Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Dec. 14, 2023)
Amy Ngo is a fierce competitor. That’s not unusual. Most standout athletes are, but if there’s a moment that underscores just how deep that desire to compete really is, it just might have been on Feb. 23, 2022, arguably the worst day of the Upper Dublin senior’s stellar basketball career. With six minutes remaining in her team’s District 1 6A playoff game at Pennsbury, the then sophomore guard went down after being fouled going to the basket. “I don’t really know anything about injuries,” Ngo said. “I felt something happen in my knee. I didn’t know what it was, but I felt my knee being out of place. I was in a lot of pain.” Pain was secondary to Ngo, who wanted a quick fix, asking trainer Katie Bartosik – affectionately known as Ms. B - to put her knee back in place.
“I knew that people could do that with shoulders and stuff, and I thought it was the same thing with the knee,” Ngo said. Even when it was clear that wasn’t a possibility, she wanted to go back in the game. “It was such a good game – we were the 12th seed, and they were the five seed,” Ngo said. “People thought we were going to lose by 20. I think we were up at that point.”
Upper Dublin did, in fact, have a 25-23 lead when Ngo went down and had led for the better part of the contest before falling 36-30. “Unfortunately, I remember that like it was yesterday,” UD coach Morgan Funsten said. “We were excited because she got fouled in a big moment, and we were excited that she was going to the line. It went from an excited moment to hands on the head. I still remember as her knee was dislocated - her asking the paramedics if she could go back in the game.” It’s a moment that tells you all you need to know about the talented guard. Ngo is a competitor, plain and simple. The injury turned out to be a tear of just about everything possible in Ngo’s knee, but the pain and discomfort she was feeling after it happened were secondary to her unwavering desire to get back on the court and compete. That has never changed.
One year and 10 months later, that competitive fire still burns. In a recent game against perennial 4A power Scranton Prep, Ngo came up with a steal and was fouled going to the basket. With 4.8 seconds remaining, she sank the second of two, propelling the Cardinals to the dramatic 31-30 win. Hours later, sleep was far from Ngo’s mind. “I’m still really excited about it,” she said. And that’s Amy Ngo, a player who loves and respects the game, playing with a passion that is impossible to miss to even the most casual observer. “I always said I’d love to get players who care as much as our coaching staff does, and now I’m trying to keep up with Ame, caring about everything as much as she does,” Funsten said. “It’s very refreshing these days to find athletes like this.”
With a mother – Jen Zenszer - who excelled in basketball and was inducted into the Halls of Fame of Bishop McDevitt High School, La Salle University as well as the Big 5, Ngo acknowledges she was all but born with a basketball in her hands. She was a starter at UD since she set foot on the court as a freshman. Although sidelined for close to a year, Ngo returned to the court last January and committed to continue her basketball career at Holy Family University. These days, Ngo is focused on her final high school season. “It definitely is hitting home,” Ngo said. “I’m coming into every game with the mentality that this is my last year, this is my senior year – no games are being taken lightly.” The injury has forever altered Ngo’s perspective. “I tell everyone – I have so much more appreciation for playing,” she said. “I would see some of my teammates be like – I don’t feel like practicing today. I’m like – at least we get to practice.”
An excellent student, Ngo plans to major in accounting. “I don’t know where that’s going to take me,” she said. “My mom majored in accounting, and now she’s an FBI agent. There’s a lot of different routes I can go with it, so we’ll see where it takes me.” Holy Family, according to Funsten, is inheriting a special player. “Their coaching staff seems to truly care about her, and that’s something that’s important to her,” the UD coach said. “She doesn’t have the personality of someone who’s going to be at four colleges in five years. This girl is very loyal to the people in her life, and that’s something that makes her really special. I couldn’t be happier for her.”
To read Ngo’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/amy-ngo-00110233
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Dec. 14, 2023)
You can say what you want about North Penn senior diver Brady Stanton, but the Yale-bound defending state title holder is not afraid to speak his mind. He went into last year’s state meet as a contender, but not necessarily the odds-on favorite. After capturing the crown, he immediately went away from the form of the average “golly gee willikers” response while being interviewed to one that was so poignant that it seemed rehearsed. However, since he couldn’t have known the moment was coming, Stanton could not have had this Gettysburg Address ready. While one would need a Diving to English Dictionary to fully comprehend his angst, the bottom line was that the PIAA showed a lack of respect for the sport by dumbing it down to level the playing field (going from 11 dives to 6 dives) for divers not from the hot beds (Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh area).
As much as North Penn diving coach Kyle Goldbacher was impressed with what his then-junior had done to win the gold medal, he was just as much in awe of the composure it took to use the moment to make his point. “Brady was very adamant about wanting to represent the opinion of the overwhelming number of divers and coaches, which was that it was a disservice to the sport to institute these changes,” he said. “It was like the perfect storm. He won the meet. They had a post-meet interview, where they bring in a camera and a microphone, and he belted out this rant that was iconic. It went semi-viral, at least within the diving and the swimming world. He was really well-spoken.”
While the change back to the way it was cannot be completely credited to Stanton, he played a big part in it. “There are a whole host of reasons why they went back to the 11-dive competition this year, but he is sort of like the poster boy,” said Goldbacher. “People credit him for speaking up.” While Stanton kind of laughs about it now, he is proud to have been a part of the change back to the way it was. “I think it was one of the big reasons,” he said. “A lot of coaches also emailed and tried talking to the PIAA officials. I can’t say that I was the only reason, but it’s good that we got it changed back.”
Stanton believes his foundation in gymnastics gave him a strong foundation in diving. “Gymnastic to diving is a pretty common thing that happens with a lot of athletes,” he said. “Most divers, and some of the best, have come from gymnastics.” In his freshman year, the COVID year, the state field was limited. The next year, as a sophomore, he went to states and finished 11th. Last year, as a junior, he placed first. Aside from the infamous speech, the maturation from a gymnast to a state diving champion who will be competing at the college level was not by accident. “He grew up a lot, just over the course of last year,” said Goldbacher. “He’s gotten stronger. He’s gotten faster. He’s gotten more confident. He did some Junior Olympic competitions over the summer and qualified for nationals. And he went through the college application process and came out shining, with acceptance to Yale University, his top choice. Everything he has been working for, everything that he has had his sights set upon, have come to fruition for him. While it has given him a lot of confidence, it hasn’t gone to his head. He remains a very humble and diligent worker. He is extremely intelligent, both in the classroom and the diving board.”
Diving takes up a lot of his time, as he also trains at Germantown Academy, but he is still deeply involved with North Penn’s Latin Club. Stanton credits Latin for helping him with achieving nearly perfect SAT scores and a crazy high GPA. Still, though, he had to kind of wait it out for the situation at Yale to fall into place. While he got into the school, a rare spot on the diving team – coached by Lindsay Lordache -- was not guaranteed. “I emailed Lindsay immediately after states last year,” said Stanton. “It was really just luck that she still had a spot. I kept up with emails. I talked to her on the phone a couple of times. She is just an amazing person. Everyone on the team there loves her. That was the biggest part in choosing Yale. The team was amazing, and so was Lindsay. As soon as she said she had a spot, I said, ‘Yep, I’ll take it.’ To be able to dive there and be part of that team while getting such a good education, I consider myself very lucky.”
To read Stanton’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/brady-stanton-00110231
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