Athletes of the Week for February 24, 2020

Congratulations to Franklin Chow ’20 and John “Connor” Hennessey ’21 for receiving Cardigan’s Athlete of the Week Award. Read what their coaches have to say about them below, and meet all the students who were nominated.

Varsity Student-Athlete of the Week

Franklin Chow ’20 – Wrestling

Wrestling Captain Franklin Chow defines what is expected of a student-athlete. He excels in all areas of academics while also anchoring the editing duties of the Verbatim, Cardigan’s weekly newspaper. He is an inspirational leader and is held in the highest esteem by all of his coaches and teammates. Franklin is one of the team’s hardest workers. He arrives at practices early to begin conditioning and sets a great example for his teammates. His enthusiasm and encouragement are constantly pushing the entire team to greater heights. Franklin plays an essential role at meets, sometimes acting as an additional coach, particularly when Cardigan wrestlers are competing on multiple mats. His familiarity with wrestling moves and counter moves provides vital guidance to his teammates, especially the younger wrestlers. At a recent competition at Governor’s Academy, he was the lightest wrestler in his weight class and still won all four of his matches against heavier opponents, all by pin. He’s one of the team’s best technical wrestlers and continues to dominate his opponents with skill and precision. There’s no question that the wrestling team and the entire school benefit from Franklin’s leadership roles. He is the best of the best!

Sub-Varsity Student-Athlete of the Week

John “Connor” Hennessey ’21 – JV Basketball

Connor has been stellar in regards to his energy and focus all year, but this past week he illustrated supreme leadership and incredible perseverance. Although he was sick, he pushed through the discomfort and had an exceptional game against KUA. He scored in every way possible and distributed the ball well to his teammates, playing whatever role was needed of him in the moment. His efforts on defense also helped the Cougars erase a late-game deficit and secure an epic one-point victory. He continued to display great leadership against Brewster, settling his teammates and helping them work through their offensive sets. Connor deserves to be the Student-Athlete of the Week because of his steadfast commitment to making his teammates better and his tireless efforts competing at the highest level possible.

Other Varsity Nominations

Qiangang “Sam” Wang ’20 – Nordic Skiing

Sam had a great week of skiing. He competed in the 5km skiathlon at the Dublin School on Monday which had a 2.5km leg of classic technique followed immediately by a 2.5km leg of skate technique. Sam has continued to be a positive leader on the team and frequently takes initiative to help others. He always gives his best effort and loves to ski fast down steep hills. Well done, Sam!
 
Ho Seok “Ryan” Ham ’22 – Varsity Alpine Skiing

Ho Seok impressed his teammates and coaches with an outstanding week of training capped by an outstanding GS race at the Dartmouth Skiway, where he qualified for the NHARA U14 State Championships! Ho Seok, the “Hammer", is one of the most improved skiers this season. His skill development, paired with increased tactical knowledge, has been impressive to witness!
 
Sam Pfefferle ’21 – Varsity Hockey

Sam has stepped his game up in a big way as of late. While his understanding of his physical tools has been evident since the beginning of the season, he began playing with some amplified confidence in the Cougars' most recent performances. On Saturday, against a strong Cushing team, he scored a huge goal to tie the game in the third period. In each of Cardigan's last few games, he has been using his size and his speed to his advantage, and has been playing tremendous hockey. He is an excellent teammate in the locker room and on the ice and is making great strides as a hockey player.
 
Yaneik Gallego ’20 – Varsity Basketball

Yaneik constantly steps up to the plate to guard the other teams’ best offensive players, time and time again. He was a big part of our comeback against Belmont Hill that sent the game into overtime. It takes extra guts to be the guy that’s always willing to guard the other teams’ best players.
 
Haohui “Josh” Hou ’21 – Snowboarding

Josh demonstrates commitment to the Snowboard Team every day. No matter the conditions, he pushes himself far beyond his comfort level and has progressed in all aspects of the sport. He comes to practice with abundant energy, ready to ride. He has been ranked as one of our top riders for the duration of the season, and we are grateful for his ability to keep the stoke high! Great job, Josh!

Other Sub-Varsity Nominations

Andrew Reilly ’21 – Reserve Hockey

Andrew had a wonderful game against Tilton this week, scoring our only goal and providing energy and leadership on the ice. He is one of the more experienced members of the team and has been a reliable teammate and player all season long. 
 
Dylan Gorman ’20 – JV Hockey

Dylan has had an amazing week as the goalie for the JV Hockey Team. In our two games this week, he faced some strong competition and many shots, but he shut out both teams and played amazingly. Without his efforts, his team would not have found success. It is very rare to have back-to-back shutouts as a goalie, but Dylan's hard work and focus allowed him to achieve this.
 
Luke Litowitz ’20 – Thirds Hockey

Luke has been a good captain. He works to help our team make good choices on and off the ice.  
 
Kam Hung “Ken” Wong ’21 – Thirds Basketball

Ken has put in rock-star effort to play and practice hard. He’s moved into his role as point guard swimmingly and has combined great speed with increasingly smart decisions both on and off ball.
 
Peiqi “Randy” Xiao ’21 – Reserve Basketball

Randy has been the high scorer in the last two games, averaging 14 points. In addition, during Saturday's game, he hit a buzzer-beater, sending the game into its first overtime, and then sank a shot with 1.9 seconds left, sending the game into its second overtime.