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 Dec. 17, 2014)
Roll back the calendar to the fall of 2011. Casey O’Neill was a newcomer at Upper Dublin High School after attending a private Catholic school in Wyncote for grade school. It could have been a rough transition, but it wasn’t. “Swimming made the transition so much easier,” the Upper Dublin senior said. “I knew a few people going to the school. The first day at lunch Emily Houser saw me walk into the cafeteria alone, and she ran over to me with her friend Joseph and said, ‘Come sit with us,’ and I sat with them the rest of the year. The only people I really knew were on the swim team. I had people to sit with at lunch that took me under their wings. I had people to laugh with after school. It was my first comfort level at high school, and I just branched out from there, which was really awesome.”
An impact swimmer from the outset, O’Neill went on to become a leader and is not only a captain of the Cardinals’ swimming team but is also the vice president of her senior class. She has been to states in swimming every year since she was a freshman. “When you come in as a freshman, it’s hard because there’s going to be a natural jealousy, but she was so unobtrusive about it, she was so low key about it,” coach Pat Redican said. “I think that freshman year was critical because she didn’t overwhelm anyone with – ‘Hey, look at me,’ but after two or three years of watching her swim – I had to use a tired image, but she’s like the Energizer bunny. She’s not a big girl, but you just wind her up, and boom, she goes. She swims distance, she swims all four strokes, she’ll swim the IM if we need her to. She’ll do anything we need her to do, and she just goes after it all the time. I think the other girls saw her and said, ‘She’s the real deal. She’s not only good – she works at it,’ and I think that probably is the big legacy for her that she’s taught our girls what the value of hard work can be.”
O’Neill is a member of the NHS executive board and also is a member of the school’s Student Council in addition to serving as a class officer. “She found her way very nicely at Upper Dublin,” Redican said. “Straight down the line – teachers, coaches and everybody seems to like her. It’s hard to say that without some qualification, but I really don’t know of one.” In her spare time, O’Neill volunteers at Gilda’s Club, a cancer support group. She was chosen to be a member of Upper Dublin’s British Exchange.
To read O’Neill’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/casey-oneill-0049374
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Dec. 17, 2014)
As the Christmas break approaches, Jason Caso is about as deeply immersed into the world of Wissahickon high School as any student on the Lower Gwynedd campus. The senior class president and captain of the wrestling team has a lot of excitement ahead in the coming months. After what he felt was a disappointing season on the football field as the Trojans went 2-8 and the offensive guard/middle linebacker struggled with a nagging hamstring injury, Caso is looking to reach 20 wins – he is already halfway there – on the mats at 220 pounds and reach as far as sectionals. This spring will not only yield the prom and commencement, but also an internship with HUP’s Gorman research Group in cardiology, and his college visits and decision. Carrying a weighted 4.81 GPA, his goal is to play Division III football at a school – such as the University of Chicago or Carnegie Mellon – that meets both his academic and athletic goals. It’s an exciting time for the Wissahickon senior.
At the wrestling banquet last year when coach Anthony Stagliano took to the podium to literally “pass the baton” by naming the captains for the current year, Caso immediately pointed to veteran wrestlers on the squad, predicting they would be tabbed to take the lead. Instead, after just one year of wrestling, he heard his own named called. “I have been coaching for over 30 years, and Jason Caso is one of my favorite wrestlers I have ever coached, and it has been an honor to coach him. He’s an amazing young man,” said Stagliano, who thanked football coach Jeff Cappa, who doubles as the wrestling team’s strength and conditioning coach, for encouraging football players to wrestle in the winter. “Jason never wrestled until last year,” Stagliano continued. “I knew he was a good athlete and football player, so I thought he could help our team, especially since we needed bigger kids.” Caso went on to earn a spot in districts. “I saw Jason’s work ethic and leadership skills enough so that I made him team captain,” Stagliano said. “Some thought it was a little odd naming a first year wrestler to be captain, but he was exactly the type of kid that you want as one of your leaders, and he has not let me or the team down as not only is he winning on the mat, he has been a great leader as well.”
Caso is not only involved in student government but also the National Honor Society, Spanish Honors Society, student tutoring, FANS Club and Wiss Pals (working with mentally challenged students).
To view Caso’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/jason-caso-0049393
- Log in to post comments
