🇬🇷SPORTS NEWS🇺🇸

Army’s Vasileios " Bill" Katsigiannis is a senior at the West Point Military Academy and a

key member of this year’s football team, as an offensive lineman. He attended the Katy High School in Texas and was a UIL 6A Division 6 State Champion in 2020-2021 with the Katy Tigers. He has set the school record for the most pancake blocks in a game (14), in a single season (83) and entire career (94). This year Bill is part of one of the best offensive lines in college football, leading the Army team to a 9-0 record and ranked at #21 of the top 25! Army has not had this kind of winning record since 1946 and is receiving national attention. Katsigiannis is studying Systems Engineering and he is on the Deans list every semester.

Ella Pappas is a senior in the Oklahoma Division 1 women’s soccer and has had a very good career for the Sooners. Ella saw plenty of game action beginning her freshman year 2021 and finishing her career this season with a very respectable 10-7-1 season. Ella Pappas culminated her career with a magnificent 3-goal lightning performance on senior weekend beating Missouri State 8-0. Ella made University of Oklahoma sports history being only the seventh player to score a hat trick in a game. She also had an assist in the game tying the record 7 points in one game set last season by her teammate Emma Hawkins. Ella Pappas's efforts on the field and in the classroom were recognized when she achieved the 2023 Academic All-Big 12 and 2024 Academic All-Big 12 First Team. Ella is enrolled in the Price College of Business and has a double major in marketing and management.

Alexis Tsaparailis is a freshman at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Alexis saw action in 17 of 18 games for the Division 1 Falcons soccer team. She would play 32 minutes off the bench in her college debut, in the first game of the varsity season with a 3-1 win over Detroit Mercy. Tsaparailis would see plenty of minutes including 36 minutes at Duquesne, 38 minutes against Loyola, 60 minutes against Central Michigan, and made her impact to help the team finish with an overall record of 7-7-4. The talented hard working Tsaparailis has a bright future and will be leader for the Falcons.

Alexis attended Saint Patrick’s High School in Sarnia, Ontario. She was an excellent student with a 4.0 GPA and was named to the Honours Society. Alexis among her many athletic honors was accepted to train for soccer at the Canadian Women’s National Development Center. Her dream was to play at the next level in soccer which she accomplished. Alexis is an active member of her Greek Orthodox church youth group and is a member of the Greek dance group.

Peter Vomvolakis has committed to play football at the United States Naval Academy. He plays center and defensive tackle for the Greenwich High School football team in Connecticut. He is a captain of the football team, a three-year letterman, a two-time All-State football player, and has played and started for the varsity football team in 40 consecutive games. 

He currently holds the high school bench press record at 435 pounds. A record previously held by John Sullivan, the former NFL player and football captain for Notre Dame.  His older brother George is a running back for Stonehill College and his younger brother Nicholas also plays on his high school team.

Peter is proud of his Greek heritage. His father is from Crete and his mother's family is from Kalamata. He recently visited Greece with his family and was inspired by the amazing history and people of Greece.

Congratulations to senior Alex Giannaros becoming the 18th player in Boston

University D1 women's basketball history to surpass 1,000 points.  Giannaros  reached the the milestone of 1,000 career points  hitting a 3 point shot against the University of New Hampshire. Alex has had an outstanding career at Boston University and

has been a leader on the court. Alex has earned many honors including First Team All-

Patriot League 2024, NCAA Women’s Division 1 Three-Point Percentage Statistical

Champion 2022-2023 season, and a Boston University Harry Agganis Award Winner. 

Christina Speliakos recently ran the arduous Spartan Race at Boston’s Historic Fenway Park being cheered on by AHEPA family members. Christina is a former track and field Division III All-American at Colby College. Growing up a gymnast, she switched to track and field her freshman year at Milford High School. During Christina’s time in high school, she was able to break numerous records and gain recognition, allowing her to compete for Colby College. At Colby, the fleet footed Speliakos was a 100m and 60m hurdler, triple jumper, and 4x100m relay member. Utilizing her vigorous training background, she took on the challenge of running in early November on the field at Fenway Park.

The Spartan race involved aspects of strength, endurance, and speed. Specifically, this race is a 5K with twenty obstacles. The obstacles varied from sandbag carrying up and down the bleachers, to a javelin throw, and finally to hurdling walls, and climbing ropes. I am proud to have run this race for the Boston AHEPA Chapter 24 and AHEPA charity.What I love most about my Greek heritage is the sense of community and strong family values.

Every Kuriakee ON AIR WNTN Grecian Echoes WNTN1550AM from Boston “The Athens of

America” The one and only Greek-American Sports show “THE BENCHWARMERS”

Hosted by Greek radio legend Ted Demetriades, Bill Galatis, Nick Ypsilantis, and Nick

Markopoulos.

Greek Hoop Scoop - Check it out an amazing site about all things about Greek Basketball. They cover Greek and Orthodox basketball tournaments individual players, teams, and much more. Editor Terry Poulos, is a long-time sports columnist for The Greek Star and Windy City Greek.com as well as a Greek American media journalist.

The 95 th NHIBT-National Hellenic Invitational Basketball Tournament will take place in

Chicago on March 28-30th, for High School and Senior Divisions. The tournament will be here before you know it. NHIBT President Dr. Peter Petrovas is urging community leaders to enter a team from their community. For more information go to NHIBT website.

OLI MAZH STO CHICAGO! OPA

🏈GOOD LUCK TO ALL Greek American HS  FOOTBALL PLAYERS ON THANKSGIVING DAY & IN YOUR  STATE'S  PLAYOFF  CHAMPIONSHIP FROM CALIFORNIA TO MAINE!🦃

Greek Idiom- Xero kai ego-How should I know?

Greek Philosophy- "Open your mind before opening your mouth." Aristophanes 

Greek American Sports wants to thank everyone who has supported all of our grass

roots effort this past year on our platforms on the web, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other Greek-American, Greek, and Cypriot sites that shared our Greek-American athlete's stories and accomplishments. The response has been amazing with our youth on GREEK AMERICAN SPORTS INSTAGRAM. We have been told by community leaders that the Greek American Sports Initiative work is incredibly important to our community and is really important for our young Greek American Athletes to be featured, promoted, and finally have a voice. All Greek- Greek-American athletes at the high school to college level have represented our heritage with great pride and for nearly 100 years and have made a positive societal impact. Our vision became a reality that has grown to highlight other Greek sporting events worldwide from the Olympics, FIBA Basketball, Paralympics, Soccer, Boxing, and more. However, we have always focused on our youth and have met all of our first-year goals. Please share our posts and tell your friends. If you submit an athlete's name send it to GreekAmericanSports@gmail.com    A word that we like to use is GINAITEH, "IT CAN HAPPEN." ΓΙΝΕΤΑΙ.

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