ALJ Athletic signing day ceremony
Clark Public Schools
On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, various staff members and administration at Arthur L. Johnson High School participated in a signing day ceremony to honor multiple student athletes for their years of service to Crusader Athletics and commemorate their moving on to continue their athletic and academic careers as NCAA Collegiate Athletes.
The following student athletes were honored:
Maria Dante – Field Hockey AND Softball – Stevens Institute of Technology – Ducks – Hoboken, NJ – D3
- Best Teammate Award for Field Hockey (2021) & Team Captain her Senior Year (2022).
- 312 Saves and 58 Goals Allowed over 40 Games.
- Field Hockey … 1st Team All-Conference (2021, 2022), 1st Team All County (2021), 2nd Team All North Jersey (2021), 1st Team All State Group 1 (2021), 2nd Team All County (2022).
- Softball … 1st Team All-Conference, Softball MVP (2022).
- 4 Year Gold Letter Winner in Field Hockey and Softball (lettered an additional three times in Basketball).
- 4.513 G.P.A., Top 5% of Senior Class … Spanish NHS, English NHS, Math NHS.
- Peer Leader, Key Club.
- Brian Piccolo Award Winner (2023).
Sofia DiProfio – Volleyball – Montclair State University – Red Hawks – Montclair, New Jersey – D3
- High Honor Roll all four marking periods senior year.
- 2022-2023 1st Team All-Conference, 2022-2023 2nd Team All Union County, 2022-2023 3rd Team Group 1 All State.
- Team MVP for BOTH Junior and Senior seasons.
- 3 Year Varsity Letter Winner in Spring Track & Field and Volleyball. 4 Year Gold Letter Winner in Basketball.
- Led the entire State of New Jersey in Blocks in 2021-2022. As a senior had the most blocks per set in the entire State of new Jersey.
- Arthur L. Johnson High School’s recipient for National Woman and Girls’ in Sport Day (NAWGS).
- And Sofia captured the UCC Valley Division Javelin Championship!
Gianna Frino – Softball – TCNJ – Lions – Ewing Township, New Jersey – D3
- Three year Varsity starter (would Most likely have been 4 years but COVID interfered).
- 86 Career Hits with 6 Career HRs.
- .396 Career Average … batting an amazing .416 this year with a .701 Slugging percentage!
- Sophomore Year … 1st Team All-Conference, Junior Year … Union County Honorable Mention … Senior Year Heisman High School Scholarship recipient.
Jackson Gulbin – Baseball – Rutgers-Newark – NJAC Conference – Newark, New Jersey – Scarlet Raiders – D3
- Jackson loves to compete and get better every day. As a result, he has learned how to stay humble and win with grace. Dealing with adversity with proper sportsmanship is a critical part of Jackson’s success. Being a good role model and a team leader is also extremely important to him. Jackson leads by example, but also has words of encouragement for teammates.
- Jackson is a 3-year starter at shortstop for our Varsity Baseball Program. In 2021, Jackson was nominated for Union County Honorable Mention and NJ.com’s Player of the Week last season for hitting .642 with 7 RBI’s. In 2022, Jackson was selected to play in the Quad County All-Star Game.
- 57 Career Hits.
- Although his season is ongoing, Jackson leads our team in hits, stolen bases and home runs. He is batting a robust .333 on the year.
- Key Club, Italian Club, Math National Honor Society.
Brett Makowsky – Football – Ithaca College – Bombers – Ithaca, New York – D3
- This young man continuously worked during the off-season in order to do everything he could to be his best. He was our starting K and P for the past 4 years, and he was an asset to our team.
- He finished the season with over 20 Touchbacks, was 35 for 35 on XPT (automatic, huge), and is the all-time record holder in Johnson Football History for most FG attempts and most FG’s made within a career. In fact, he only missed 1 XPT his entire career!
- He was named First Team All Division, 2nd Team All-County and selected to represent ALJ in this year’s North/South All-Star Game.
- Academically, Brett also kicks it through the uprights with a 4.3 G.P.A. and finishing in the top 10% of his graduation Class.
- He is a member of Heroes and Cool Kids and the Math, Science, English and Spanish National Honor Societies.
- These accolades have also made him the ALJ Recipient of the NJSIAA Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.
Henry Nordstrom – Lacrosse – Western Connecticut State University – Wolves – Danbury, Connecticut – D3
- Lacrosse … 18 Goals, 19 Assists, 37 Career Points and 155 Career Ground Balls.
- Henry was named one of the top 100 Junior Boys Lacrosse Players last year by NJ.com.
- Henry was also an accomplished wrestler …achieving a District Championship this past winter season. In the Championship match, he fought through a dislocated shoulder to win in the 3rd Period by a final score of 4-2. For his efforts, he was named Outstanding Wrestler (OW) for District 16.
Michael Pedalino – Baseball – Rutgers-Newark – NJAC Conference – Newark, New Jersey – Scarlet Raiders – D3
- Career totals of 95.3 IP, 60 K.
- 2.45 ERA this season.
