The eighth graders who arrived on campus this week are markedly different from their former seventh grade selves who walked out the doors in June. Sure, they may be an inch or two taller, but the confidence with which they carry themselves is more pronounced. These student-athletes understand their charge and recognize they are now the school’s student leaders. One of the first ways this group will demonstrate their leadership at Belmont Day is through athletics. This fall, BDS will field ten interscholastic teams, and each one will rely on the experience, knowledge, and leadership of eighth grade athletes who will strive for excellence every time they take to the fields, courts, and trails.
- The varsity volleyball team will return a trio of eighth graders this fall. Melisa Adhikari, Penelope Bern, and Isla Smith are all back for their second season on the court.
- Eighth graders Calum Dunbar, Henry Kiraly, Jun Murakami, and Kiernan Patel are the only returning players from last year’s undefeated varsity football team.
- The girls’ varsity soccer team returns a program-record eleven players this year, including three seventh graders, Violet Hancock, Colby Schneider, and Harper Treisman.
- Zeke Fine, Alexander Kiraly, Leeul Miteku, and Ethan Zipkin aspire to join the boys’ varsity soccer team for their final season on the BDS pitch.
- Laurice Bandar and Cordie Goldstyn highlight a talented group of eighth grade athletes returning for their final field hockey season with Head Coach Abbey Nyland.
- The cross country team will roster twenty-one athletes this fall, including newcomers Reema Wulfsberg and Jordan Levine, who switched sports this year.
