Vol. CXXXII · July 10, 2026
On Sunday, May 17, Boys’ Varsity Baseball overpowered Tabor with a score of 7-0 and finished off their season crowned as the 2026 ISL Champions. Yet, only weeks earlier, the idea of Milton making a championship run seemed implausible. Through a confident, reliant team bonded in a uniquely Milton way, Varsity Baseball cemented the 2026 season into Mustang history.
This spring, the Athletics Department introduced Intramural Volleyball as a sports credit option. Daniel Rohde ’28 advocated for the creation of the team as an option for male students to play volleyball. Now, the cohort has become a fun opportunity for all students who don’t play at the JV or Varsity level of volleyball. Due to ISL and NEPSAC rules, any girls on Thirds, JV, or Varsity Volleyball are unable to participate on the intramural team; this rule opens the team up to a new subset of students.
On Wednesday, May 27, at 2:00 p.m., the four Varsity Soccer Captains—Siun Salmon ’27, Ethan Fine ’27, Nicholas Pittarelli ’27, and Isa Cavallini-Hsu ’27—hosted a 5v5 soccer tournament on Berlyson Turf Field. Fine hoped that, through the tournament, the captains could help “engage the campus community through soccer.” At the end of a long game stood not a tangible prize but, Fine said, “the bragging rights of the 2026 5v5 champion.”
Milton Academy’s 2026 Track and Field season hit the finish line, bringing success to the Mustangs once again. Athletes dominated in meets all across the season, hit new PRs, set school records, and won the ISLs for the first time in 25 years.
When the sack comes to you, you “stall it.” Then, you “drop it” to your foot for a “round the world” into a “scorpion kick.” Despite the perplexing terms, these moves, all a part of hacky sack, have become increasingly common around campus. The game provides a space for all kinds of students to be a little uncomfortable while trying something new. Though sack is not for everyone, the game gives students an opportunity to get to know and have fun with one another without their screens.
For most students, the end of a sports season means more time off. For some of Milton’s athletes, however, the end means something different. From early-morning football training to pickup basketball games in the ACC, many Milton student-athletes treat the off-season not as a break but as an opportunity—a chance to improve game mechanics, fitness, and team chemistry, all of which will define the teams’ success upon their return.
The Athletics Department plans to extend gym hours next year, and although the specific hours have not yet been finalized, athletic administrators have committed to implementing the change. They plan to determine the details over the summer.
This weekend, on May 16 and 17, Varsity Sailing will be heading to the National Invitational Tournament (N.I.T.), in which the team earned an opportunity to attend through an at-large qualifying bid after competing in the NESSA Championship, otherwise known as the President’s Trophy. This regatta was held at The St. George’s School in Rhode Island, where eight teams qualified through their performances during the regular season.
When passing through the field in front of the Caroline Saltonstall Gym, one might see the softball team practicing vigorously under the sun. As a small team, all fourteen softball members play on varsity, so both the tryouts and practices hold the players to high standards.
On April 23, Milton Academy Varsity Boys’ Lacrosse defeated Tabor Academy—a team which ranked fifteenth in the country at the time—with a final score of ten to eight.
Across Milton, underclassmen struggle with learning the curriculum itself and how to work and balance that work throughout the school year. The strain only intensifies with a varsity sport, pressuring younger students to hold their own and maintain a massive commitment throughout the season, exam weeks, large assignments, and their daily homework load. In response, the Academic Skills Center has recently broadened its horizons, implementing a new mentorship program into the Athletics Department. Lainey Sloman and Kelsey Mumford from the Academic Skills Center quickly recognized the strain’s effects on underclassmen through patterns reflected in grades and feedback. “One pattern we observe for class four students over the past couple of years is that Class IV students who play a varsity sport tend to experience more academic struggles,” Sloman reports, explaining how the Skills Center “thought that it could be helpful to support those students in navigating that experience, and the best support would be people who would have gone through it.”
On Saturday, April 18, 2026, the Varsity Track and Field Team competed against Middlesex, BB&N, Roxbury Latin, and Winsor on its home track. Despite the freezing temperatures and heavy winds, the team delivered extremely strong results: the girls’ team dominated in first place with 128.5 points, nearly 60 points ahead of second place, and the boys team came in third with 50 points, just three points behind Middlesex.
