wells ’25.

“[Zach] is described as a great teammate who is always positive in his interactions with his team, his coaches, and gym personnel,” Hendrickson said. “He consistently displayed his sportsmanship on and off the field. He was an important impact player for his team and a huge part of their success this fall.”

Barry Auskern, meanwhile, was awarded the 2024 Excellence in Athletics Coaches Award for his role in reviving the NMH girls’ cross-country program over the past several years.

“Barry took over a team with just a few runners, one that was mired in 14th place, last in the NEPSAC Class A division,” Hendrickson said. “Four years later, we’re now the seventh-best team in Class A, and I want to congratulate and thank him for his work to get there.”

Hendrickson added that Auskern’s dedication is mirrored by every coach and staff member, as each works toward elevating NMH athletics to new heights.

“I’ve made no bones about the fact that our goal now is to be the best athletic program in New England,” Hendrickson said. “That’s going to take different steps for different programs and different teams, and it’s also going to take us supporting each other like you did tonight. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

For a complete set of photos of award winners, check out our Flickr.