Marie Philip School and Walden School (MPWS) is proud to recognize several student athletes who received awards from the National Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Association
National Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Association (NDIAA) formally announced all major end-of-season awards (Team, Player, Coach of the Year) for the Winter 2024-25 Season along with the All-American honors.
In a competitive year where so many student-athletes posted outstanding years, Galloping Ghosts freshman forward/center Yarleiry ‘Kai’ Gabriel (Lawrence, MA) was recognized by the NDIAA as a Division 2 Girls Basketball Honorable Mention.
During the 2024-25 season, Kai played in 16 games and made an impact during those 16 games - averaging 7.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.
MPWS senior Faith Kirlis (Bridgewater, MA) has gone above and beyond for the Galloping Ghosts Varsity Girls Basketball Program in her final year as a student-athlete. After playing a specific role the past few years -- Faith expanded her game to do a little of everything, and more!
In 22 games this season, Faith averaged a team-high 10 points per game in addition to 14.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. She finishes her Galloping Ghosts Girls Basketball career second in rebounding in our program history (964 total rebounds).
Faith was also recognized by the NDIAA as a Division 2 Girls Basketball First Team All American and even went to Washington, D.C. to play in the USADB Senior All-Star Game on Saturday, April 19.
MPWS senior guard/forward Andrew Riebe (Randolph, MA) stepped up into a bigger role for the Varsity Boys Basketball team this season. Appearing in 26 games, Andrew averaged 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Andrew wrapped up his Galloping Ghosts basketball career with back-to-back Eastern Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association (ESDAA) Division 1 Boys Basketball Championships. Andrew was recognized by the NDIAA as a Division 2 Boys Basketball All American Honorable Mention.
Senior Xavier DeLeon (Methuen, MA) will go down in Galloping Ghost boys' basketball program history as one of the greatest basketball players. In his senior season, Xavier averaged 26 points, 11.6 rebounds, 6.1 steals and 4.7 assists per game. Xavier wraps up his Galloping Ghosts career as the all-time boys' basketball program leader in points (2,169), steals (547) and three-pointers (232).
Xavier helped lead the Galloping Ghosts basketball to back-to-back Eastern Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association (ESDAA) Division 1 Boys Basketball Championships!
Xavier was recognized by the NDIAA as a Division 2 Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season, in addition to a First Team All American honor. This is the third consecutive year that Xavier has earned this honor, the first time that NDIAA has ever given out this honor to any male or female basketball student-athlete.
Congratulations to all our student athletes!