During her years at Averill Park High School, Michelina Lombardi reached impressive heights and helped lift those around her, too. A standout student, a top athlete and a frequent volunteer, Lombardi packed an incredible amount of achievement and memories into her high school career.

“She is punctual, diligent and genuine. She is willing to put her own interests aside to help her fellow peers and teammates,” said Sean Organ, whose varsity basketball team won a state championship in 2022 with Lombardi helping to lead the way. “Michelina is the kind of student-athlete teachers and coaches hope to work with on a daily basis. She demonstrates a tremendous work ethic in her quest to succeed academically and athletically.”

“At all times, I have found Michelina to be self-motivated, reliable, hard-working, dedicated and courteous,” said Nathan Luskin, who coached Lombardi in soccer and track and field. “She consistently acts as a role model for younger teammates and classmates, and has been a tremendous asset to our school community.”

One of 10 high school honorees for the third-annual Capital District Sports Women of the Year awards, Lombardi ranked eighth in her graduating class, accumulated a 4.0 GPA, received numerous academic honors and was a member of the New Visions Scientific Research and World Health Program her senior year. Actively involved in several clubs, Lombardi was also a class president throughout her years at Averill Park.

Lombardi credited her teachers with making it possible for her to have such a rich academic experience.

“They are all there for one goal, and that’s to help the students,” Lombardi said. “They look at us as a whole, but they really strive to help each of us individually.”

In her community, Lombardi developed a significant presence, particularly through her work volunteering with Young’s Pharmacy to help conduct COVID-19 vaccine clinics and with St. Jude the Apostle Church.

The Wynantskill resident volunteered to check-in people at area vaccine clinics, helping to keep the clinics organized and on schedule.

“I was very humbled to be asked to volunteer and help serve the community,” Lombardi said. “That was so important to me.”

So, too, was her volunteering with St. Jude the Apostle. Through her church, Lombardi said she “realized how important volunteering is,” and applied that lesson. She spent countless hours helping seniors, coaching youth basketball players, and preparing food baskets for those in need, among a variety of other volunteer activities, as part of her work through the church.

“St. Jude’s is a community that I’m very fond of,” said Lombardi, who attended the church’s school through sixth grade. “They’ve done a lot for me over the years, and it’s been really great to give back to that community, and those students since I was one of them.”

Athletically, Lombardi was an all-star level performer in soccer and track and field, as well as one of the top standouts on this year’s basketball team that won a state championship. A four-year varsity starter on the basketball court, Lombardi’s team had its postseasons shortened in 2020 and 2021 due to restrictions related to the novel coronavirus pandemic, and the goal to make the most of 2022’s full postseason helped drive her to be her best.

“All I wanted to do was win a state championship,” said Lombardi, who scored 11 points in Averill Park’s 54-48 Class A championship win against Tappan Zee.

For Lombardi, attending medical school and becoming a doctor are future goals. Later this year, Lombardi will attend Le Moyne College. She will play basketball while she majors in biology and minors in Spanish at the college.

“I’m just really thankful to Averill Park for everything they’ve given me and how they’ve prepared me for Le Moyne,” Lombardi said. “These last four years have been nothing short of amazing.”

Her high school will certainly miss her presence.

“Michelina is one of, if not the best, leaders that I’ve come across during my 13 years in athletic administration,” Averill Park athletic director Mark Bubniak said. “She is a great student, talented athlete, and serves her school and community in a variety of ways.”

“Her community looks up to her,” Organ said.

Olivia Lomascolo knows all about endorphins, both as an athlete and in her profession.

As a cross country and track star for five years at Siena College, she has experienced the so-called “runner’s high,” the feeling of euphoria brought on by the intensity of distance training and competition.

She gets that at work, too, as a registered nurse in Albany Medical Center’s post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), where patients are treated and managed immediately following surgery.

