Scholastic Roundup: These athletes are exceptional — and Tech is just perfect in table tennis

June 13, 2025 Andy Furman

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The votes are in – and tallied. These student-athletes have been elected by coaches as the Public Schools Athletic League’s Exceptional Senior baseball players.

Here are the Brooklyn members of the Staten Island/Brooklyn/Manhattan squad:

Pitchers:
Jason McGill, New Utrecht; Jostin Guzman Lopez, Canarsie.

Catcher:
Sergio Rosario, A-Tech.

Infielders:
John Memoli, Lafayette; Alexander Vega, Grady; Jonathan Vasquez, Harry Van Arsdale; Kyle Chan, New Utrecht;.

Outfielders:
Daniel Fogliano, New Utrecht; Nathan Wan-Brodsky, Grady; Aayan Ramamurthy, Brooklyn Tech.

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Thomas Jefferson Campus Boys won the team title in the PSAL Outdoor Track and Field Championships, May 25th.
Jefferson, with 101 points topped Bronx High School of Science (52) and Francis Lewis (51).

Medgar Evers College Prep girls, finished second with 66 points to champ Benjamin Cardozo (67).

Erasmus Hall’s Kashif Bellisle was Boys MVP winning the pole vault. Athaleyha Hinckson, from Medgar Evers College Prep, was girls MVP, winning the 100 and 200m events.

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Brooklyn Tech made it back-to-back PSAL city championships in Boys Table Tennis for 2025.

Nicolas Corona and Victor Zapolski of Tech defeated Stuyvesant’s doubles team of Joon Kim and Michael Avrahmi, 3. The first doubles went to “Deuce” in the opening match between Kevin Berfirer and Leo Ling (Tech) and Jackie Zheng and Vedant Kothari (Stuyvesant). The Engineers took the next two games as well to be crowned victors in straight sets, 3-0.

Tech won both Singles 2 and Singles 3. Anand Khera (Tech) and Louie Chen (Tech) won Singles 2 and 3, respectively, sweeping all the games, 3-0. It was a perfect season for Tech, 10-0 – during the regular season – and 4-0 during the playoffs.

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Bathgate High from The Bronx was crowned the PSAL 2024-25 City Double Dutch Champion, June 1st at Long Island City High School. Brooklyn’s John Dewey High placed third.

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The PSAL’s Summer Sports, Fitness, and Recreation Program gets underway July 14th and runs through August 14th – Mondays-Thursdays, 3pm-6pm. The program will be open to all New York City students that will be entering grades 9-12 in the Fall of 2025. Students do not need to attend the host school to participate at a specific site.

The opportunity offers: Comprehensive athletic training; Fitness and conditioning; Sports-specific skill development; and Enrichment activities like yoga, art, chess, robotics, and eSports (at select sites).

For more information and registration, visit: www.psal.org.

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Vincent Camerada and Michael Gardener became the first repeat honorees on the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team for St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn.

A record five Bears were tabbed, including first-timers Doug Paider, Christopher Stegmuller and Kris Vinski.

Camerada batted .368 with a .495 on-base percentage, the latter being good for fifth-best in program history. The outfielder had eight multi-hit games. In two seasons, the therapeutic recreation major posted a career .309 batting average and .428 slugging percentage.

Gardener, one of two seniors selected, completes his four-year career with 119 hits – his 100th was recorded in March.

Paider returned to the team for his senior season in 2025, leading the club with 29 hits. Among qualified batters, he ranked second with a .326 batting average and third with a .450 on-base percentage. He hit his first career home run in the Bears’ April meeting with Lehman College.

Sophomores Stegmuller and Vinski round out the five selections. Stegmuller had team-leading numbers in at-bats (96), RBI (22), and total bases (40) while placing second in hits (2).

Vinski was the Bears’ representative on the Skyline All-Sportsmanship Team. Appearing in 14 games and posting 178 strikeouts, the lefty opened the season with 6.1 innings of scoreless relief in the Bears’ season-opening win over Lehman – the first of his collegiate career.

The All-District teams, selected by CSC, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average of at least 3.50 to qualify for the team.

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Five members of the St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn softball team were named to the CVSC Academic All-District Team.

Boasting a team-best 3.888 semester GPA, Makena Burr leads a trio of first-timers on the squad. The sophomore criminal justice major tallied 84 strikeouts across more than 106.1 innings pitched. She notched her 100th career strikeout during the Bears’ April victory over Sarah Lawrence and now holds a career total of 120 strikeouts.

Vivian Garcia is one of three nursing majors to receive All-District recognition. She led the Skyline Conference with 57 hits, placed second with a .504 batting average and 39 RBI.

Leila Heller tossed 69.2 innings and registered 46 strikeouts, including the 100th of her career against Alverno in March. The two-time honoree and nursing major, had a .400 batting average with 20 hits and 11 RBI.

Lauren Van Der Kamp – a second time honoree and nursing major — was named to six Skyline Academic Honor Rolls in softball and cross country. She concludes her collegiate career with 133 hits, a .390 batting average, and a .496 slugging percentage.

Payton Walker either led or finished in the top three in most major offensive categories with a .490 batting average, .863 slugging percentage, and a .570 on-base percentage. She collected 50 hits, 49 RBI, and 88 total bases. The psychology major was recognized as conference’s Player of the Year and earned a spot on the NFCA All-Region III Second Team.

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After shining in NCAA competition this past winter, Mo Elsayed of the Long Island University men’s fencing team is the No. 1 ranked men’s fencer according to the International Fencing Federation.

A native of Tanta, Gharbeya, Egypt, Elsayed completed the NCAA championship competition with an overall record of 21-4 with a +41 indicator. As the top-seeded fencer in the semifinals, he defeated No. 4 seed Mahmoud Elsayed of Wayne State University, 15-14 before defeating No. 2 seed Henry Lawson of Harvard University, 12-11 in the men’s epee finals.

Elsayed was the top-ranked junior men’s epee fencer by the FIE in 2022-23 and was ranked fourth in the men’s epee senior division in 2023-24.

The LIU junior has both gold and bronze medals in men’s epee from the NCAA championships in 2025 and 2023 and an Olympic bronze medal in men’s epee from the Prais 2024 Olympics.

“Mo is hard-working, humble and deserving of this amazing accomplishment,” LIU men’s fencing Head Coach Dwight Smith said in a prepared statement. “I’ve seen his amazing work ethic, and this a cumulation of years of dedication to his sport.”

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Seven members of the LIU wrestling team, were named EIWA Academic Achievement Award winners after displaying academic and athletic excellence during the 2024-25 season.

Robbie Sagaris, 125, Fourth Place at the EIWA Tournament; Kaelan Francois, 133; Devin Matthews, 141; Brayden Robert, 157, Fifth Place at the EIWA Tournament; James Johnston, 165; Blake Bahna, 174, Eighth Place at the EIWA Tournament; and Chris Powell, 285; were seven of just 58 wrestlers who qualified.

Wrestlers qualify for the EIWA Academic Achievement Award with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 and participate in the EIWA Tournament or achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and represent the EIWA and their institution at the NCAA Championships.

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: andyf@brooklyneagle.com X: @AndyFurmanFSR