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The feature film 'Trinity's Triumph' is a priest's narrative of sacrifice and joy: 'Human side' of it all
It has been said by great theologians — in one way or another — that to truly know yourself, you must first learn to know God.
The great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “There is no self-understanding without God-understanding.”
God made us. He knows how everything fits together. And more importantly, He holds the key to our purpose in life. That is the underlying current of a new feature-length movie about three young seminarians, the closest of friends, as they set out on what the film says is “an extraordinary odyssey to answer the highest of calls.”
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In “Trinity’s Triumph,” two of the seminarians are composite characters — young men who represent the variations of personalities in seminary. But one is not.
Father Joe is the avatar of Father Stephen Fichter, pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Wyckoff, New Jersey.
The film “Trinity’s Triumph” could be the first movie about priests actually written by a priest. (iStock)
He developed the story and wrote the screenplay based on his journey to his ordination.
The film could be the first movie about priests actually written by a priest.
Says Fichter, “I felt very strongly in my own vocation to the priesthood that God was calling more young people to serve him.”
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He said he wanted to “make a movie that would be attractive to the modern generation.”
“He said, ‘I see what you’re trying to do. I think it’s wonderful.’”
Film is certainly a good way to attract a younger generation, evidenced by the media attention given to the Catholic conversion of actor Shia LaBeouf.
But Fichter’s film was a 25-year journey that started while he was studying in Rome. He talked about the sojourn on a recent episode of “Lighthouse Faith” podcast.
Instead of one seminarian’s journey, Zeffirelli thought the film would make a better movie if told the story of three young men. (iStock)
“The original title was ‘Daring to Be Different,’ and it was the story of this one young man, and his journey … trying to respond to the call, trying to be generous to God and the sacrifice they had to make along the way.”
Along the journey, Fichter got some remarkable help. While in the eternal city, a friend of his was able to get the amateur screenplay in front of award-winning Italian director Franco Zeffirelli.
Fichter says, “I thought, you know, why not give it a try? Well, he loved it!”
Zeffirelli, said Fichter, “really thought I had a great idea. And he invited me to his villa on the outskirts of Rome, and we were there. It was a Sunday afternoon. And he was just absolutely delightful. He said, ‘I see what you’re trying to do. I think it’s wonderful.’”
Italian director Franco Zeffirelli is shown in 1970. He mentored Fichter and helped him shape his film “Trinity’s Triumph.” (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content)
Zeffirelli — who died in 2019 at age 96 — mentored Fichter and suggested a major change to the story.
Instead of one seminarian’s journey, he thought it would make a better movie if were about about three young men.
The next big-name contribution came while Fichter was serving as pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Haworth, New Jersey. A parishioner who wrote books asked him about a Scripture she was looking for to add to a story (this was before online search engines became the norm). He happily helped her.
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Turns out the parishioner was the bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, the highest paid woman novelist.
Before her death in 2020, she wrote 51 books, each one a bestseller.
Said Fichter, “When I first met her, I had no idea who she was. She was at daily Mass during Lent … She was just another parishioner in the pews.”
Fichter was able to cross that hurdle of “Is this good enough?” and then had to deal with the difficulty of getting it produced.
Higgins Clark also helped shape the screenplay and gave it little more personality.
She and others also advised those working on it not to avoid the elephant in the room, which was the sexual abuse crisis burgeoning in Boston and what we now know as a worldwide issue.
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But Fichter was able to cross that hurdle of “Is this good enough?” and then had to deal with the difficulty of getting it produced.
He told “Lighthouse Faith,” “Once I felt like I had that affirmation and that approval and that support and encouragement from, you know, two really amazing storytellers in our world, I decided, How can I get this made?”
Hollywood is a strange animal. To get a good actor to play your lead, the potential artist usually wants to know who the director is. To get a good director, he or she wants to know who your lead actor is. To get financing, people want to know who the actor and director are.
As difficult as it was for Fichter to get his film made, he had friends who were willing to invest. (Joshua Comins/Fox News)
This merry-go-round can be endless.
Luckily, Fichter had friends who were willing to invest. It was low budget, just half a million dollars — hardly the catering bill for a blockbuster film.
Then, through more connections, he was able to snag A-list actor Joe Morton (“Speed,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”) to play the lead character, Monsignor Heck, around whom the entire movie pretty much revolves.
