John DiBartolomeo ’09

Former Staples basketball athlete John DiBartolomeo ’09 has lived the dream of any basketball obsessed kid. DiBartolomeo was a co-captain senior year at Staples, earning first team All-FCIAC honors. “It’s because of our success at Staples that I was able to get attention from college basketball programs,” DiBartolomeo said. He went onto play Division III at Rochester and became third in Rochester’s history in scoring. DiBartolomeo now is a Spanish basketball star, winning the MVP Honors award, playing for Palma Air Europa basketball as a point guard.

David Speer ’10

David Speer ’10 became the second Staples athlete ever to be drafted by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. The left-handed Columbia University senior pitcher was recently drafted in the 27th round of the MLB Amateur Draft by the Cleveland Indians, “Getting drafted will definitely go down as one of the best moments of my life,” Speer said. In 2014, Speer had a 10.7-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the second best in the nation. His career at Staples included being a two-time all-state champion, being an all-area MVP as a sophomore, and pitching a 21-5 record.

Kip Orban ’11

Kip Orban ’11 is ‘one for the books,’ leaving a hard spot to fill in the Staples lacrosse world. He finished his Wrecker career with 135 goals and 31 assists. Now a senior lacrosse midfielder at Princeton University, he became the first Princeton player since 2004 to have at least one goal in every game in a season last year. During his Staples career, he had earned All-American honors his senior year. Orban is now doing big things, as he was just drafted to the Major League Lacrosse league in the third round, nineteenth overall.