SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of April 7, 2016)
Monica Dresnin grew up with the dream of becoming the next Mia Hamm. “I used to love soccer,” the Plymouth Whitemarsh senior said. “She had a book, and in elementary school, I always remember I used to fight the kids because that was the book people wanted to read, and I would hold onto the book during library because I just loved Mia Hamm and I loved soccer.” By middle school, Dresnin’s childhood dream was little more than a distant memory as lacrosse moved to the fore after she began playing for Ultimate Lacrosse on the club circuit. “She was the kind of kid – she’s everything lacrosse,” said PW coach Ellen Reilly, who knew Dresnin was a special talent long before she entered high school. “I knew her through our Conshohocken Bulldogs program. She’s always throwing against the wall, always playing, always trying to get better.”
A four-year varsity player, the senior captain is the engine of a PW team with high expectations. “She sees the field, and that’s not something you can teach,” Reilly said. “She’s the leader of our team. Teams are sliding to her, they’re face guarding her. She’s got to be able to see the field, read it and give the ball up, and that’s what she’s been doing for us.” Last fall, Dresnin signed a letter on intent to play lacrosse at Rutgers University. Her journey has not been an easy one. In seventh grade, Dresnin suffered a torn ACL and meniscus during a rec league field hockey game. After a year of intense rehab, Dresnin was back on the soccer field playing for her eighth grade team when she went down again, this time suffering a partially torn ACL. “When it happened the second time – you kind of question it,” Dresnin said. “You question if it’s ever going to be the same.” After another extensive period of rehab, Dresnin was back on the field and was part of both the high school’s soccer and lacrosse teams as a freshman. As a sophomore, she made a verbal commitment to Rutgers, but one year later, Dresnin was back on the sidelines. “We’re not actually sure what it was,” she said. “I had to get it drained, the whole process – go through rehab just to make sure of everything. It was really tough.”
This year, Dresnin is back on the field and has been the catalyst of the Colonials strong start. “She’s a positive leader,” Reilly said. “She’s not that loud and vocal, but when she has to be, she is. The younger kids watch her, they wait for her to communicate with them. Even last year having to sit out, she was on the sidelines involved in the game, communicating with the kids and encouraging them. She’s such a good kid, and she’s worked so hard.”
To read Dresnin’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/monica-dresnin-0060973
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 7, 2016)
Norristown senior Terell Dale has yet to develop his speech as Class of 2016 salutatorian, but he knows his most sacred saying – “prove to yourself first and also to others that you are capable of the impossible and an achiever of the profound” – will be in there somewhere. He has lived it – on the baseball diamond, the classroom, as a Boy Scout one step away from Eagle Scout status and as a role model to others. It has not come without adversity. When Dale entered his sophomore season, he was feeling like most teens. He was feeling invincible. Following a summer of junior legion ball under the tutelage of Doc Bishop, the fleet outfielder was set to go. But fate had other plans. He sustained a lower back injury swinging the bat. Ignoring advice to shut it down for the season, he was determined to help his team the best he could. “I couldn’t run at that point,” he said. “That one of my best tools – my bread and butter as an outfielder. I became very limited as to what I could do.”
That summer, Dale let his back heal, and by the time his junior season rolled around, he was able to regain his form. A second team all-conference player, he was the Eagles’ MVP. “He is among the fastest players and has the strongest arm on the team,” Campbell said. “Our catcher, Charles Grello put it best when he said ‘I would hate to face him at the plate – he throws hard and comes at you from low, but he’s even scarier bearing down on a base, having to try and tag him because he just looks like an angry bull.’ Fortunately, he is one of the most gentlemanly players in our league who rarely gets angry or flustered.”
At the end of his junior senior, Dale was approached by Santi D’Orazio of the Philadelphia Reds, an elite 18-and-under baseball team for area players who stand out on the field and in the classroom. The Reds travel up and down the East Coast and have faced teams from Central and South America. One of the main goals for the Reds is to identify college programs for its players and make the connections. Dale narrowed his list to a pair of excellent academic schools – the University of Chicago and Swarthmore, which became his choice. He will focus on engineering but is not quite sure of the career specifics. “Dale is a fantastic young man,” Campbell said. “He has the greatest work ethic I have seen in a player both on the field and in the classroom. I look forward to hearing about him in future years because I know his future is going to be far greater and more beneficial to society than anything he will ever do on the baseball field.”
To read Dale’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/terell-dale-0060972
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