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Heck is the veteran seminary professor who challenges each of his students to go beyond knowing about God and take the plunge to actually knowing God.
He challenges the seminarians in the exact area where they’re blind to their own weaknesses. One seminarian’s superior intellect and theological knowledge put him far above his other classmates. But his failings came as he ignored the longings of his heart, believing that knowledge about God would be a talisman against temptation. It was not.
It is Heck who must deal with the fallout of an abusive priest.
It is Heck who must deal with the fallout of an abusive priest.
It is Heck who must debate a young priest struggling to understand why the Catholic Church doesn’t allow them to marry and have children as in the Eastern rite or Orthodox churches permit.
“What we’re trying to show in the movie is the human side to the priesthood,” said Father Stephen Fichter of New Jersey. (iStock)
It is Heck who, in the end, makes the audience feel honor and respect toward the priesthood; something that Hollywood hasn’t done since the days when Bing Crosby played Father O’Malley in 1945’s “The Bells of St. Mary.”
Says Fichter, “What we’re trying to show in the movie is the human side to the priesthood. Yes, it’s a calling from God. And it’s something that the church discerns as a community and then the individual discerns … and we try to show those sacrifices of not having a wife and a family and, you know, some of that loneliness that sets in.”
Each found that God’s grace, truth and mercy would always be their strength.
To know God is experiential. Sometimes it’s the weeping in the night, the falling to the knees from the weight of life’s struggles.
It is coming to the end of your human strength and only then knowing the only real thing you have in this life is the God who created you.
A priest is taught this. A good priest knows it and lives it out daily.
At the end of “Trinity’s Triumph,” each seminarian is on a different path. One drops out before being ordained. One leaves after taking his vows. And only one, Father Joe (Fichter), is a priest.
But all triumphed, though, because in their pursuit of this “highest of callings,” each found that God’s grace, truth and mercy would always be their strength.
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The Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame’s 42nd annual induction banquet will be held Sunday, June 7, at Mohegan Pennsylvania, where 10 new inductees will take their place among the region’s greatest athletes across all sports.
The inductees are: Bree Bednarski, Brianna Pizzano and Frank Redmond, graduates of Wyoming Area; Allie Barber, Pittston Area; Ed Keil, West Side Vocational-Technical School; Joseph Kemmerer, Crestwood; Karen Krysiewski Day, Wyoming Valley West; Addy Malatesta, Berwick Area; Bobby Sura, Wilkes-Barre GAR; and Eddie White, III, Bishop Hoban.
The hall will also present the following honors: Neil Corbett, founding member of The Citizens’ Voice and its longtime sports editor, will receive the Media Award; Mary Kelly, Hazleton Area’s winningest field hockey coach, will receive the Tracey Tribendis “Profile of Courage” Award; and Jeffrey Swire, co-founder and president of Patriots Cove, will receive the Sam Falcone Community Service Award.
Additionally, the hall will recognize this year’s scholar-athletes — Tucker Blasi of Sullivan County, Addisyn Bly of Wyalusing Valley, Joseph Mayernik of MMI Prep — and Evelyn Sheer of Hazleton Area, winner of the HERizon Award, presented to the most outstanding female wrestler in the Wyoming Valley Conference.
“The Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame has been busy in recent weeks presenting scholarships to graduating high school seniors, donating supplies and funds to community organizations and making all preparations that need to be in place for this year’s banquet,” said James T. Martin, Jr., president. “It promises to be a fun night of camaraderie and appreciation for some of the men and women who have greatly impacted local and national sports over the past few decades.”
Inductees
• Allie Barber
A Pittston native, Barber played a key role in major team successes in multiple sports in high school and college. She developed her athletic foundation at an early age through constant exposure to sports alongside her family.
Barber scored a Pittston Area record 159 career goals in soccer and was a 2013 Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association all-state selection. She also led the Patriots to the District 2 Class 3A championship. In basketball, she scored over 1,000 career points and won a district title. She also competed in track and field for three seasons at Pittston Area, which won a district title in that sport, as well.
Barber continued her soccer career at Bloomsburg University, where she appeared in every game, recorded 19 goals and 20 assists and started the final 59 consecutive contests of her career. She was part of teams that won a regular-season title, a conference championship, an Atlantic Regional title and made the Elite Eight. She also played one season of basketball.
While at Bloomsburg, Barber was named a United Soccer Coaches second-team All-American and a first-team Scholar All-American. She also earned the school’s Eleanor Wray Senior Female Athlete of the Year award.
