Scholastic Roundup: Ed Bowes — he was the best of them all

October 28, 2022 Andy Furman

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When the subject of high school running surfaces, well there’s one man at the top of the list – Ed Bowes.

The former track coach at Bishop Loughlin High School – he was teacher and coach at the school 39 years – was recently inducted into the Van Cortlandt Hall of Fame at the 50th Annual Manhattan College High School Cross Country Invitational Meet.

He founded the meet in 1973 and it attracted nearly 2,000 athletes with 12 races. It has grown to become one of the more prestigious races in the country with more than 40 races and 10,000 athletes from across the country.

In 2019, he was presented with a finish line plaque that declared the meet’s final stretch, “Ed Bowes Way.”

Bowes, who passed at the age of 78 in 2020, led his Lions to three Championship of America races at the Penn Relays – where Loughlin owns more titles than any school.

Add to that list, 12 CHSAA girls’ titles, and four boys’ titles.

For 31 years he served as Meet Director of the Bishop Loughlin Games at the168th Street Armory in Manhattan – and now staged at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island. The primary mission for the meet – to provide scholarships for athletes in need.

He ran the 1972 New York City Marathon and led after 23 miles. A star athlete at both Loughlin and later Manhattan College, he mentored two-time USA Olympian Matt Centrowitz, helping the high school phenom clock a 4:02.7-mile time at the AAU Junior Nationals.

After graduating Manhattan College (1964), he competed for the New York Athletic Club and later became the first track and field coach to be honored by the NYAC at their Frank McGuire Foundation Awards Dinner in 2001 for his contributions as a high school coach who provided a positive influence on young athletes.

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Freshmen Jesse Brockingston, Roman Henry, Quinniya Kitt, Summer Bynum, Nia Reid, Tomi Oluwatomilola and Moriah Walker copped seven medals for Bishop Loughlin at the NYC Cross-Country Carnival at Van Cortland Park.

Jelani Johnson started her senior year by bringing home a medal for the Lady Lions.

Former Bishop Loughlin All-City basketball star, Keith Williams was the 18th player picked in the NBA G League Draft last week, by the Memphis Hustle – affiliate of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.

The 6-5 Williams averaged a team-high 14.3 points-per-game for the University of Cincinnati during the 2020-21 season and earned a second-team All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) selection. Over his four-year career, Williams averaged 9.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per-game at Cincinnati. He scored 1,156 career points, 35th most in program history.

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Xaverian High School girls’ tennis team won their final match of the season, a 4-1 victory over St. Joseph Hill.

Stefania Arida and Ava Castellano won first and second singles. Freshmen Sofia Biagini and Aimy Kapllani were victorious in first doubles. The second-doubles team of Scarlette Markle and Polina Kitasova secured wins as well.

The girls finished their season with a 10-2 league record – with the playoffs next.

Also headed for post-season competition – Xaverian’s girls’ volleyball team. They finished their regular season with a perfect 12-0 record when they topped St. Francis Prep last week on Senior Night.

Seniors Cara Anderson, Claudia Bayard, Nancy McDade, Maggie McNamee, Lauren Sarn, Shannon Smith and Ellie Wood were all honored prior to the match. Cassie McDade returns for the Lady Clippers next season – and the McDade’s are the first set of sister-setters on a Clippers’ varsity.

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The mention of former FDR basketball coach Len Schroeder in Scholastic Roundup, prompted a note from former Brooklyn College baseball coach, Don Landolphi.

“I remember Lenny as well,” he writes. “He was a very good basketball player at Brooklyn College. He and Nick Gaetano were teammates and represented themselves well. Nick was a very good point guard, and Len was the man on the boards.”

Landolphi says Len was an outstanding high school coach an became an outstanding college basketball official.

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Sophomore Mia Castaneda finished with her third hat-trick of the season as the St. Joseph’s University women’s soccer team topped SUNY Maritime, 6-1, Saturday evening at Aviator Field.

She is the first Bear with three hat-tricks in a season since Deserae Sequeira did it in 2018. Seniors Alexis Breen and Samantha Quinonez were honored in Senior Night ceremonies prior to kickoff.

Bishop Kearney’s Kaitlyn Intindola’s second triple-double of the season, and Autumn Poppett’s 10 kills led St. Joseph’s women’s volleyball team to a bounce-back victory over Mount Saint Vincent last week.

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It was Alice Li’s deciding point and Victoria Delgado’s win in both her matches to give Pratt a 5-4 win over Baruch College – and preserve a perfect 8-0 Fall tennis season for the Cannoneers. The perfect mark topped the 7-1 season in 2013-14. Pratt resumes their spring schedule Friday, March 24th with Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J.

Pratt’s women’s volleyballers, playing away from home for the first time in three weeks, topped Moravian University, Saturday. Olivia Julich hit a blistering .387 while slamming a match-high 16 kills to go along with seven blocks – four solo. Rose Moon dished out 40 assists, her third 40-plus assist match of the season.

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Brooklyn College’s men’s soccer team outlasted borough-foe Medgar Evers, 2-1 in their regular-season finale in CUNYAC play, Saturday. Jordi Hernandez put-away a penalty kick for the game-winner.

The women’s soccer team closed-out their season with a 4-0-win Saturday over Lehman College. Flo Ramos, Rachel Gomez, Brenda Romano and Mariama Sano scored for BC. Angelina Vasta recorded the shutout and had two saves in goal.

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Azizjon Sharifov finished first for BC and 89th overall out of 155 finishers with a time of 18:55.2 in last week’s Adelphi Short-Course Showdown at Bethpage State Park. Kevin McCarthy was second for Brooklyn, and 114th overall with a time of 20:44.2 and Alex Wang was 137tdh overall – and third for BC with a time of 23:15.0. Brooklyn wraps-up their 2022 campaign at the CUNYAC Championships, Sunday, October 30th at Van Cortlandt Park with the men’s 6K race beginning at 10:30 am.

Skyi Velasco finished first for the BC women – 99th out of 138 finishers – with a time of 28:39.7; she was followed by: Lori Tsang, 30:54.4 – 108th overall and Fatima Aftab, 113th overall, 33:13.9.

LIU men’s cross-country team competed in the 5K event with Tyrese Bowes, the top finisher for the Sharks in 17:45.6 to finish 66th among the 157 entrants. He was followed by teammates Julian Jimenez (18:15.4), Nicholas Rivera (18:57.5) and Michael Kurpisz (19:06.7).

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St. Francis College honored their four senior water polo members, Friday as the Terriers topped Iona 17-13. It was the final match in the SFC Aquatic Center. The honored seniors were: Baptiste Oliveri, William Simpson, Aleksa Sisakovic and Djordie Stoiljkovic. Oliveri and Adonis Vlassis led the Terriers with seven points each.

The Terrier women’ swimming and diving team rolled to a 163-87 win over Manhattan, Saturday. The team was led by sophomore Elayna Pistrin who won three events on the day.

She notched victories in the 100-yard IM, 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly. Her times were: 1:00.08, 5:22.91 and 59.49. She was the only swimmer to break the one-minute mark in the 100-yard butterfly. Teammate Boel Bergquist won the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 1:11.04; she also took second in the 100-yard IM. Mariajose Lopez won the 1,000-yard freestyle event in 10:41.48.

The men also topped the Jaspers, 199-47. The 200-yard medley relay team of Paul Melcer, Victor Fuentes, Robin Tator and Robin Grabowski won in 1:38.66.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR