A Bumper Crop of Sports Honors

Tyler Edell ’13 and Kiley Ezzell ’14 played on the 11-12-year-old Carrollton Boosters Tournament Softball Team over the summer and travelled to Harlingen, Texas for the National Pony Fastpitch Tournament. The team placed second in Nationals.

Alex Paul ’12 and Xavier Henry ’11 competed in at least two Amateur Athletic Association track and field meets this summer. Both Alex and Xavier competed in the Region 9-B Southern Amateur Athletic Association Championship Meet in their 15-16-year-old age division in the shot put in their attempt to qualify for the National A. A. U. Championship Meet. Alex qualified for the National Meet by placing fourth in the shot put in the Region 9-B A. A. U. Meet. Both Alex and Xavier also competed in an open A. A. U. meet at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Hammond in July, where Alex tested his abilities in the shot put and the javelin and Xavier competed in the discus and the shot put.

Bruno Vetter ’08 committed to play college football at Dartmouth College following a very successful and productive career at Newman. While at Newman, Bruno was selected to the All-District and All-Metro Football teams during his senior year. He was chosen as the Barney Mintz Award winner as the outstanding lineman and honored by the LHSAA by being named to the Academic All State team. In addition, he was selected as a scholar athlete by the Allstate Sugar Bowl Chapter National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

Layne Ezzell ’08 is playing soccer for Sewanee and is already making headlines. To see a recent article about her, go to http://athletics.sewanee.edu/home?id=18541

Elena Martinez ’05 is entering her senior year on the LSU volleyball team. This year, Elena is featured on the LSU volleyball schedule card cover. While at Newman, Elena was awarded All-District, All-Orleans, All-Metro and LHSAA State Championship MVP honors. She is an accomplished college volleyball player and is the starting libero on an LSU team expected to have a successful SEC season.

Jeremy Bleich ’05 helped the Stanford Cardinal reach the College World Series during his junior year at Stanford University. In addition, he was the 44^th pick by the New York Yankees in the June major league draft. He signed with the Yankees in mid-August and has been working at their facilities in Tampa, Florida since signing. From mid-September through mid-November the Yankees have asked him to participate in a fall league in Hawaii.

Johnny Lovell ’85 was in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the sailing event. This was Johnny's fourth trip to the Olympics; he won the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games.

Last but certainly not least, Billy Fitzgerald, longtime baseball and basketball coach, was inducted into the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Coach Fitzgerald was honored along with Joe Heap, a football player at Holy Cross and Notre Dame, Joe Brockhoff, longtime baseball coach at Tulane and Eddie Robinson, legendary football coach at Grambling.