• Bree Bednarski
One of the Wyoming Valley’s most accomplished multi-sport athletes, Bednarski established herself as one of the nation’s premier field hockey players while also excelling in softball and track and field.
Bednarski concluded her remarkable field hockey career at Wyoming Area with 127 goals and 37 assists, setting program records for goals in a game, season and career. Her 67-goal senior season in 2015 set a state record and earned her Wyoming Valley Conference Player of the Year honors from The Citizens’ Voice. She was also a three-time all-state selection and member of the U.S. U17 national team. Bednarski continued her collegiate career at the University of Michigan and Penn State.
In addition to her field hockey success, Bednarski was an all-state softball player and was named the Times Leader’s 2016 WVC Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. In that postseason, she won four medals at the District 2 championships — gold in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 4×100 relay and silver in the javelin.
As Bednarski’s playing career ended, her coaching career began. She was named Wyoming Area’s head field hockey coach in 2022 and has led her Alma mater to new heights, including multiple district and WVC championships.
• Ed Keil
Keil’s life in golf is a story of service and lasting impact, beginning at West Side Vocational-Technical School. Keil was a golf captain and team MVP at West Side Tech before serving in the U.S. Air Force, where he competed on the golf team at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
Returning home in 1978, Keil began working as the golf course superintendent at Lehman Golf Club and enrolled at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, where he obtained a degree in engineering while continuing to work.
Keil was named Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s head golf coach in 1988, beginning a historic career that has included 38 years at the helm with 51 tournament victories and eight conference championships. In 2025, he was named head golf coach at Penn State Hazleton while continuing his duties at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Between the two programs, he has coached 137 all-conference or all-state golfers and 195 academic all-conference selections. He has also coached bowling at Penn State Wilkes-Barre.
Beyond coaching, Keil built a parallel legacy in golf operations and instruction as a superintendent and instructor. He has also won more than 100 individual and team tournaments as a golfer, including two club championships at Lehman Golf Club.
• Joseph Kemmerer
Kemmerer was introduced to wrestling at age 6 at the Wilkes-Barre YMCA. In addition to making lifelong friends at an early age, Kemmerer learned skills and techniques that set the foundation for a long and successful career in a sport that influenced virtually every aspect of his life in some way.
Kemmerer wrestled at Crestwood High School. As a senior, he went undefeated (38-0) and won the 2004 PIAA Class 3A state championship at 119 pounds. He also won three District 2 championships and graduated with a 102-7 record.
Following high school, Kemmerer first attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was the Southern Conference champion at 125 pounds as a freshman. He transferred to Kutztown University, where he won two NCAA Division II national championships and compiled a 60-4 record. Kemmerer furthered his education at Liberty University, where he served as a graduate assistant coach while training and ultimately competing on an international stage.
Kemmerer remains involved in the sport. He runs a successful wrestling club — Nova Wrestling Club — that has won championships in folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman.
• Karen Krysiewski Day
A standout swimmer at the high school and collegiate levels, Krysiewski Day’s competitive swimming career began at the Wilkes-Barre YMCA. Soon, she entered the USA swimming circuit with the newly formed FAST Swim Club and emerged as an elite distance swimmer.
After helping Wyoming Valley West win four consecutive District 2 girls swimming team championships — and graduating as the program record-holder in six events with four individual district gold medals as a senior — Krysiewski Day matriculated to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
At UNC, Krysiewski Day competed under legendary coach Frank Comfort and she transitioned into the grueling world of collegiate long-distance swimming. She remembers this as one of the most challenging and transformative periods of her life. She was a member of two ACC championship teams. She graduated in 1999, carrying into her professional life the discipline and integrated approach to wellness that she developed as a Tar Heel.
• Adelene Addy Malatesta
Malatesta has dedicated nearly five decades to education, coaching and athletic leadership, leaving a lasting impact on student-athletes at Wilkes University and across Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond.
Malatesta was a standout student-athlete at Berwick Area High School, where her coaches served as significant influences. Malatesta’s basketball coach, Joan Voveris, was an accomplished musician and teacher. Her field hockey coach, Dr. Betty Henry, rose to the title of superintendent of Berwick Area schools. Her softball coach, Paul Stenko, was a former Chicago Bear who returned home to teach and coach.
