Monthly Administrative Updates
March 2024 Administrative Update
by Brian Lombardo
Director of Athletics
Education Based Athletics at East Aurora
East Aurora Athletics is, and should be, an extension of classroom education. Our coaches, across the board, believe in the idea of the development of the whole person. While our teams remain consistently competitive across league, sectional, and state competitions, we take great pride in the other areas of our athletic program.
The athletic department has partnered with D&G Wellness to work with coaches on both their own mental well-being as well as student athlete mental well-being. Our coaches participate in an initial, three-hour module, and subsequent years they attend different 90-minute modules tackling countless topics in the mental health realm. The feedback from coaches has proven invaluable in developing our mental health training program. Student-athletes attend 30-minute presentations hosted by our counseling department and various presenters to assist in fostering coping skills for dealing with high-stress situations faced by many of them when balancing academics and athletic commitments.
Attesting to our athletes as role models, all 13 varsity fall sports earned the distinction of NYSPHSAA Scholar Athlete Teams, which means that 75% of each team's collective GPA was over 90%. Two students, Charlie Meyer (boys’ soccer) and Celia Koselny (girls’ volleyball), earned ALL WNY Scholar Athlete status.
While we believe in developing our student-athletes away from the competitive arena, we enjoy achieving success in the competitive world of athletics as well. In the fall alone, our teams won three state titles (boys soccer, girls cross country, and boys cross country), one female athlete won an individual state title (Emilia O’Leary, cross country), one finished as the individual runner-up (Owen Rung), and another (Amar Culov) earned All American status for his soccer season. Those accomplishments as a whole were unmatched throughout WNY and only came with the tremendous dedication of our athletes, coaches, and community support.
Beyond that, nine out of eleven teams (boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls soccer, girls swimming, girls tennis, and boys golf) won fall division titles, and three teams (boys and girls basketball and boys swimming) won winter division titles, with the girls indoor track team claiming the section title. The girls basketball team advanced to the section final at Buffalo State, and eight indoor track athletes, along with two swimming athletes, advanced to the state championships.
The spring season is always one of our busiest and most competitive. Athletes have a plethora of competitive options available, including lacrosse, tennis (boys), track and field, baseball, and softball. Last year, the boys’ lacrosse team, along with both track teams, won sectional titles, with the girls lacrosse team advancing to the section final. In 2024, we believe we have the ability to come close to duplicating those results. I encourage everyone to check out our schedule on the East Aurora Athletics webpage and come out in support of our teams at any of the many matches we will host throughout the spring season.