Sports

Montclair Public Schools staff, student athletes and community members gathered Saturday for the dedication of the Dr. Jonathan C. Ponds Memorial Field.

For both Mounties teams the number five is wild. Both the volleyball and tennis squads are the fifth seeds in their respective tournaments.

The Mounties could get a shot at avenging Wednesday’s loss in the upcoming ECT if the two run into each other.  Last season Montclair reached the ECT final before losing to Glen Ridge.

This is the last go around for head coach Guy Rabner. Rabner has coached tennis since the 1990s. He believes his team will be able to ‘compete’ this season.

The Mounties moved up this season from the Liberty to the American division, the top division in the Super Essex Conference. Montclair received the promotion after winning the Liberty division in 2024.

Lucia Strome, a seventh grader from Buzz Aldrin Middle School in Montclair, will be competing at Level 9 next year. NCAA Division 1 athletes are Level 10 gymnastics and those training for the National Team/Olympics are Elite. 

Montclair head coach Kim DePaolera said that the team motto in 2025 is: “Earn It.”

The Montclair High School baseball team showed at the opening of the 2025 season that there might be growing pains in the early going with a relatively inexperienced team on the field.

Mounties head coach Michel Diehl said that despite a younger, more inexperienced 2025 squad that they are going for both an Essex County and state championships.

Montclair High School head coach Michael Goldstein said avoiding injuries will be a must this season to win a division title.

“Fencing can be a fickle sport,” said Montclair coach Donovan Holtz. “I’m not surprised by who qualified, but after that, I really didn’t know what to expect. We spend three months fencing for one another, then we get one day where it’s every man and woman for themselves. I’m happy to walk away with four medals at the end of the day, but these are things I can only hope for, not expect.”

Lions head coach Jimmy Kreie was especially happy that his team was able to finish off with the victory. “I’m just glad that we wrote the chapter that we wanted to do,” said Kreie. “I watched them succeed one more time.”