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 for week of Jan. 5, 2022.
When you are a long-distance runner, the name of the game is to be leading the pack when the finish line looms. For Central Bucks South senior Brianna Jucewicz, leading the way has a double meaning, an extra skill that is not lost on the team’s distance coach Lorretto Fantini, who has coached her in winter and spring track since her freshman year and cross country this past year. “She’s great to coach,” he said. “She has tons of great leadership. She has really stepped up as a leader, especially the last couple of years, like during COVID, by leading the team through everything. She really understands the fine nuances of the sport. She understands why we do what we do. She understands the training. She understands everything that goes into it, like sleep cycles and nutrition.”
A two-time captain, Jucewicz is a natural leader. Fantini’s greatest joy working with Jucewicz has been having a front-row seat for her maturation process as she improved her times and worked through injuries during her junior cross country season. Fantini calls Jucewicz the “backbone of the program” and credits her for creating a “culture of hard work.” “I’ve had the honor of coaching her for four years now, so I’ve really been able to see her grow and develop – not only through the sport, but as a person,” the Titans’ coach said. “It’s been a real pleasure to have the opportunity to coach her.”
What may have put the sport’s nuances into focus for Jucewicz was her decision to make it her main focus after making the decision to give up serious swimming (she still competes at “the little swim club around the corner” in the summer). The year-round dedication and success for Jucewicz – living by the motto to never give up – has paid dividends with the opportunity to compete at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. “I definitely think she has room to grow in college, but I think she has room to grow with going forward this season,” said Fantini. “She is going to break her PRs from last season. She broke them in cross country. She is close in indoor, and I’m sure she will outdoor. The training she is doing now is definitely at a new level. She is training harder and faster than she ever had. Once, she puts it all together and goes to the next level, she can definitely keep that going.”
More than her individual events, Jucewicz enjoys being part South’s lethal 4X800 relay team that is currently first in the state in the winter track season. “She’s a great teammate,” said Fantini, pointing out that she gave up the 3K at districts last year to run in the relay. “Brianna is a 3K and 5K runner, but she’s great when it comes to putting relays first.” Jucewicz relishes running the first leg of the relay that includes freshman Riley Rooney, junior Julia Pye and sophomore Bella Smouse. Rooney and Pye have been constant training partners as she fought her way back from a knee injury that was a setback her junior cross country season. “I’ve been lucky to have those two girls with me this whole season to train with,” said Jucewicz. “They have been pushing me. So, even though it’s an individual sport, they are always right there – behind me, or even right in front of me, and we always work together. We were able to place well in our dual meets. We took the top three spots almost every time.”
Overcoming that adversity only strengthened her resolve as a senior this past cross country season. “Definitely, in cross country, making states was really important in my senior year because I wanted to hit the goals that my junior year took away from me,” said Jucewicz, who was the SOL Patriot Division champion. Her success, according to Fantini, is as much mental as it physical. “She really understands the differences between each season,” he said. “She understands the volume of the cross country season, the training of the winter season and putting it all together and competing for the spring season. She can have goals and separate the seasons. They definitely don’t run together for her. She has varied goals for each season, which is great.”
An honors student with a 3.7 GPA and a member of the school’s Athletic Leadership Council (designed to bring attention to the school’s athletic teams, a difficult task in the COVID-era), Jucewicz is likely to major in Health Sciences with an eye on a career in physical or occupational therapy.
To read Jucewicz’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/brianna-jucewicz-0098349
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Jan. 5, 2022.
Evan McNeely gave early indications that basketball would be his sport of choice. After all, how many toddlers are developing their shooting skills almost as soon as they can walk. “When I was three or four, my grandparents would set up a trash can against the door, and that would be the basket, and I would be shooting around,” the Pennsbury senior said. “Literally, I was three or four, just standing up. Pretty much ever since I could walk it’s been basketball.” McNeely grew up watching basketball, and NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady was his favorite player. “I don’t know – it blew my mind – I was always so impressed how they could throw a ball from 20-30 feet away and put it in a two-foot wide hoop,” McNeely said. “That was just nuts to me. I would always impersonate my favorite players growing up, I guess just wanting to be like them.”
McNeely never lost his passion for basketball. These days, he is putting the ball through the “two-foot hoop” with regularity, and those early practices taking shots into a trash can – the senior captain is reaping the benefits. A 6-2 guard, McNeely is averaging over 19 points a game in the opening month of his final high school season for a Falcon team that is off to a strong start. A versatile offensive weapon, he can burn teams from just about anywhere on the court. “In a world of instant gratification, Evan is the opposite of a lot of people and has put work in on a consistent basis over time,” Pennsbury coach Bill Coleman said. “It takes a while to become successful and see your skill work pay off. Last year, he had a good year, but I think he would say it was inconsistent. So far with the start we’ve had, you can see the work he’s put in over the years starting to pay off.”
If scoring were all McNeely could do, he would have tremendous value, but he’s far more than just a scorer. That fact was underscored when Coleman – unable to attend a game in late December due a family emergency – watched the livestream of that contest.
“He is definitely a coach on the floor,” the Falcons’ coach said. “I saw that especially when I was out the other day and I was watching. You could hear him telling kids where to go, what to do, what play should be called next. You could hear him talking to all the guys on the floor. It was good to see. It’s not unexpected because I know he loves the game and how hard he works at it.” Coleman described McNeely as a lead-by-example type of person.
“He isn’t too vocal, but he’s more of a – ‘I’ll put the hardhat on, do the work and lead that way’ type of kid,” the Falcons’ coach said.
McNeely – who hopes to continue his basketball career at the collegiate level - brings more to the table than just outstanding basketball talent, he is also an excellent student, and he is keeping his options open. “I want to get a good education,” he said. “It would be really cool to go to a big basketball school on an academic scholarship and get to walk on their team, so there’s lots of opportunities that open up because of academics.” The Pennsbury senior plans to major in biology with his sights set on becoming a chiropractor. “I don’t want a job where I’m sitting in an office all day,” he said. “I want to do something where I’m more hands on, and I also want to do something where I’m helping others. I go to the chiropractor myself to help with aches and pains throughout the season, and it benefits me a lot, so I feel like kind of paying it forward and benefitting others in the same way.”
Off the hardwood, McNeely is active in student life. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society, and his schedule is filled with honors classes and – this semester – AP biology. Next semester he will be taking more AP classes. He is also involved in planning the school’s Mini-THON. For now, McNeely’s focus is on his final high school basketball season. “He’s a program guy, he grew up in our program and has contributed ever since his freshman year,” Coleman said. “He’s gotten better every year. He doesn’t question anything we’ve told him or suggested to him and what to work on and what to improve on year after year, and the results show. We have kids that will work hard, buy in, and if we have enough of them, we can do some damage, and Evan’s one of them. He’s definitely upped his game this year.”
To read McNeely’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/evan-mcneely-0098350
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