Passaic Valley High athletic director Joe Benvenuti announced that 22 senior student-athletes from the Little Falls-based school will continue their athletic and academic careers on the collegiate level, this fall.
Benvenuti noted that this year’s class has the largest number of athletes who will continue to play in college, in the last four years.
“We were unable to have a ceremony this year, but we typically create a nice event to honor the kids and all of their hard work and dedication,” said Benvenuti. “In a typical school year, we would be celebrating these 22 student-athletes and their families with a ceremony led by the athletic director, speeches by their coaches, photo opportunities and refreshments.
“This college signing day program has really grown into a great tradition to honor our very deserving students.”
The 22 students who have made the commitment to play in college are softball players Jada Rodriguez (Georgian Court University), Shana Donnelly (Rowan University) and Michaela Raguseo (William Paterson University); track and field runners and throwers Krisha Rana (Montclair State University), Ed Bennett (Florida Tech), Pablo Arias, Victoria Pardi, Kyle Kuren and Kristina Martir (Caldwell University) and Julie Garrity (Kutztown University); football players Brandon Timothy (Lycoming College), Kevin Douglas (King’s College) and Vincent Colletti (Rowan); lacrosse players Ethan Shaw (Ohio Wesleyan), Alyssa LaTorre (The College of Mount St. Vincent) and Stephanie Ortiz (St. Thomas Aquinas College); baseball players Vin Colavitti (Delaware Valley University) and Patrick Roche (FDU-Madison); basketball player Kayla Allmendinger (William Paterson) and soccer players Stefano Turano (Widener University), Andre Grabowski (Ramapo College) and Aaron Braen (Bergen Community College).
“What a tremendous honor it is to commit to collegiate athletics,” said Benvenuti, himself a standout athlete at Passaic Valley in the mid 1990s. “We are tremendously proud of our student’s accolades and achievements throughout their amazing careers here at Passaic Valley.
“The entire PV community is so lucky to have had these fine leaders representing the Green and White on the field and on the court. The student athletes of 2020 have built a legacy at PV of championship levels. We wish this phenomenal group the best of luck in their future seasons on the college level. We will be following them and cheering them on from PV”.
Mike Lamberti, From Margate To Cleveland, And Back ! 