Malatesta pursued a degree from Slippery Rock University before returning to Berwick as a teacher and coach. She guided Berwick’s field hockey program in 1981 to a PIAA District 4 championship while also earning a master’s degree from East Stroudsburg University.
After coaching and teaching at SUNY Potsdam, Malatesta returned home in 1989 as head field hockey coach at Wilkes. Over 14 seasons, her teams won 140 games and multiple conference titles. She also served 23 years as Wilkes’ director of athletics, overseeing major facility enhancements and the growth of the athletic department to 23 varsity sports.
Malatesta is a member of both the Wilkes and Berwick Area Athletic Halls of Fame.
• Brianna Pizzano
Pizzano began playing tennis at age 3, taking her first lesson at Kingston Indoor Tennis Club. She quickly demonstrated the ability to compete beyond her age and was playing in — and winning — local and regional tournaments by age 8.
At Wyoming Area, Pizzano competed in both tennis and softball. She won two District 2 championships as a freshman and sophomore in singles play as a Warrior. In softball, she was an all-state shortstop who posted a .457 batting average as a junior; her senior season was canceled due to COVID-19.
Pizzano continued her tennis career at Misericordia University, where she was named MAC Freedom Player of the Year in all four seasons. She was also recognized as the conference’s Senior Scholar-Athlete and ranked No. 36 among the university’s top athletes of the century. She won conference championships in singles and doubles play and lost only once in regular-season play throughout her career.
She remains actively involved in the sport she loves, providing private tennis instruction to children and adults of all ages.
• Frank Redmond
Having been introduced to track and field as a seventh-grade student at Wyoming Area, Redmond soon captured a junior high championship that set the tone for an impressive high school and collegiate career.
Redmond recorded three top-10 finishes for the Warriors at the District 2 Cross Country Championships. On the track, he steadily improved each season and his achievements included qualifying for the PIAA state championships in the 800-meter race as a junior.
Redmond continued his running career at Misericordia University, where he took a significant step forward. He was named Misericordia’s Most Valuable Player four times in cross country and three times in track. He earned All-America honors in 2010 with a fifth-place finish in the 800-meter race at the NCAA Division III national championships. He earned 20 All-MAC honors across indoor and outdoor track and was a six-time All-ECAC selection. Following graduation, Redmond served as a graduate assistant coach at Misericordia while completing his master’s degree and competing in regional road races.
• Bobby Sura
A native of Wilkes-Barre, Sura is among the most decorated high school, collegiate and professional basketball players to ever come out of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Sura’s GAR Grenadiers won three District 2 championships in four years and advanced to the PIAA state championship game his junior and senior seasons. As a senior, he averaged 34 points per game and was named the Associated Press Small School Player of the Year in Pennsylvania. He scored a GAR record 2,468 points.
From GAR, Sura enrolled at Florida State and was named the ACC Rookie of the Year as a freshman. As a sophomore, he scored 19.9 points per game and helped the Seminoles make the Elite Eight. He remains Florida State’s all-time leader in career points and minutes played.
The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Sura in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft. He competed in the 1996 All-Rookie Game, the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest and the 2000 Three-Point Contest. He retired after 10 seasons in the NBA, recording 5,654 points, 2,474 assists and 2,240 rebounds.
In 1999, Times Leader readers participated in a poll that ranked Sura the No. 6 local athlete of the century. In 2002, The Citizens’ Voice ranked Sura as the No. 2 athlete of all-time from the Wyoming Valley. He was inducted in 2003 into the Florida State Athletics Hall of Fame.
• Eddie White III
White’s prolific and distinguished career has been defined by a deep-rooted passion for sports, shaped in the Wyoming Valley as a graduate of Bishop Hoban High School and Wilkes University.
After graduating from Wilkes, where he worked as an undergraduate with the school’s athletic office, newspaper and radio station, White served his Alma mater as a full-time director of sports information. White quickly rose through the ranks of sports communications and marketing, working for major brands and organizations in college and professional athletics, including Notre Dame and the Miami Dolphins.
White moved to Indiana, working for the sportswear company Logo 7/Logo Athletic. He was eventually hired by the first all-sports radio station in Indianapolis — ESPN The Fan — and hosted its afternoon drive show while also working numerous Super Bowls and then landing at Pacers Sports and Entertainment. He has worked the last 15 years for the NBA’s Pacers and WNBA’s Fever in various media and public relations capacities and he currently hosts Pacers Overtime, the team’s postgame radio show.
