Hand up: We’re dorks for the numbers over here in the Daily News sports room (of one).
When we’ve published our various area leaders and stat packages across the three high school seasons over the last handful of years — between the likes of football, basketball, track, lacrosse, etc. — it’s never been seen as a chore. Besides, of course, identifying the best in our area during a specific season, the stat packages have also been a great way to pack in and highlight many of the great athletes that we cover in one article.
And our recent “Best of the 2020s” series was no different.
It was a blast to once again go back and compile the best seasons of the last five years across various sports. And in doing so, we found — in our minds — some interesting facts, alongside numbers within the numbers, that really stand out as special.
So, across the dozen decade-long stat packages that ran, here’s something unique we found from each one.
BASEBALL
— Jack Fehlner’s 2022 season really does stand high above the rest, and certainly merited his Daily News MVP headline from that campaign which read: “Fehlner delivered one of the best seasons in area history.” Offensively, his .520 average still tops our area this decade — beating out the 2023 season put up by Georgetown’s Jake Gilbo (.508) — and his 40 total hits are three more than the 37 put up by Amesbury’s Shea Cucinotta in 2022 and Georgetown’s Hayden Ruth in 2024. Then on the mound, Fehlner’s 0.89 ERA (third) and 76 strikeouts (second) don’t necessarily lead our area this decade. But he posted that ERA across a workhorse 79.0 innings, while the two above him — Newburyport’s Jack Sullivan in 2024 (0.55 ERA in 25.1 IP) and Georgetown’s Ty Southall in 2025 (0.70 ERA in 50.0 IP) — didn’t pitch nearly as much. Plus, it was all capped that year by Fehlner leading the Clippers to the Division 3 state championship game.
SOFTBALL
— It’s wild that three of the five best power seasons this decade, when it comes to home runs, are from Georgetown’s Ellie Barbarick as a sophomore in 2025 (17), as an 8th-grader in 2023 (11) and as a freshman in 2024 (8). Her only competition in that department came this past spring, when Pentucket freshman phenom Kam Bonneau smashed 10, and Governor’s Angelina Moroz, of Merrimac, hit 8. A smooth-swinging lefty, it’s not inconceivable to think that Barbarick could hit an incredible 70 home runs by the time her high school career is up in two years. A Division 1 college bat is just sitting in Georgetown waiting to be recruited.
FOOTBALL
–Maybe it’s just been the wealth of athletes at its disposal, but no local school has embraced beating teams through the air like Pentucket. This decade, the Panthers have five of the top-8 best receiving seasons in the area: Between Luke Zavaski in 2023 (No. 2, 939 yds), Nick Carrion in 2024 (No. 3, 935 yds), Aaron Ketschke in 2024 (No. 5, 898 yds), Che Condon in 2021 (No. 6, 830 yds) and Kevin Reiter in 2023 (No. 8, 629 yds). But it definitely helps when you have QBs like Chase Dwight throwing for 1,779 yards in 2021, Caleb Meisner piling up 2,083 yards in 2023, and Steven Harper breaking the school record with 2,376 passing yards in 2024.
BOYS BASKETBALL
–Former Newburyport great Parker McLaren is the only athlete this decade to score 500 or more points in a season. He did so during the 2019-20 campaign, where his 503 total points netted out to a 22.9 average across 22 games, while he also hit 59 total 3s. In fact, only Cam Keliher of Amesbury in 2021-22 (441) and Newburyport native Will Batchelder at Governor’s Academy in 2019-20 (424) have scored more than 400 points in a season.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
–Similarly, the 2021-22 season posted by Avery Hallinan at Amesbury has to be seen as an all-timer. She put up 22.4 points per game that winter in leading the then-Indians to the Division 4 State Championship, and is the only area athlete this decade to average at least 20.0 in a season. Also, for more context, Emma Foley of Newburyport is the lone area athlete to score at least 400 points in a season this decade, accomplished in 2022-23 when she averaged 19.8 ppg and finished with 456 total points. But that is a distant No. 2 this decade to Halloran, who finished the 2021-22 campaign with 559 total points.
BOYS LACROSSE
— When it comes to offense, it’s pretty clear who the two best scorers in the area have been this decade. Pentucket’s all-time leader, Ben Turpin, put up the area’s best season in 2023 (87g, 54a, 141pts), the second-best season in 2024 (90g, 47a, 137pts) and the fourth-best season in 2022 (63g, 32a, 95pts). Meanwhile, Triton great Jared Leonard had the third-best season in 2022 (66g, 32a, 98pts) and the fifth-best season in 2021 (59g, 35a, 95 pts).
