Phillips Exeter Academy

Exeter Deconstructed: Cilley Ball

Spikeball is an amusing distraction. Cornhole’s great for barbecues. The gentlemen of Cilley Hall have their own game of skill and athletic prowess that has endured for decades: Cilley Ball.

The official sport of the boys dorm is equal parts volleyball and tennis with some custom modifications. The court, set along the building’s north side, is split in half by two wooden benches to serve as the “net.” A game of “C-Ball” — as the denizens refer to it — requires two teams of two and a specific Hedstrom-brand ball. The current game ball is adorned with the puppies of Paw Patrol.

“We tend to pop about eight balls a year, so someone has to go and get balls every once in a while,” says Joe Doherty ’23, a dorm proctor and four-year C-Baller.

“There are three basic rules,” Doherty says. “One, each team gets three touches. Two, each team gets one bounce. Three, if it hits the bench, the touches and bounces reset.”

Believed to have been invented in the 1990s and modified since, Cilley Ball has been a welcome diversion for hundreds of Cilley boys.

“Those forged-on-the-court friendships are worth any dip in grades,” wrote Cilley Hall resident Max de La Bruyère ’09 in The Exonian in 2008. “Something it has taken me a few years to convince my parents.”

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Duke law professor to receive Phillips Award

The Trustees have chosen James E. Coleman Jr. ’66; P ‘16 as the recipient of the 2024 John and Elizabeth Phillips Award, which recognizes an Exonian who has contributed significantly to the welfare of community, country or humanity.

As an attorney, law professor and civil rights advocate, Coleman has been nationally recognized as a leader in pursuing justice for the wrongfully convicted and for death penalty reform. A member of the Duke University faculty for more than 25 years, he is currently the John S. Bradway Professor of the Practice of Law, director of the Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility, and director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke Law School.

Over 15 years in private practice with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C., Coleman was known for litigating a wide range of cases, including criminal (capital post-conviction), employment discrimination and numerous other civil rights actions. He was also active in the firm’s pro bono program, advising civil rights organizations and representing clients in discrimination cases. In 1987, he received the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Pro Bono Award for his contribution to the enforcement of civil rights laws. Coleman has also served in various government roles, including deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Education.

In 2022, the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School awarded Coleman the Raphael Lemkin Rule of Law Guardian Medal, which honors individuals who work to protect the rule of law in their everyday work, in ways large and small.

Coleman will receive the John and Elizabeth Phillips Award and speak during assembly on Oct. 25.

Exeter girls swim & dive repeats as New England champ

The Exeter girls varsity swim and dive team was crowned the New England champion for the second straight year and capped an undefeated season at the Division I Championships this past weekend. Big Red sat atop the standings by a 50-point margin to runner-up Andover amongst a talented 12-team field. This marks the 18th New England title for the girls program.

Exeter boys swimming also capped an outstanding season, finishing 8-1 on the year and claiming second place overall at the Division I Championships. The boys kept an impressive streak of their own alive as they have now placed in the top four in 32 of the past 33 New England championship meets. Ethan Guo ’25 earned a share of the annual Babcock Award, an award voted on by coaches to outstanding student-athletes who best exemplify the values of New England Prep School Swimming and Diving. He is the first Big Red student-athlete to win the award since Andrew Benson ’20 in 2020.

“People often don’t realize what a team sport high school swimming and diving is,” said Exeter head coach Don Mills. “It’s the collective effort from the team that wins meets — our divers, our relays, our kids that make it to B finals and move up two spots. It’s the camaraderie and encouragement you see every day in practice. We are fortunate to have kids that are fast and buy into our program.”

Sunday’s finals got off to a spectacular start for Big Red as Mena Boardman ’26, Audrey Zhang ’24, Brianna Cong ’25 and Sophie Phelps ’25 set a pool and meet record in the 200 medley relay with an All-American time of 1:42.81 in the first event of the day.

Boardman would help guide Big Red to their second straight title, following the medley relay win with a trio of dominant, record-setting swims. Boardman set a pool, meet and New England record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.22, dusting her opponents by 1.5 seconds before breaking her own pool, meet, and New England record she set during Saturday’s prelims in the 100 butterfly when she touched the wall at 51.62, nearly three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Boardman finished off her day by teaming up with Cong, Phelps and Chloe Meyer-Blohm ’27 to set another pool, meet and New England record in the 400 freestyle relay with an All-American time of 3:24.70, besting the heat by an incredible seven seconds.

While Boardman was outstanding, Big Red received contributions from everyone on the roster. Brianna Cong ’25 earned a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 butterfly (54.23) and 100 backstroke (56.34), while Sophie Phelps ’25 added a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle (51.58) and earned a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:05.05).

Gene Sunthornrangsri ’26 added a second place in the 200 freestyle (1:54.57) and swam to a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle (5:01.82). Chloe Meyer-Blohm ’27 claimed third in the 50 freestyle (24.03) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (52.56). The 200 freestyle relay team of Meyer-Blohm, Sunthornrangsri, Vedika Amin ’24 and Audrey Zhang ’24 posted a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 3:09.26.  

