Cassidy Stankowski named Mass. State Gatorade Player of the Year

Frontier Regional junior outside hitter Cassidy Stankowski was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year, it was announced Wednesday morning.

Stankowski, a three-time all-state selection, led the Red Hawks to their second straight state Division 3 title and has already reached 1,000 career kills. A five-year starter and three-time captain, Stankowski was an All-American as a sophomore.

Here's the release from ESPNHS: http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/player-of-the-year/post/_/id/3795/ma...

Here's the story from the Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/high_school/index.php/2011/12/1...

Here's the story from ESPN Boston: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/high-school/post/_/id/12536/frontiers-sta...

Stay tuned for a full story, including reaction from Stankowski and coach Sean MacDonald, later today.

Amherst XC winning streak snapped

Frontier Regional beat Amherst Regional 28-29 Tuesday to snap the Hurricanes' 109 dual-meet winning streak.

More to come.

Spike it for Life

The Frontier Regional girls volleyball team hosts Turners Falls Thursday night at 7 p.m. but it’s more than just a regular season game this time.
It’s the first annual “Spike it for Life” and the Red Hawks are raising money for a local cancer charity.
All proceeds from the match will be donated.
The Red Hawks will wear pink uniforms during the game.

Loos takes over Frontier girls hoop

Ralph Loos helped the Northampton girls basketball team to its first-ever state Division 1 Tournament championship last winter.
Next winter, he hopes to start the process of leading the Frontier Regional program back to the top.
“I definitely felt like (being a head coach) was something I was ready to do and was looking forward to,” said Loos, 39, on Wednesday night.
Loos, the Hamp varsity assistant and junior varsity coach at for the past two seasons, will take over a Red Hawks varsity squad next year that went 1-19 last year and missed the postseason for the first time in the program’s history.
“We are hopeful that he’ll bring some energy to the program,” Frontier athletic director Marty Sanderson said. “His ideas for how to bring the program back meshed with our ideas for how to get the progam going again.”
Loos has already met with the Frontier players and told them he expects to be back in the postseason next year.
“I saw them a few times last year,” Loos said. “To me, if we are not in the tournament, I’m thoroughly disappointed. They are good athletes. At the bare minimun, that is my expectation, to get to the tournament and hopefully make some noise.”
Along with assisting at Northampton under coach Tom Parent, Loos coaches in both AAU and the Bay State Games. Before coaching at Hamp, Loos coached in the Suburban League in Amherst.
After winning the state title last year, “you have to sort of temper your expectations,” he said. “You have to know that it’s not going to be like that every year.
“But it reinforced my philosophy that good defense wins everything. I spent a lot of time picking up stuff from Coach Parent and (the other assistants). I tried to pick their brains as coaches who have seen more than I have. I got a lot out of that.”
Frontier won its first western Mass. girls basketball title in 1972 and has reached the finals 15 times, winning it six times. The last championship came in 2000. The Red Hawks reached their lone state championship game in 1988, where they lost to Cohasset 54-44.
“For me to leave Northampton, it was going to take a really great opportunity. I know the tradition (at Frontier) and I know that brings a lot of expectations.”