Last weekend, seminarians from Saint Mary’s and Borromeo seminaries in Wickliffe traveled to Columbus to compete in the 39th annual Josephinum Shootout basketball tournament.
A total of nine seminaries from all over the United States were represented at the tournament. In addition to the two teams from the Diocese of Cleveland, also participating were Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus; Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati; St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania; St. Joseph College Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina; St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas; St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, New York.
Seminarians on the Borromeo team included Arthur Bodenschotz, Chris Cotone, Martin DeSantis, John Desmarteau, Anthony Donatelli, Andrew Karpinski, Jeff Lindholm, Xavier Macfarlane, Joe McCarron, Jon Roberge and Luke Rose. The team was coached by John DiAngelo and accompanied by seminary formator Father Patrick Anderson as the team chaplain.
Seminarians on the Saint Mary’s team included Ryan Arto, Chris Baldwin, Connor Hetzel, Ian Kelly, Cameron Popik, Deacon David Stavarz, Chris Stein and Jim Winings. The team was coached by Scott Klonowski.
The Borromeo team went 1-2. In pool play, they defeated St. Vincent Seminary (Latrobe), but lost a hard-fought game to St. Joseph Seminary (Charlotte). They played St. Mary’s Seminary (Houston) in the quarter finals and came up short.
The St. Mary’s team went 2-2. In pool play, beating Christ the King Seminary (East Aurora), but losing to the Josephinum (Columbus). They won their quarter finals -- a tooth-and-nail game against Mount St. Mary’s Seminary (Cincinnati), which took them to the final four games against St. Joseph seminary (Charlotte), which they lost.
Pontifical College Josephinum won the tournament, defeating St. Joseph Seminary (Charlotte) by a score of 68-39.
The seminarians did not just play basketball all weekend. They had many opportunities to spend time with the other seminarians. There were communal liturgies at which seminarians got to pray with one another, as well as socials in the seminary pub where they got to know each other and share in their seminary experiences.