Coaching Update
The spring sports season was again a dominant
one for the Warriors finishing 4 for 4 in CHSL and district titles and securing
3 out of 4 Regional titles. Lacrosse won their 16th State title while baseball
reached the state final for the 6th time in the program’s history.
Lacrosse
Ajay Chawla ’93 will take over as
head varsity lacrosse coach. A standout
defenseman on the lacrosse team during
his time at Brother Rice. He went on to
play 3 years of NCAA lacrosse at Division 3
Marymount in Maryland. Chawla has been
part of the Rice program for the past 11 years
coaching the JV and Varsity B teams.
He takes over for Rob Ambrose who
stepped down as varsity head coach. In
Ambrose’s 21 years with Brother Rice, 57
of his players were named All-American,
he won 16 Catholic league titles, 16 state
MHSAA/MSLA titles, 8 MSCLA Midwest
titles and the 2008 Inside Lacrosse National
Championship as well as numerous
Academic All-State awards.
Undefeated in the state of Michigan,
the team won an unprecedented
11th straight state title with a 14-10
victory over Forest Hills Eastern. Sergio
Perkovic ’13, JP Forrester ’13, Jason
Alessi ’14 and Joe Plaskey ’14 were
named All-Americans. Perkovic was
named the Coaches Player Of The Year
and Forester was named The Warrior
Lacrosse Player of the Year. For the 4th
straight year the team was recognized
as an Academic All-State Team.
Baseball
Building on the 2012 CHSL title and
Regional Finals appearance, the Baseball
team had an impressive 2013 campaign.
They again won the CHSL, and then
captured the district, region and semifinal crowns before dropping a close
game to Midland 1-0 in the State Final.
Sammy Stevens ’14 was named 1st Team
All State while Matt Ruppenthal ’14 and
Randy Righter ’14 were named to the
Dream Team.
Congratulations to Swim Coach Mike
Venos on being named Coach of the Year
by both the Michigan High School Coaching
Association and the Michigan Interscholastic
Swim Coaches Association.
Track
The team had a great year finishing as CHSL, District
and Regional Champions while also finishing 9th
in the state. Michael Carey ‘14, Justin Flynn ’13,
Steve Norris’13, John Penington ’15, Torin Wile ’13
qualified for the state meet. Justin Flynn ’13 had an
impressive meet and finished 2nd in both the 100
and 200 meter dashes.
Golf
One of the winningist high school varsity
tennis coaches in Michigan history returned
to Brother Rice this fall. Keith Cullen brought
his classic approach to coaching back to the
Brother Rice courts. Coach Cullen led his
team to three state titles in 1998, 1999 and
2000, when he first coached the Warriors.
A young squad that was trying to fill the shoes
of the 2012 champions showed plenty of
promise winning the CHSL and district titles.
Although knocked out in the region, they did
have the region’s top performer in medalist
Kyle Gaines ’13. Other standouts included
Jeremy Ball ’14 who was the medalist of the
CHSL Invitational, and Joey Hildebrand ’14 and
Ben Glod ’14 for their impressive rounds in the
district tournament.
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