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 March 3, 2016)
To the outside observer, Maddie Villalba may have seemed to be doing well during the indoor track season this winter, but the Central Bucks West senior didn’t share those sentiments. “I had been dissatisfied with my performances this winter,” she said. “Instead of focusing on my times, I was racing other people instead of focusing on myself and running my best race.” But all that changed in what may have been – to date at least – the race of her life. Villalba brought home the gold in the 800 meters at the recent 2016 PTFCA Indoor State Championships, outlasting Gabby Wilkinson of Friends Central. “When it was over, it was a great feeling, 
knowing there was nothing else I could have done to win that race,” she said. Pushing each other to the photo finish, Villalba came away with the second best scholastic indoor time in the 800 in the entire nation. “The times were all very fast,” Villalba said. “So it makes me very excited about the outside (spring) season.”
Villalba’s excitement is tempered by knowing it will be the final lap of a career that has seen consistent success in cross country in which she has medaled all four years, and she also has brought home springtime gold in the 800 and 4x400 relay events. Kiki Bell – who has coached Villalba in both cross country and track – finds herself at a loss for words to describe the senior standout’s impact. “It’s hard to gather thoughts about someone so unbelievably special knowing that there is only one season left,” Bell said. “Probably the largest statement I can make about Maddie that is entirely sincere is that if I can raise my two daughters in a way that makes them even in the tiniest way like her when they get older, I would be the happiest mom.” High praise, for sure, but it speaks to how much more Villalba is than just a young woman who happens to run fast and gets good enough grades to choose the likes of the University of Penn over Vanderbilt and Maryland. “Maddie is someone that anyone would be very lucky to know,” Bell said. “She is a gritty athlete, for sure. Gritty tenacious – all of those words apply. But she is also very cerebral. She studies the sport, her competitors, race strategy.”
Villalba treasures the relationship she has built with Bell and the rest of the coaching staff – including weight-lifting guru Kevin “Mr. Munns” Munnelly and 1968 silver medalist Erv Hall. While running is important in Villalba’s life, music is its fraternal twin. She has been playing classical piano since kindergarten but has also added an interest in jazz, playing in the school’s jazz band. She plans to minor in music while also enrolling in the school of engineering with an undetermined major at Penn.
To read Villalba’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/maddie-villalba-0060102
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of March 3, 2016)
There are three benches on the playground at Holland Elementary School, and at first glance, they look like ordinary benches. In fact, they’re anything but ordinary. The three benches – with the words ‘Buddy Benches’ engraved on the back - were the brainchild of Council Rock South senior Matt O’Donnell, himself once a student at Holland Elementary. “They’ve done a lot for me, so I just wanted to give back to the school for what they did for me,” said O’Donnell, the captain of Rock South’s swim team. When it came time for O’Donnell to do his Eagle Scout project, he came up with the idea of building the buddy benches, which ensure that all students will feel part of the action during recess. “It kind of goes along with the four pillars of character they have at Holland Elementary School – respect, responsibility, cooperation and sportsmanship,” O’Donnell said. “The purpose behind them is so kids could make more friends and be included in recess so they’re not left out. I hate bullying and when kids are left out.” The culmination of the project came when O’Donnell – in his full Boy Scout uniform – addressed the students at a special assembly, explaining the purpose behind the benches.
Coach George Eastburn is not surprised to see his senior captain giving back to his elementary school. “He definitely represents the team well,” the Golden Hawks’ first-year coach said. “We have locker room meetings before meets, and he does a good job of getting the boys ready for a meet – he gets them revved up. He’s good on the pool deck. He’s very good at organizing and maintaining order and helping the underclassmen, getting them up to speed and things like that.” O’Donnell has been a major contributor to the team since he set foot on deck as a freshman, earning a trip to districts in each of his four years on the squad and as a junior qualified for states in the 100 breaststroke. He played a key role in the team’s success in the SOL National Conference this year. “He usually places first in the breaststroke, and he’s usually first in the 50 free,” Eastburn said. “He’s also a very strong freestyler. Matt is definitely naturally talented, and he’s a hard worker. He works hard at practice.”
O’Donnell has signed a letter of intent to take his talents to Bloomsburg University. He chose Bloomsburg from a final list that included Arcadia and Wilkes. He plans to major in exercise science. “I visited all of them, and once I visited Bloomsburg and spent time with the team, I knew that was the school I had to be at,” O’Donnell said. “The way the team bonds and gets along, and I just loved the campus.” The team theme is a familiar one for O’Donnell. “I wouldn’t trade my teammates for anything,” he said. “I’ve made a great bunch of friends over the past four years. Yes, winning is great, but with this team, I’d be fine with losing too.”
To read O’Donnell’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/matt-odonnell-0060103
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