LaGuardia Red Hawks Gear Up for 2024-25 Athletic Season
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (August 21, 2024) — The LaGuardia Red Hawks are gearing up for the 2024-25 Athletics season with the start of Men’s Soccer, the return of Men’s and Women’s Basketball and Cross Country, and the debut of Women’s Volleyball.
LaGuardia Athletics Director Andrew Walker says the 2024-2025 “looks very promising.”
“With the addition of Women’s Volleyball we’ve expanded LaGuardia Athletics by over 150% adding three new sports in three years,” Walker said. “In past years LaGuardia had only Men’s and Women’s Basketball. Now we have Men’s Soccer, Women’s Volleyball, and Men’s and Women’s Cross Country.”
The 2023-24 academic year brought the return of the Athletics programming at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY. This season coaches hope to capitalize on their successes and learn from the challenges they faced last year. Walker says each coach is prepared to work with student athletes to ensure their academic eligibility and capture more wins for each team.
Women’s Volleyball Comes to LaGuardia
LaGuardia Women’s Volleyball will have their first home game against Kingsborough Community College at 6 p.m. This year’s schedule includes matches against Queensborough Community College, Bronx Community College, Nassau Community College, Westchester Community College, Hostos Community College and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Tryouts are still happening and students who are interested can contact the Women’s Volleyball Charles Young or Athletics Director Andrew Walker at awalker@lagcc.cuny.edu
Red Hawks Men’s Soccer Prepares For 2024-25 Season
Men’s Soccer is back, and Coach Ahmed Johnson says he and the team are looking forward to kicking off the third season of Men’s Soccer at LaGuardia.
“I am excited to announce that we are on our way to an amazing season,” Coach Johnson said. “Last season was very difficult and was a learning experience for me and everyone on the team. We have a grown and learned from last season.”
LaGuardia’s Red Hawks will face the Broncos from Bronx Community College in their first game on August 31 at 12 p.m. at Ohio Field on the Bronx campus.
Coach Johnson says last season was successful on many levels. “I was able to field 4 Region 15 All Academic student athletes,” he said. “I am most proud of the fact that our student athletes are graduating with honors. We hope to have more this season and a winning season on the pitch.”
The Men’s Soccer team have been training on Roosevelt Island at McManus Field, and Nick Heupel has been brought on as assistant coach to help the team.
“We have some great players this season and will give 100 percent to win,” Coach Johnson said. “We are truly excited, and we hope to see many students, faculty, and parents attending our games.”
LaGuardia will have its first home game on Sept. 7 against Kingsborough Community College. For more information about the Men’s Soccer contact Coach Johnson at ahjohnson@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Red Hawks Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Teams Seek More Runners
The 2023 Men’s and Women’s Cross Country season was the first in LaGuardia’s history. Coach Peter Briguglio says the team had some challenges with scheduling and roster sizes, but “we were fortunate to attend and compete at five meets.”
“While we were not eligible for team scoring, we had some strong individual performances,” Coach Briguglio says, “Jeremiah Nevers competed at all 5 events that we attended. Gary Romero-Garcia placed 5th in the CUNY Championships among community college participants, and Victoria Dunn earned All-Region honors with a Top 5 finish at the Region XV Championship meet.”
This season, the Red Hawks hope to recruit more runners to join the team.
“We would like to have at least 5 men and 5 women in order to become eligible for team scoring,” Coach Briguglio said. “I’m not too focused on results. My priority is that our athletes remain healthy and feel that being part of our program enhances their LaGuardia experience. I do, however; think we will have some runners who will be capable of making waves throughout CUNY and Region XV.”
The first Cross Country event is scheduled on September 21 at the Golden Eagle Invitational in Bethpage, NY, with meets each weekend thereafter through the end of October.
Tryouts are still open! The next date is Wednesday, August 27 at 2 p.m. and the final tryout date will be September 4 at 9 a.m. Athletes who are interested can contact Coach Briguglio via e-mail at pbriguglio@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Men’s and Women’s Basketball Return
LaGuardia Red Hawks made their mark in Men’s and Women’s Basketball. Men’s Coach Jarrett Lockhart says he’s ready to keep the momentum going to a successful 2024-25 season.
“To me last season was a success, not necessarily in the winning games-sense, but we were able to-put LaGuardia Men’s Basketball back on the map in terms of CUNY and Region 15 Sports,” Coach Lockhart said. “Having the Player of the Year (Arthur Dukes) in the conference and also the country’s leading scorer at the D3-Juco level has definitely bolstered the identity of the program and opened doors for some of the better student-athletes in the city to attend here and become RedHawks!”
Coach Lockhart hopes to build on the individual successes they had last year and transform them into success as a unified team.
“Obviously, we want to create a winning culture here, and I think we’ve started to trend in the right direction in doing so,” Coach Lockhart said. “Our motto is always Championships & Scholarships! The season begins November 7, and our first home game is not until November 25 against Mohawk Valley Community College. We hope everyone comes out to support us.”
“We’ve got some guys coming in this year who will definitely be some of the best players in our league,” Coach Lockhart says. “So, having more of a collective unit rather than relying on just individual effort, will most certainly lead to more wins for our team. I’m really excited about our Freshman class. You’ll definitely be hearing about them throughout the season.”
To learn about Men’s Basketball contact Coach Lockhart at jlockhart@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Women’s Basketball Coach Shareika Parry says last season was “a test of heart, dedication, and growth.”
“We were able to complete Season 2 and make an appearance in the regional tournament as the 8th seed with just 6 players,” Coach Parry said. “We definitely showcased our talents to our opponents and made it tough for some teams to beat us.”
Coach Parry says this coming 2024-2025 season, she and Coach Kim are looking to expand the team with two returning players.
“We are also excited to welcome a new assistant, Coach Suliat Afolabi, to our family,” Coach Parry said. “We are pleased that the word is spreading about LaGuardia CC, providing another academic and athletic option for NYC students.”
Coach Parry says the Women’s Basketball team is holding an interest meeting on Friday, September 6 at 4:30 in the gym. Tryouts are scheduled: September 26 from 4:30-6:30 p.m.; September 27, 7 – 8:30 p.m.; and September 30, 7:-8:30 p.m.
For information about Women’s Basketball contact Coach Shareika Parry at sparry@lagcc.cuny.edu.
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LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
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