GIRLS LACROSSE
— While goal-scorers get most of the headlines, nobody set those athletes up to succeed more than former Newburyport great Izzy Rosa. Her 78 total assists during the 2023 spring — when she helped lead the Clippers to the Division 3 State Championship — are by far the most in a season by an area athlete this decade. Second in assists is former Newburyport teammate Emily Fuller in 2022 (48), third is Pentucket’s Sydney Trout in 2025 (46), and Rosa’s 44 during the 2022 season is actually tied for fourth with Triton’s Chloe Connors during the same year.
HOCKEY
— No line trio has come close to the season-long production put up by the Amesbury top unit of Bodie Marcotte (25g, 22a), Matt Venturi (19g, 28a) and Joey Duggan (11g, 26a) during the 2023-24 winter campaign. Their 131 total points that year clears the No. 2 trio of Newburyport’s Henry Waddell (14g, 22a), Luke MacIsaac (16g, 18a) and Jack Sullivan (13g, 12a), who combined for 95 points during this past 2024-25 season.
BOYS INDOOR TRACK
— The dominance that Newburyport great Ean Hynes displayed in the 55-hurdles during the 2022-23 season can’t be overstated. When looking at the best athletes of the decade in those type of sprint events, you would expect to see a bunched up leaderboard of times. But Hynes’ school-record and decade-best pace of 7.73 is a noticeable 0.20 seconds faster than Francisco Laracuente of Amesbury, who ran our second-best time (7.93) during the 2019-20 season. Kyle Lisauskas of Newburyport (7.99), and both Alex Bishop (8.09) and Tighe Hosman (8.23) of Pentucket are more bunched up in the 3-4-5 spots.
GIRLS INDOOR TRACK
— Devin Stroope is one of the best track athletes in Newburyport and area history. For our 2020s girls indoor track times, the Naval Academy commit appeared as a top-5 athlete in an incredible six events: 300 (No. 3, 42.27), 600 (No. 2, 1:36.75), 1000 (No. 5, 3:07.65), 4×200 (No. 2, 1:47.40), 4×400 (No. 1, 4:08.14) and the long jump (No. 4, 16-7.75). No other area athlete appeared on the list in five events, with only Newburyport teammate Morgan Felts (300, 600, 4×200, 4×400), Pentucket’s Susan Wisniewski (600, 1000, Mile, 4×800) and Triton’s Ava Burl (600, 1000, Mile, 4×800) appearing in four events.
BOYS OUTDOOR TRACK
— In speaking to the strong distance program that MSTCA Hall of Fame coach Don Hennigar runs, seven of the area’s top-10 times this decade between the Mile and 2-Mile belong to Newburyport. In the Mile, it’s Bradford Duchesne (No. 2, 4:23.98), Michael Mohoric (No. 3, 4:28.07) and Nathan Barry (No. 4, 4:34.21) holding down top spots, while in the 2-Mile it’s Duchesne (No. 1, 9:27.79), Mohoric (No. 2, 9:36.79), Sam Walker (No. 3, 9:59.71) and Matt Murray (No. 5, 10:06.50) atop the board. Only Jackson Beauparlant of Pentucket has the fastest time in the Mile (4:21.98), while Triton’s Griffin White has the fourth-fastest time in the 2-Mile (10:03.72) and the fifth-fastest time in the Mile (4:35.11).
GIRLS OUTDOOR TRACK
— There are two events where four of the top-5 times this decade came from the same year, and it just so happened to occur this past spring in 2025. In the 800 it was Triton’s Ava Burl (No. 1, 2:16.91) and Avery Upite (No. 2, 2:1.71), Newburyport’s Morgan Felts (No. 3, 2:17.85) and Pentucket’s Susan Wisniewski (No. 4, 2:18.11) setting a new standard. Then in the discus it was Newburyport’s Kayley Simons (No. 1, 99-6), Grace Daigle (No. 4, 90-5) and Gabby Depena (No. 5, 89-8), along with Amesbury’s Julia Losee (No. 3, 91-9), throwing their way onto the leaderboard. Inversely, our five best times this decade in the 200 all happened in different years.