On the boys side, Nick Limoli ’26 got Big Red off on the right foot as he earned first place and New England Diving Champion honors in the diving portion of the meet, which was held on Wednesday.

On Sunday, it was Guo who led the way. Guo earned a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall at 1:37.23, while also finishing first overall in the 100 backstroke with an All-American time of 49.07. Guo also teamed up with Michael Yang ’24, Lang Gou ’25 and Rudd Day ’25 to earn a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, swimming to an All-American time of 1:31.62. He also rallied with Winston Wang ’25, Wayne Zheng ’26 and Day to turn in a third-place finish with an All American time of 1:23.38 in the 200 freestyle relay.

Day added a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle (20.52) and a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle (46.05) while Michael Yang ’24 swam to a fourth-place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke, touching at 57.70. Zheng, Gou, Yang and Wang closed out the championship weekend with a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, posting a time of 3:09.26.

Exeter boys basketball captures fifth title

Exeter boys basketball are champions once again as Big Red captured their fifth NEPSAC Class A title with a 60-42 victory over Andover in Sunday’s final on the campus of Clark University.

Big Red led wire-to-wire and avenged a loss to the Blue in the regular-season finale to wrap up their season with a 19-5 record. Exeter once again proved to be the preeminent program in the division as the five titles are the most in Class A since 2012; no other program has won more than twice in that span.

Exeter, the sixth seed entering the tournament, earned road wins over third-ranked Tabor Academy (93-63) and second-ranked Milton Academy (63-51) on the way to the championship matchup with eighth-seeded Andover.

“This was just an incredible run for our team,” said Big Red head coach Jay Tilton, who has helmed all five titles. “Turning in three straight road wins against top Class A teams illustrates the mental toughness and competitive nature of this group. They have been committed to something bigger than themselves from day one and I could not be more proud of them.”

Tyler Bike ’25 was named Most Valuable Player following the win. The point guard was instrumental in controlling the game while pouring in a game-high 16 points.

Big Red gained control early with stingy defense and rode the offense from Osiris Nalls ’24 and Henry Bickford ’24, who each scored seven points in the opening half, to build a 29-19 edge at the break.

Andover cut the deficit to single digits with consecutive buckets in the opening minute of the second half, but Exeter answered with a pair of Bike 3-pointers to push its advantage to 37-26. An offensive rebound putback from Jordan McConnell ’25 and a steal and score from Nalls extended the Big Red lead to 41-26 with 10 minutes to go.

Exeter continued to stymie the Andover offense and get the ball to the rim on the other end. Big Red padded their lead to 54-37 with a pair of Nalls free throws and another layup from McConnell with just under four minutes to close out the victory. 

Exeter girls swim & dive repeats as New England champ

The Exeter girls varsity swim and dive team was crowned the New England champion for the second straight year and capped an undefeated season at the Division I Championships this past weekend. Big Red sat atop the standings by a 50-point margin to runner-up Andover amongst a talented 12-team field. This marks the 18th New England title for the girls program.

Exeter boys swimming also capped an outstanding season, finishing 8-1 on the year and claiming second place overall at the Division I Championships. The boys kept an impressive streak of their own alive as they have now placed in the top four in 32 of the past 33 New England championship meets. Ethan Guo ’25 earned a share of the annual Babcock Award, an award voted on by coaches to outstanding student-athletes who best exemplify the values of New England Prep School Swimming and Diving. He is the first Big Red student-athlete to win the award since Andrew Benson ’20 in 2020.

“People often don’t realize what a team sport high school swimming and diving is,” said Exeter head coach Don Mills. “It’s the collective effort from the team that wins meets — our divers, our relays, our kids that make it to B finals and move up two spots. It’s the camaraderie and encouragement you see every day in practice. We are fortunate to have kids that are fast and buy into our program.”

Sunday’s finals got off to a spectacular start for Big Red as Mena Boardman ’26, Audrey Zhang ’24, Brianna Cong ’25 and Sophie Phelps ’25 set a pool and meet record in the 200 medley relay with an All-American time of 1:42.81 in the first event of the day.

Boardman would help guide Big Red to their second straight title, following the medley relay win with a trio of dominant, record-setting swims. Boardman set a pool, meet and New England record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.22, dusting her opponents by 1.5 seconds before breaking her own pool, meet, and New England record she set during Saturday’s prelims in the 100 butterfly when she touched the wall at 51.62, nearly three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Boardman finished off her day by teaming up with Cong, Phelps and Chloe Meyer-Blohm ’27 to set another pool, meet and New England record in the 400 freestyle relay with an All-American time of 3:24.70, besting the heat by an incredible seven seconds.

While Boardman was outstanding, Big Red received contributions from everyone on the roster. Brianna Cong ’25 earned a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 butterfly (54.23) and 100 backstroke (56.34), while Sophie Phelps ’25 added a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle (51.58) and earned a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:05.05).

