By Conor Burns ‘22 & Billy Demos ‘23

​​With the spring sports season right around the corner, the Chaminade High School Flyers look to continue their athletic dominance—whether that be on the diamond, links, field, court, track, or water.

On the baseball diamond, Chaminade will look to continue recent success behind head coach Mr. Michael Pienkos, who has guided the Flyers to over 600 victories and is going into his 40th year as head coach, garnering CHSAA titles along the way—including last June’s sweep of Kellenberg. Mr. Patrick Kemp ‘04 (JV team coach) and Mr. Joseph Caso (freshman team coach) also play an integral role in the winning program. With a stacked line-up, which includes Division I-talent pitchers, the Flyers look ready to challenge for another title this year.   

“Following a really successful 2020 JV season which saw the team capture the championship,” Kemp said, “we know we will have a target on our back. However, we expect a lot of great things for this upcoming season as we know we have a lot of talented sophomores who are ready to compete at a very high level. We have such a strong program at the lower levels and our job is to prepare them for varsity, which currently has 10+ players committed to play college baseball.”

On the links, the Flyers also look to put out another strongly competitive team. Mr. Gregory Gerner ‘10, who teaches freshman geometry, will lead the varsity once again this year. Gerner observed, “The Spring 2022 golf season is quickly approaching and the golfers cannot wait to hit the course again. They are looking forward to building camaraderie while sharpening their skills to become the top team.”

Lacrosse has had a long history of achievement at Chaminade, as well as a number of Flyers who go on to achieve success at the college level. Recently, USA Lacrosse named two former Flyers, Patrick Kavanagh and Liam Entenmann, to the U.S. U21 team, which will play on the world stage. Both alumni currently attend Notre Dame. This year’s team, led by varsity coach Jack Moran, has its share of stars and Division I college commits as well.  

The tennis team looks to make strides in the upcoming season. Despite losing a Newsday top 35 player from last year’s squad, this year’s team (led by Mr. Daniel Petruccio and assisted by Mr. Andrew Salecker ‘12) look to lead the team to another successful year.

“We graduated a lot of talented guys last year,” Salecker said, “so it’s going to be exciting to see this team step up in filling those spots and defending our title as league champions.”

Under the coaching of Brian Hayes ‘99, the track and field team also looks to continue demonstrating their presence. Hayes said, “We’re really excited for the start of the season. We have a nice balance of experienced seniors and talented underclassmen. Our team members have both team and individual goals. Our team goal is to get better every day to put us in a great position for championship season. Individually, our team members are working hard to set personal bests in their events.” 

Coming off of a wildly successful 12-0 season capped by a straight set victory over Kellenberg, last year’s volleyball team captured the CHSAA crown last June. The Flyers did not lose a set, winning all 36 that they played. With the leadership of Coach Sal Trentacoste, this year’s volleyball team will have big expectations and are ready, willing, and hopefully able to win another crown.

Finally, the Chaminade crew team, after not having rowed three seasons in a row, is looking to come back stronger than ever. The Flyers performed well at the Head of the Charles Regatta, finishing in the top third. The new assistant coach, Mr. Patrick Dent, teaches senior math and rowed at Gonzaga High School in Washington D.C., and then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He and head coach Mr. John Callinan ’84, who started the crew team back  in the 80s, are looking to field a group that will be competitive with some of the powerhouses of the east coast, such as Gonzaga of D.C. and St. Joseph’s Preparatory School of Philadelphia.

Chaminade athletics is more than ready for the upcoming spring season. The athletic schedule is posted on the Chaminade website, and major games will also be live streamed at https://www.chaminade-hs.org/athletics/watch-live. Roll Flyers!