White’s grandfather, Eddie White, Sr., the legendary Wilkes-Barre Barons basketball coach, was inducted into the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.
Rhode Island
Liz McGraw Cries Revealing Unaired Details From Her and Jo-Ellen’s RHORI Clash (EXCLUSIVE) | Bravo
For anyone wondering if Liz McGraw is still reeling from her clash with Jo-Ellen Tiberi on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, she is, ma. In fact, Liz even broke down into tears while revealing unaired details from their Episode 10 fight on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show.
Although the core drama that ignited during a car ride to South Boston was actually between Liz and Alicia Carmody, Jo-Ellen inadvertently entered the fray by trying to mediate their conflict. Even after they arrived for Rosie DiMare’s husband Rich DiMare’s Frank Sinatra-themed dinner show, Jo-Ellen’s peacekeeping efforts continued to rub Liz the wrong way, culminating with them sparring before, during, and after the performance.
“She’s yelling at me and simultaneously trying to fix my face,” Liz recalled. “Get your f–kin’ hand off me … It’s actually burning a hole through me. I don’t feel the love from your hand right now, or good intentions.”
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Appearing to become emotional, Liz added, “I think, at the time, with all the s–t I was going through, my heart really just couldn’t handle it. That’s the truth. I just wanted away from it. I was steaming.”
After returning to her home in Rhode Island, Liz admitted that she’d “rage texted” Jo-Ellen, however. “I was just so mad,” she explained.
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Ultimately, Liz chalked up her explosive reaction to the fact that nobody seemed to understand where she was coming from as they debated whether or not Alicia was ever actually “homeless” during her childhood.
From Liz’s point of view, the term “homeless” implied that she was living “on the street,” which she felt was insulting to Alicia’s “big, beautiful family” that opened their doors when her father sold their home and “abandoned” her and her mother. Either way, Liz previously insisted during Episode 9 that she wasn’t trying to be “insensitive,” but rather, she simply wanted to protect Alicia’s family members, whom she’d known her whole life.
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“I don’t know. I just really wanted to be, like, understood,” Liz tearfully added on the RHORI After Show.
When a producer asked why she was getting so upset, Liz elaborated, “Um… I know the way it looks. I know that this looks like I demand this absolute loyalty s–t. I don’t. I don’t need anyone’s loyalty. Just stop f–king with me. That’s it.”
She continued, “My harsh nature makes it easy to say … I’m like the attacker or something. But, like, I really don’t mean to be. I’m not trying to be the heavy-hitter, I’m not trying to, like, get karma on people. I’m not trying to do any of those things. I’m literally just trying to, like, survive and feel OK.”
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Jo-Ellen, for her part, doubled down on the After Show that she was simply “trying to deescalate the situation” between Liz and Alicia. She couldn’t help but remember how Liz had referred to her as “the devil” and “a demon,” however.
When Alicia, meanwhile, questioned why she’d let Liz speak to her that way, especially when she’s usually “so strong with everybody else,” Jo-Ellen explained, “Because I care about her and because I want her friendship … We have fun when we have fun. And then when she turns that switch, it’s turned.”
During their meetup at the end of Episode 10, however, Jo-Ellen and Liz were unable to work through their issues. In a separate RHORI After Show clip, Jo-Ellen echoed her earlier comments about caring about the friendship, while Liz opened up more about their dynamic and why their initial reconciliation attempt had failed.
“Every time we have these fights, this is what ends up happening,” Liz said. “She’ll do something really f–ked up to me … And when I react or retaliate or say ugly things back, she will become the victim and be like, ‘You really hurt my feelings with that.’”
She added, “If you didn’t do it, there would be no feelings to be hurt, like, you know what I mean? And she rapid-fired these insults at me that I was not prepared for at all. I thought we were, like, trying to, like, work it out. But what did you expect from what you were just saying to me? I’m ‘so mean and nasty.’ I don’t hear that often. But do I feel the need to defend myself when it comes my way? Yeah.”
As Liz concluded, “I think I show how much I care by being hurt. I want you to understand me. I want you to understand where I’m coming from. But I think I am learning that people don’t have to understand me all the time. You know, I’m like, whatever. I am who I am.”
As you wait to see if Liz and Jo-Ellen can repair their friendship, don’t miss a sneak peek at more drama ahead in the RHORI midseason trailer.
