- Mid-Atlantic Prep League
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The Mid-Atlantic Prep League, also known as the MAPL, is a sports league with participating institutions from prep schools in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area in the United States. The league comprises schools known for their academic rigor, but the quality of play in all sports is fairly high. MAPL schools are allowed to have a limited number of post-graduates (student-athletes who have already graduated from high school and are taking an intermediate step between high school and college) on their rosters.
Schools competing in the league include:
School Location Team Name Blair Academy Blairstown, New Jersey Buccaneers The Hill School Pottstown, Pennsylvania Rams Hun School of Princeton Princeton, New Jersey Raiders Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, New Jersey Big Red Mercersburg Academy Mercersburg, Pennsylvania Blue Storm Peddie School Hightstown, New Jersey Falcons Contents
The MAPL Headmasters' Cup
In 2007, the athletic directors of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League created the Headmasters' Cup to recognize outstanding sportsmanship. The cup is awarded annually to the school that best exemplifies the qualities of good sportsmanship year-round from their student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans. Voting is conducted by each coach after each season and tabulated in the spring to determine the winner of the Headmasters' Cup.
In the four years it has been awarded, the Headmasters' Cup has been won three times by Peddie School.[1]
MAPL Headmasters' Cup Recipients
- 2007-08 Peddie
- 2008-09 Lawrenceville
- 2009-10 Peddie
- 2010-11 Peddie
Boys' Squash
The Lawrenceville School Boy's Varsity Squash Team has been the winner of the MAPL Squash Championships since 2002.
Mercersburg's Ahmed Abdel Latif is undefeated(not losing one game) in 2010-2011.
Boys' basketball
Since its inception in 1999, the MAPL has been an extremely competitive league and arguably the best combination of academics and basketball in the United States. While producing NBA players Luol Deng, Charlie Villanueva and Royal Ivey (all from Blair), as well as Joakim Noah (Lawrenceville), the MAPL has also become a pipeline for Ivy League basketball programs. From 2004-2008 no league in the country produced more Ivy League players than the MAPL and no single school in the country produced as many players as The Hun School.
Blair Academy has been the dominant basketball program in recent years. Compiling a 63-12 record since the leagues inception in 1999 and winning 7 of the last 10 league championships.
The Hill School won the 2007-2008 MAPL Basketball league regular season championship and year-end tournament championship for the first time in school history. After winning the MAPL, Hill lost in overtime to ANC (at one point raked number #1 among prep schools) in the Pennsylvania Independent League Tournament.
The Hun School of Princeton has been one of the dominant programs in the MAPL league for years, at one point winning 4 straight championships and a State championship while placing 19 players on Division 1 rosters.
Lawrenceville has made its share of contributions to MAPL basketball excellence over the years. Notable accomplishments include the 2003-04 Lawrenceville team that went 23-4 and beat national powerhouse Saint Benedict's Preparatory School of Newark, New Jersey. All five of Lawrenceville's starters on that team went on to play Division I basketball: David Whitehurst (Penn), Joakim Noah (leading scorer for Florida), Craig Moore (Northwestern), Andrew Morrison (Bucknell) and Kashif Sweet (Columbia). In 2005-2006 Noah went on to lead Florida to a 73-57 win over UCLA for the school's first NCAA basketball title, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. In addition, two former Lawrenceville players have walked on to major Division I programs: Mike Lepore (Wake Forest) and Nicky Sutton (Duke).
Mercersburg's recent basketball alumni include Stephane Pelle (Colorado) and Wes Miller (North Carolina).
Former Peddie star Ibrahim Jaaber was a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year at the University of Pennsylvania and now plays professionally for Italian club Pallacanestro Virtus Roma. Jaaber, a naturalized Bulgarian citizen, is also a member of the Bulgaria national basketball team. Other Peddie alums playing collegiately include Darren Smith (Penn), Colin Aldridge (Brown), Noruwa Agho (Columbia).
Baseball
In recent years, varsity baseball in the MAPL has seen a rise in competitiveness, with several former players now playing in college and professionally. Former Peddie standout Fernando Perez is currently an outfielder for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Perez was drafted in the 7th round of the 2004 amateur draft after playing for Columbia. Joseph Florio (Blair), Nick Francona (Lawrenceville) and Steve Garrison (Hun) are both minor league players for the Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, respectively. Mercersburg's Christian Binford is drafted by the Kansas City Royals his Senior year.
Boys' and Girls' Tennis
For the second year in a row, the Blair boys team won the MAPL championship by a wide margin. They finished the past two seasons with an undefeated record. The Blair girls team finished the 2010 season undefeated (16-0) claiming the MAPL title and New Jersey State championship.
Boys' Crew
Notable boy's crew alumni from the MAPL
- Jason Read (Hun) - Gold Medalist for USA in Athens 2004.
Football
Notable football alumni from the MAPL
- Dion Lewis (Pittsburgh)
- Myron Rolle (Florida State)
- Travis Mack (Georgetown)
- Vincent Rey (Duke)
- Jarvis Hodge (Boise State)
- Ben Pooler (Maryland)
- Devon Ramsey (Boston College)
- David Caldwell (William & Mary)
- Craig McGovern (Rutgers)
- Keith Hill (William & Mary)
- Taji Morris (Boston College)
- Derek Benson (Purdue)
- Luqman Abdallah (Miami)
- Shea McKeen (South Carolina)
- Samuel Richmond (University of Colorado - Boulder)
- John Kane (North Carolina State)
- Dom Natale (Rutgers)
- Junior Jabbie (Notre Dame)
- Ted Plenkett (Rowan)
- Malcolm Evans (La Salle University)
- Heath Benedict (Tennessee, Newberry)
- AJ Kizekai (Bucknell)
- Todd Rinaldo (Bucknell)
- Wellington Talkpa (Maine)
- Eric King (Wake Forest, Tennessee Titans)
- Michael Atunrase (Delaware)
- Sam Rodgers (Syracuse)
Basketball
Notable Alumni from the MAPL
- Luol Deng (Duke, Chicago Bulls)
- Charlie Villanueva (UConn, Milwaukee Bucks)
- Royal Ivey (Texas, Atlanta Hawks)
- Joakim Noah (Florida, Chicago Bulls)
- Noah Savage (Princeton)
- Wellington Smith (West Virginia)
- Shamari Spears (Boston College)
- Justin Robinson (Rider)
- Nick Gore (VMI)
- Matt McKillop (Davidson)
- Mike Lepore (Wake Forest)
- Pat Hazel (Marquette)
- Alexis Wangmene (Texas)
- Julius Coles (Canisius)
- Idris Hilliard (St. Joseph's, PA)
- Doug Davis (Princeton)
- David Singleton (Marquette)
- Lance Goulbourne (Vanderbilt)
- RJ Griffin (Dartmouth)
- Eghesosa Edywomni (Rice)
- Jonathan Lee (Northeastern)
Track and field
Currently, the Lawrenceville School dominates both indoor and outdoor track in the MAPL, usually winning the MAPL championship meets by about 100 points.
References
Categories:- High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States
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