MALDEN HS SPORTS: Six Golden Tornado Teams Qualify for State Tournament this Spring

OVER 80 WINS! Believed to be Most Successful Single Sports Season Ever in MHS History

By Nick Toscani

What does it mean when six teams in all qualify for MIAA Division 1 State Tournament competition… and those teams total more than 80 wins for the regular season?

“We think this has to be one the most successful single seasons in school history,” said Malden Public Schools Director of Athletics Charlie Conefrey, who is in his eighth year at the helm, with his history as a coach and student-athlete at Malden High reaching back to the late 1990s. “It could possibly be THE most successful overall regular season, considering the team wins, postseason berths and league championships.”

“It is easily the most successful since the Greater Boston League was reconstituted with the additions of Chelsea, Lynn English, Lynn Classical and Revere,” the Malden AD said.

Add in multiple Greater Boston League Championships – for the Boys Volleyball Team (16-4); Girls Tennis Team (undefeated for three years in a row, 36-0); Boys Tennis Team (16-1); Girls Outdoor Track (4-0) – and it’s easy to see how this has to be the case in spring 2024. The mega-success of the Malden High Baseball team, which at 16-4 overall has won its most regular season games in 30 years (17-3 in 1994) and the second-best record in the past 50 years, is another big highlight.

All six of the postseason-qualifying teams were either in action this week or awaiting their turn as of yesterday.

The Boys Tennis and Girls Tennis teams opened MIAA State Tennis Tournaments with victories this week

  On Tuesday, the Malden Boys Tennis Team (13-3) opened its postseason with a 3-2 win over visiting Durfee at Amerige Park in Malden. Malden swept the three singles matches, and Durfee took the two doubles matches in the 3-2 final.

“We played well and the team was excited to play a first-round match at home, which was the second straight year for us,” first-year Head Coach Brian Sou said. Last year, coach Sou recalled, Malden advanced to the second round and fell in a hard-fought match to #6-seeded Acton-Boxborough.

Malden has a similar draw ahead. After defeating Durfee on Tuesday, Malden advanced to take on #3-seeded Newton North (15-1) in Newton. That match was played at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (after press deadline) at Newton North High School. If successful yesterday afternoon, Malden Boys Tennis will be advancing to a Saturday showdown with the winner of yesterday’s Arlington-Attleboro match.

Eighth-year Malden Girls Tennis Coach Cheryl Camassa and the Tornado squad won their first State Tournament match in some years – and at home to boot– with a 5-0 shutout sweep of familiar Greater Boston League rival Revere on Wednesday at Amerige Park in Malden. The Malden girls (13-0) – who have won three consecutive GBL title and are unbeaten in the regular season for 2022, 2023 and now 2024 (36-0!!) – now advance to take on #3-seeded Winchester (14-3) today, Friday, May 31, at the Crosby Courts in Arlington at 4:00 p.m. The winner of today’s match advances to play the Franklin-Belmont winner on Saturday on Monday, June 3.

GBL Champ Malden Boys Volleyball team hosted King Philip in State Tourney

#27-seeded Malden High Boys Volleyball (16-4) hosted #38-seeded King Philip Regional (11-9) in the preliminary round of the MIAA Division 1 State Boys Volleyball Tournament last night (Thursday, after Advocate press deadline) at 6:00 p.m. Malden Head Coach Dan Jurkowski’s squad won its third GBL title in the past five years with a 16-4 overall record, 13-1 GBL, and earned the #27 seed and a home match.

“We got a home tourney game for the first time in awhile and that was one of our team goals, as well as the league title,” Coach Jurkowski said. “We appreciate that we will be able to play in front of our home fans and hopefully that can help us get into the next round with a win.”

A victory in last night’s match would push Malden forward into a road matchup at #6-seeded Winchester (16-4) on either Saturday or Monday.

Malden Boys and Girls Lacrosse Teams qualified for State Tourney and scheduled for preliminary rounds

Malden High Girls Lacrosse qualified for the MIAA Division 1 State Girls Lacrosse Tournament with the #33 seed and drew a preliminary round matchup on the road tomorrow, Saturday, June 1, at 1:00 p.m. at #32-seeded Bridgewater-Raynham High School (6-14). Led by record-setting junior Mackenzie Jenkins, who recently scored her 200th career goal, pushing her school record to even greater heights, the team would advance to play top-seeded Central Catholic (19-2) on the road Monday, with a win over the B-R Trojans tomorrow.

Coach Jonathan Copithorne’s Boys Lacrosse Team soared to new heights this season with its first MIAA Division 1 State Tournament berth, with its 7-7 regular season finish.

#34-seeded Malden was scheduled to take on #31-seeded Brookline (3-15) on the road at Boston University’s Nickerson Field at 4:00 p.m. yesterday (Thursday afternoon, after Advocate press deadline). A win Thursday would send Malden into a first-round road game at #2-seeded Lincoln-Sudbury (11-6) on Saturday or Monday at a time to be determined.

“We worked hard to get to the postseason and we are ready to go,” said Malden Head Coach Copithorne, whose team is led by another all-time career leading scorer, senior Chad Robertson, who had banged home more than 150 career goals. His teammate, Ben Rosa, is the Malden High career-leading goalie for saves.

Malden High Baseball was on the road Thursday at Needham in second-straight State Tourney action

Malden High Baseball, which rang up the most regular-season wins in 30 years (16-4) and finished a solid second in the Greater Boston League (10-4) drew the #39 seed in the MIAA Division 1 list and was on the road Thursday (after Advocate press deadline) to take on host Needham High at Memorial Field at 4:15 p.m. Needham (6-12), which plays in the Bay State League, which saw 9 of its 12 teams advance to postseason play, was the #26 seed – largely due to strength of schedule.

Malden was expected to send freshman Ryan Bowdridge to the mound against Needham. Bowdridge has answered the bell at every call this year, going unbeaten in his seven starts (7-0) as well as registering two saves and a 1.59 earned run average. The lanky, 6-2 righthander has struck out 86 batters in 53 innings of work, the most since lefty Billy Stickney recorded 102 strikeouts in 2019 for Malden High.

Malden’s 16 wins are the most since 1994, when the three-headed pitching combine of senior lefty Kurt Gaudet (5-2), lefty Joe Souza (8-1) and future Atlanta Brave setup man Kevin McGlinchy (7-1) led Malden to a school record 17-3 regular season and 20-4 overall campaign.

Yesterday’s starting lineup was as follows for Malden: senior captain Ryan Coggswell leading off (2B), senior captain Jake Simpson (SS), Bowdridge (P), senior captain Zeke Noelsaint (CF), junior Bo Stead (C), sophomore Ryan McMahon (3B), junior Chris Macdonald (1B), sophomore Billy Gavin (RF) and junior Brayan Jose (LF). Other team members are sophomores Joe Hatch, Eudy Francisco and Matt Candelario Da Costa and freshman Tommy Cronin.

A win for Malden yesterday would push them into a first-round matchup on the road at Catholic Conference’s St. John’s Prep in Danvers on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

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