The 2026 individual Vermont High School tennis tournaments concluded on Sunday, May 31 with a quartet of first-time winners.
Both girls match-ups went to a third set tiebreak with Essex senior Hannah Knickerbocker capturing her elusive title. Burlington High School swept the boys singles and doubles tournaments becoming the first school to accomplish that feat since St. Johnsbury did it in 2019.
Read on below for a recap from both tournaments’ finals.
Hannah Knickerbocker upsets top-seed in final; while Stowe’s freshman tandem wins doubles
In the last two individual tournaments, Hannah Knickerbocker advanced to the semifinals before her run ended there. This past offseason, Knickerbocker spent a lot more time honing her tennis skills. With a stronger tennis IQ, Knickerbocker cruised into the finals with a trio of straight set wins.
“Consistency and shot choice,” Knickerbocker said. “I think I improved with knowing when to go for a win and when not too.”
There Knickerbocker earned a match with No. 1 seeded Anna Dauerman from Champlain Valley, the 2024 champion and last year’s runner-up. The match was competitive with Knickerbocker winning a three-set thriller 6-4, 4-6, 10-8, becoming the first female Hornet to win an individual title since 2007.
The skills Knickerbocker worked on in the offseason paid off in her match against Dauerman.
“Anna’s a really hard fighter so a lot of balls come back and if you go for too much on the wrong one then she would beat you,” Knickerbocker said.
This is Knickerbocker’s fifth state title overall after winning the Division I girls volleyball championships all four years of high school. The 2024 Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year in volleyball is pivoting to a stronger focus on tennis. Knickerbocker will be playing Division I tennis at the University of New Haven starting next school year.
While Knickerbocker saw this part of her career end on a high note, the doubles champions of India Freund and Belle Gaines from Stowe hope to usher in a new wave of tennis talent. The freshmen tandem, partnered up for the first time this season for the individual tournament and won three straight matches to reach the final.
Then in the championship, Freund and Gaines took down Champlain Valley’s tandem of Sara DiGuglielmo and Justyna Amblo in three sets, 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 12-10. The duo built on the momentum they gained from their three-set victory over Essex’s team into May 31’s final.
“We both like high-pressure situations, so maybe that’s what we needed to play our best tennis,” Freund said.
Freund and Gaines are great friends on and off the court who play tennis together all year around making this a tandem a formidable duo. Freund and Gaines showed maturity after getting crushed in the second set to squeeze out the win in the tiebreaker.
“It was really impressive of us to not get in our heads and it did for a bit,” Gaines said.
Burlington sweeps the boys singles and doubles finals
The boys tennis had some drama with rain forcing an interruption of the matches’ at Leddy Park to drive over to the The EDGE Sports & Fitness in Essex. Still the pause (that was almost two hours for the double players) did not affect the players in the lead.
No. 3 Niah LeMay held a 4-2 lead in set 1 entering the weather related intermission against teammate and top-ranked Oscar Crainich. LeMay did not let the pause phase him or interrupt his momentum.
“Just a lot of deep breaths and tried not to think about it,” LeMay said. “I turned on the radio and listened to some music.”
The sophomore bested his teammate in straight sets with a 6-3, 7-5 victory. In his run to the title, LeMay knocked off the top-two seeds. The only set he has lost all season came against No. 2 Charles Young from Middlebury in the semifinals. LeMay brought the energy with passionate bursts of emotion after nailing a tough shot.
LeMay becomes the first male Seahorse to win an individual title since 2004. It’s the first time since 2015 that the singles final featured two members from the same school. LeMay and Crainich have been rotating between the No. 1 and No. 2 single spots for Burlington this year after helping the Seahorses capture the 2025 team title.
“I have only beaten him once in the past,” LeMay said. “It felt really good to beat him since he’s one of my main competitors if not my main competitor.”
The winning for Burlington did not stop at singles. The Seahorses No. 3 ranked doubles tandem of Miles Kenny and Ben Koh captured the championship as well sweeping No. 1 Middlebury Nate Cook-Yoder and Nathan Stefani 6-4, 7-5.
The weather pause came after the Seahorses claimed the first set. It’s the second straight year Burlington claimed the doubles title. This is Kenny and Koh’s second championship this spring after helping Burlington win the 2026 Unified Basketball title earlier in May.
Contact Judith Altneu at JAltneu@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
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