Based on results from Lomascolo’s fifth year at Siena, the Shenendehowa High School graduate finished her college running career in a state of euphoria, becoming the first-ever Saint to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference women’s cross country championship in the fall, and finishing third in the 10,000 meters at Penn Relays in April, among many other highlights.

“This year, winning cross country MAACs was just one of the most special things in my career,” she said. “When I was a freshman, coach John [Kenworthy] basically sat me down and said this is something at some point that you can accomplish. So that had been my goal throughout my career, winning a cross country MAAC title.

“To do it on our home course made it all the more special. My parents come to every meet. I had family members that didn’t get to travel and were able to come to this one. I knew the course like the back of my hand, so that made it that much more special for me. And to be the first one to do it for Siena was awesome.”

Lomascolo had such an outstanding fifth-year senior season that she was named 2022-23 Siena Female Student Athlete of the Year.

She’s the school record holder in women’s cross country at four distances, and also was part of school-record performances in the 3,200 relay and distance medley relay. She won the 3,000 meters at the MAAC indoor championship meet and the 5,000 at the outdoor championship meet.

After running 34:10.12 at Penn Relays, she became the first Siena woman to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor East Regionals.

“I can honestly say that she has left no stone unturned and there is not a day that goes by where I doubt that she has gotten the most out of herself,” Kenworthy said. “I’m proud to be a part of her team and I believe that in many ways she is the best representation of what we aspire to as a collegiate cross country and track program.”

Lomascolo was certified as a registered nurse in 2022, before she graduated with a nursing bachelor’s degree in 2023 and has been working for the Albany Med PACU for over a year. She was able to carve out a stellar career as a distance runner while working part-time at Albany Med and became a full-time nurse there in June of 2023.
Lomascolo has also found time for community service, with the Regional Food Bank, Christmas gifts through Siena Giving Tree and clothing donations to the Schenectady City Mission.

“There are hard days, and you see some hard things,” she said of her profession. “People are sick, so that’s not always the place they want to be. But there’s also really good days where you have awesome patients who don’t stop thanking you for what you do.

“It’s like with running, there’s such a high you get from it, with the natural endorphins. Taking care of people makes you feel so good. It can be hard, and you can get tired, but I just love it.”

Zoey Lints is an astute technical wrestler who sees a series of steps ahead of a scoring shot, instead of merely reacting to the circumstances of a match.

She sees female participation in her sport gradually increasing, and one of the steps toward that end is to get young girls interested in being more than just spectators. With that in mind, the Schoharie High School graduate has complemented her success on the wrestling mats — Lints won the 138-pound weight class at the inaugural New York girls’ state championships in 2023 for the combined Duanesburg/Schoharie program — with youth coaching that focuses on getting more girls competing in wrestling.

“Usually there’s way more males than females in a room, and especially for the younger girls that may confuse them and make them feel like they don’t belong,” she said. “But if I’m there, I feel like I can help them with that.”

One thing that helps that effort is the fact that Lints’ wrestling resume commands respect.

She has been ranked as high as No. 13 in the country at 138 by USA Wrestling, and won championships on the girls’ circuit at the Niskayuna Girls Invitational and Shaker’s Queen Bison Invitational.

At the state championships in Syracuse, Lints got through the first three rounds on pins totaling just 1:25 of mat time before winning the final, 7-3.

“I’ve been trying to work to go to boys’ states, and when I found out there was an opportunity to go to girls’ states, it was so exciting,” she said.

“When I got there I felt like I had way more experience than most of the other girls, because I had been training with boys all my life.

“Before my finals match, I’m really into manifesting and thinking about what you want, so I just kept saying to myself I was going to win. I was telling everyone. Then when I got out there, I knew that I could win. Every point I scored, I held on to. Every point I gave up, I made sure I didn’t give up another point.”

Lints began wrestling when she was in second grade, following in the footsteps of two older brothers.

