The 13th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard, America's greatest high school sports award tour, passed through New Jersey on Wednesday, June 6 to honor
Manasquan (N.J.) High School and its girls basketball team for winning a state championship and earning a high national ranking.
Having upended Franklin 72-60 in the
NJSIAA Tournament of Champions state championship contest, the 32-2 Warriors claimed Manasquan's third Tournament of Champions title in seven years, earned the No. 10 ranking in
MaxPreps' National Rankings and played their way into the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Writers' Poll at No. 13!
Photo By Precision Sports Entertainment
MaxPreps and the New Jersey Army National Guard joined forces in celebrating Manasquan girls basketball at the spring awards assembly held in the school's auditorium. Warrior athletic director Pete Cahill tipped off the celebration by introducing Manasquan's spring sports teams and then disseminated all of the spring awards to deserving Warrior student-athletes.
MaxPreps representative Ray Dungee then took the stage to highlight the girls basketball season and mentioned that Lisa Kukoda's club earned its fifth straight Group 2 state championship with the 12-point win over Franklin, the school's eighth state title overall. Dungee concluded his congratulatory message by informing the crowd that their Warrior basketball team finished No. 10 nationally out of 22,000 girls basketball teams ranked in MaxPreps' National Rankings. Dungee then introduced Staff Sergeant Angelo Martinez of the New Jersey Army National Guard, who spoke about the commitment to excellence the Warrior coaching staff has instilled in its girls basketball program.
SSG Martinez spoke briefly about commitment, dedication, hard work and perseverance, shared character traits of a state championship basketball team and the Army National Guard, before presenting the Army National Guard national ranking trophy and a nationally ranked rafter banner to Kukoda to the loud and proud cheers of Warrior fans in attendance. Kukoda was thrilled and humbled by the attention and thanked both the New Jersey Army National Guard and MaxPreps for recognizing her players nationally. It was a fantastic evening at Manasquan High School and a wonderful conclusion to the 2017-18 100-stop Tour of Champions. The TOC offers one final salute to the Manasquan girls basketball team for winning a state championship and for receiving an invitation to the Tour of Champions for the second time since 2015!
Click
here to view the Manasquan TOC photo gallery and for more information about the Basketball TOC, please visit the
MaxPreps Tour of Champions site.
Photo By Precision Sports Entertainment
Photo By Precision Sports Entertainment