Athletic Director Lamar Reddicks is an organizer, an athlete, an advocate, a coach, and a father. He works tirelessly every day to improve student-athletes’ performance and well-being. As the coach of the Boys' Varsity Basketball team, he ensures that every game runs smoothly and that everyone is able to play to the best of their ability. As Athletic Director, he oversees team schedules, hires coaches, purchases uniforms, schedules game fields, and arranges transportation. He also attends annual and monthly meetings for NEPSAC and the ISL. A former basketball player himself, Reddicks still works like he’s in season, starting his day with a 6:00 am workout before most students wake up. Throughout the school day, he meets with parents, coaches, and students, attends meetings, and completes a wide range of responsibilities.
The golf team has emerged as one of the most cohesive and dominant forces of this spring sports season, starting the season with a 4-0-1 record. The team is optimistic for the rest of the season, which many hope will end undefeated. JaeYoung Moon ’29 describes their group of only 12 players: “We're not very menacing-looking, but we're a very strong team.”
On Saturday, April 4, the Track and Field team competed in their first meet of the season at Thayer Academy. As a whole, they had successful races, throws, and jumps, placing second amongst Thayer and Rivers. The weather was freezing and windy, but many athletes recorded personal best performances, and everyone is looking forward to continuing competing and improving throughout the season.
The Mustangs are already rolling—or in the case of the Milton Varsity Baseball team, swinging—into the spring season. The team kicked off their season with four games and a very successful spring break trip to Florida, where they had a 5-0 record.
According to Girls’ Varsity Head Coach Patricia Thompson, “the season is off to a great start.” She continued, “We have some big tests coming up, but the team is working hard in practice each day and preparing well.” Thompson reported that tryouts were “very competitive,” and noted that the coaching team “saw a lot of new and exciting talent.” According to Sasha Coval ’27, “40 kids came to tryouts” and “did a ton of different drills,” during which Thompson “tried really hard to make it so everyone could showcase what they were good at.”
From March 22nd to the 27th, seventeen athletes from the Girls’ and Boys’ Varsity Tennis teams traveled to La Jolla, California. The players and coaches spent six days at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, waking each morning to sunshine in the low 70s and enjoying breezy evenings in the 60s. But what players remember most isn’t the weather; it’s how the group learned to push collectively toward the next level of play.
For Lily Bourell ‘26, squash isn’t just a game; it’s a discipline that has shaped her mindset, her routine, and the way she approaches challenges both on and off the court. She began “playing squash because of [her] granddad.” Bourell explained, “I started when I was eight, and before that I played tennis.” What began as a casual introduction soon turned into a serious commitment. As Bourell spent more time training and competing, squash quickly became something she wanted to pursue at the highest level.
The wrestling team vaulted from “eleventh in the league last year to fifth in the league this year,” noted captain Lukas Caggiano ‘26. How did this team jump six places in a year? According to another team member, Toby Heikka ‘28, a major improvement for the team has been “recruiting more people.” Heikka explained that with more variety in practice partners, “you can grow in different ways, and that's been key.” Jeremiah Mathis ‘26 cited “strong fundamentals and consistent practice” as a vital part of their growth, allowing the team to build up significant momentum this year.
During exam week, Assistant Athletic Trainer Cameron Larocque returned after his paternity leave, which had commenced in November. In addition to his role in athletic training, Larocque serves as a dorm parent and senior advisor in Hallowell House and teaches Physical Education and FitCon classes.
The purpose of this column is to divulge the conversations and rationale which precede decisions made by the SGA. This week, Kaci will dissect recent updates to Dorm Dodgebell rules.
At Milton, all Class IV students must play a sport in all three seasons. Whether on the interscholastic fields, in the intramural gyms, or in PE courses, Class IV students spend their inaugural year engaged in mandatory physical activity. A recent poll of the freshman class conducted by the Measure suggests that the policy has mixed effects: it is widely credited for building connections but also propagates massive scheduling stress.
Being a student is already a challenge; however, adding a varsity-level sport on top of that can heighten the stress even more. For that reason, Director of Academic Support Lainey Sloman and Upper School Learning Specialist Kelsey Mumford created the sport mentor program in the early fall of 2025, “for new students on varsity [sport] teams to feel supported as they transition into a student athlete life.”
Dozens of Milton athletes go on to play sports at the collegiate level every year. These programs require more time, intensity, and independence than anything they’ve done before. Though the jump from high school to college sports looks different for each sport and division, Milton prides itself on a rigorous athletic program. But how well does Milton truly prepare athletes for what's next?