- 5 Wins this Season, including spinning a complete game yesterday against STA, his second complete game of the season.
Eva Puentes – Soccer – College of Mount Saint Vincent – Dolphins – New York, New York – D3
- Captain of the Soccer Team her senior season.
- 2nd Team All-Conference Junior year and 1st Team All-Conference Senior Year.
- Also a Basketball standout that finished with 69 Career Points, 98 Career Rebounded, 53 Career Assists, 77 Career Steals.
- A Four year Gold Letter Winner in both Soccer and Basketball, while also lettering in Spring Track & Field.
- In addition, Eva is President of the Scrub Club and is involved in the Future Educator Club, Recycling Club, ASL Honor Society, and is a Peer Leader.
Julia Ranski – Field Hockey – Montclair State University – Red Hawks – Montclair, New Jersey – D3
- Honorable Mention All-Conference and All County.
- 3 Year Varsity Letter Winner; Team Captain.
- Class President (4 Years), Member of Heroes and Cool Kids, Key Club Member, Peer Leadership, Heroes and Cool Kids Member.
- Member of the NHS, Spanish NHS, Math NHS, English NHS.
- AP Scholar Award and graduating with 8 completed AP Classes.
- Will be attending MSU in a 5-year program where she will earn her Bachelors in Political Science and Masters in Law and Governance.
- Julia aspires to be New Jersey’s first female Senator!
Jenna Reider – Field Hockey – Eastern University – Saint David’s, Pennsylvania – Eagles – D3
- 4.00 G.P.A., Italian Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Peer Leader.
- Jenna started her career as a forward, moved to defense her junior year, and senior year played Mid Center field.
- 2nd Team All-Conference and 2nd Team All County 2021).
- 1st Team All-Conference and 1st Team All County (2022).
- JFH Best Offense Award Senior year (2022).
- Jenna will be attending Eastern University as a Criminal Justice major.
David Rodriguez – Baseball – Saint Elizabeth University – Colonial State Athletic Conference – Morristown, New Jersey – Eagles – D3
- 3.39 ERA this season with 15 SOs (27 Career SOs).
- Had big wins over Brearley, Linden and Governor Livingston this season.
- Allowed 2 or less earned runs in 5 out of 6 starts this season, giving his team a chance to win every time he was on the mound.
- Hitting .308 this season with 8 Doubles and 7 RBIs, in addition to 3 Steals.
Ashley Samsel – Basketball – Kean University – Union, New Jersey – Cougars – D3
- Captain.
- Ashley played basketball her entire life, starting in 3rd Grade with the Clark Travel Program.
- 100 Career 3-pointers and 489 total points.
- Ashley had multiple games with 20+ points in her career, including a career high 26-point effort against Passaic Charter (8 3-pointers).
- 1st Team All-Conference as a freshman, sophomore and junior and Honorable Mention as a senior.
- BTA Winner (2022-2023).
- Ashley aspires to one-day give back to the sport of basketball and young female student athletes by becoming a coach.
Annabella Velaj – Soccer – Rutgers-Newark – NJAC Conference – Newark, New Jersey – Scarlet Raiders – D3
- Senior Captain.
- 2nd Team All Union County (Senior Year).
- Member of the Key Club and Recycling Club for 4 years.
- Inducted into the Math Honor Society.
Grace Warnick – Field Hockey – Salve Regina – Newport, Rhode Island – Seahawks – D3
- 4 Year Gold Letter Winner and the Team MVP this past season.
- 1st Team All-Conference, 1st Team All County, 3rd Team All State Group 1.
- Ranked 5th in her graduating class … NHS, Science NHS, English NHS, Math NHS.
- Fall 2022 Student Athlete Award winner.
- 2022 Homecoming Queen.
Thomas Woods – Basketball – Fairleigh Dickenson University – Madison, New Jersey – Devils – D3
- The consummate high school three sport athlete …
- Football … 207 Rushing Yards, 140 Receiving Yards, 39 Total Tackles.
- Baseball … .322 Career Average; 15 RBIs, 14 SBs.
- Basketball … 406 Career Points, 420 Career Rebounds, 128 Career Assists, 60 Career Blocks, 65 Career Steals.
- Valley Division 1st Team All-Conference.
- #1 in Union County Conference with 11.2 Rebounds per game.
- Averaged a double/double in points and rebounds for the season.
- Led the team in points per game and blocks his senior year.
As one can see, the students athletes made our school, and community, extremely proud and have all had wonderful athletic careers as Crusaders.
Gus Kalikas, Athletic Director at Arthur L. Johnson High School, had this to say about the event. “All of these student athletes have been an integral part of the success of our athletic programs while competing at Arthur L. Johnson High School the past four years. More importantly, they have been model student athletes that did things the right way both on the fields, in the classroom, and throughout our community. Although it will be sad to see them leave, the Crusader’s loss is their respective college’s gain, and we look forward to following their successful collegiate athletic careers over the next four years.”
Crusader Athletics would like to wish the best of luck to all of our student athlete moving on to participate in NCAA Collegiate Athletics.