She first competed for the Duanesburg/Schoharie boys’ varsity as an eighth-grader and compiled a 12-5 record against boys during the 2022-23 season, with nine pins.

At the 2023 Eastern States Classic, Lints finished second to 2022 Fargo 16U bronze medalist Maddie Westerberg, ranked No. 7 in the U.S. at 144, and was the only opponent Westerberg did not pin.

“Zoey is a student-athlete who is the epitome of the phrase, ‘actions speak louder than words,’” Schoharie athletic director David Russell said. “Zoey is a dedicated athlete and dedicated team member. I recall multiple times where Zoey would be moving up or down a weight class to benefit her team and give them the best chance for success.”

As a girl competing in a male-dominated sport, Lints, who will attend Elmira College in the fall, has faced prejudice and dismissive attitudes.

She said English was her favorite class at Schoharie, and someday she’d like to write a book compiling poems expressing her various feelings. In the meantime, she tries to serve as an inspiration to young girls through her actions.

“There’s a few girls in my club that are the managers, and they’re all younger than me and they always try to hang out with me and ask me about wrestling and stuff,” Lints said. “Most of them are going to wrestle this year, and I tell them I’m going to come back and watch them.”

Sara Langworthy delivered in a big way in her time at Warrensburg Jr./Sr. High School, both in the classroom where she achieved valedictorian status, and in the sports of field hockey, basketball and softball where she not only excelled, but also served as a team captain in each of them.

“Sara truly embodies all of the characteristics necessary of being a student-athlete,” Warrensburg athletic director and varsity girls’ basketball coach Scott Smith said of the Capital District Sports Women of the Year honoree. “She is motivated, dependable, focused and goal-oriented. Sara will never stop pushing herself until she has reached the goals that she has set.”

Langworthy played five seasons of varsity field hockey and four seasons of varsity basketball and softball, yet the National Honor Society member still found the time and energy to put together a superb academic resume while additionally serving other Warrensburg students as her class secretary and a student council and Varsity Club member.

She graduated with a 4.0 career GPA, and earned the Saint Michael’s College Book Club Award for Academic Achievement and Social Conscience, St. Lawrence Augsbury Scholarship, and University of Rochester George Eastman Scholarship.

“Probably in ninth or 10th grade it was, ‘We’re going to do this,’” Langworthy said of her valedictorian spot in the Warrensburg 2021 class of 45. “I made it a goal. I wouldn’t have been happy with myself if I didn’t get it because I knew it was attainable.”

During her many scholastic pursuits, the 18-year-old would often think of Mary Ann Bump, the longtime, popular and enthusiastic Warrensburg field hockey and softball coach who passed away several years ago.

“She was very inspirational for me,” said Langworthy, who was twice named to the all-state field hockey team. “She taught me the game when I was growing up, but many other things like how to be a good student and a good teammate, and how sports are about more than winning.”

Langworthy took her team captaincy as seriously as a major exam.

“I have always wanted to help others. That’s the career I’m getting into,” said Langworthy, who will work toward a nursing degree at the University of Rochester. “My thought has always been, ‘What if I was in that position?’ If I had a bad day or I wasn’t the best player, I would want someone there to offer help and offer guidance.”

Smith said Langworthy was like another coach during the winter.

“Unfortunately, our basketball season this year was not like our normal basketball season due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Smith said. “We had a much more condensed season and played less than half the games we normally do. One of the things that I remember most from this season though, is the way Sara worked so hard with our underclassmen on their skills and development. When it was uncertain if we would even have a season at all, that is when Sara stepped up and provided leadership and guidance to the rest of her teammates. I will be forever grateful to her for that. She truly understood what it meant to be a part of our program and to be a leader.”

Langworthy left a lasting impression on Warrensburg varsity softball and field hockey coach Teresa Colvin, too.
“Younger athletes look up to her and I couldn’t ask for a better role model,” Colvin said. “She willingly does the tasks that often go unnoticed just because it is the right thing to do.”