Gene Sunthornrangsri ’26 added a second place in the 200 freestyle (1:54.57) and swam to a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle (5:01.82). Chloe Meyer-Blohm ’27 claimed third in the 50 freestyle (24.03) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (52.56). The 200 freestyle relay team of Meyer-Blohm, Sunthornrangsri, Vedika Amin ’24 and Audrey Zhang ’24 posted a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 3:09.26.  

On the boys side, Nick Limoli ’26 got Big Red off on the right foot as he earned first place and New England Diving Champion honors in the diving portion of the meet, which was held on Wednesday.

On Sunday, it was Guo who led the way. Guo earned a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall at 1:37.23, while also finishing first overall in the 100 backstroke with an All-American time of 49.07. Guo also teamed up with Michael Yang ’24, Lang Gou ’25 and Rudd Day ’25 to earn a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, swimming to an All-American time of 1:31.62. He also rallied with Winston Wang ’25, Wayne Zheng ’26 and Day to turn in a third-place finish with an All American time of 1:23.38 in the 200 freestyle relay.

Day added a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle (20.52) and a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle (46.05) while Michael Yang ’24 swam to a fourth-place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke, touching at 57.70. Zheng, Gou, Yang and Wang closed out the championship weekend with a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, posting a time of 3:09.26.

Big Red travels to Andover as rivals reunite

With throngs of Exeter’s and Andover’s most passionate and supportive students, alumni, family and friends lining the sidelines, the 2024 winter edition of Big Red vs. Big Blue took place on the Andover campus Saturday. Record-setting performances in the pool were the highlight of the day for Big Red, while the results on the ice and on the hardwood tilted in Andover’s favor.

Exeter girls varsity swimming capped an 8-0 regular season, topping Andover 97-89, while the girls JV squad also picked up a win over the hosts, 88-82. The girls varsity 200 freestyle relay team of Chloe Meyer-Blohm ‘27, Sophie Phelps ’25, Brianna Cong ‘25 and Mena Boardman ‘26 turned in a pool- and meet-record time of 1:36.64, while Cong, Audrey Zhang ‘24, Boardman and Phelps teamed up to break a meet record in the medley relay, touching the wall at 1:44.93.

On the boys side, Ethan Guo ‘25, Winston Wang ‘25, Wayne Zhang ‘26 and Rudd Day ‘25 broke the meet record and the Exeter school record in the 200 freestyle relay, coming in at 1:23.68. The previous school record was set in 2012. Despite their record-breaking efforts, Andover’s boys varsity topped Exeter 105-78 while also earning the victory in the JV meet, 109-58.

The Red and Blue faithful were treated to two tightly contested matchups in the gym. Trailing by eight with under four minutes to play in the boys varsity basketball game, Exeter went on a 6-0 spurt powered by a Tyler Bike ’25 steal and score before Ryder Frost ’25 was fouled on a 3-point attempt and converted all three free throws to cut the deficit down to two, 57-55. Andover answered with a deep 3-pointer that ignited a 7-0 run of its own, closing out the game with a 64-58 decision. Frost finished with a team-high 19 points. Bike and Isaiah Reese ’25, who knocked down three triples in the second half, each finished with 14. Despite the setback, Big Red has punched their ticket to the Class A playoffs, which tip off Wednesday.

On the girls side, a flurry of answered points in the waning minutes of the first half gave Andover a double-digit edge at the break. Big Red started to chip away in the third quarter thanks to some hot shooting from Laurie Chung ’24 before a three-point play by Cassie Beste ’25 cut the deficit to five midway through the fourth quarter. Big Blue answered the call, however, scoring six straight to roll to the 52-44 win. Beste poured in a team-best 15 points, while Chung added 11. Amelia Byerly ’24 finished with 10 points for the visitors.

On the ice, it was the hosts who controlled much of the play in both the girls and boys games. Girls hockey opened up the rivalry day in a fast-paced opening period. Big Blue opened the scoring four minutes into the game before adding a trio of goals in the second period on their way to a 6-0 win. Despite the loss, girls hockey has qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2009 and will travel to play Dexter Southfield on Wednesday in first-round action.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first, Big Red boys hockey nearly evened the score on a pair of power play chances early in the second period before being turned away by the Andover goalie. Big Blue then turned defense into offense, potting a shorthanded goal and following with another tally just one minute later to stake a 3-0 advantage. Andover closed out the game with a 4-0 decision.

Former trustee honored with Founders’ Day Award

General Alumni Association President, Trustee and Awards Committee Chair Betsy Fleming ’86 has announced the selection of Peter Aldrich ’62; P’99, P’03 as the recipient of the 2024 Founders’ Day Award.

Since 1976, the GAA has given the Founders’ Day Award annually to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional service to the Academy over many years. Aldrich launched his long record of volunteer service as chair of the Long Step Forward campaign, which raised $25 million for the Academy from 1967 to 1971. Over the years, he has served as class correspondent, reunion committee member and 50th reunion gift committee and attendance committee chair for the Class of 1962.

Most memorably, Aldrich served on Exeter’s Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1997. As chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee from 1989 to 1991, he steered the Trustees toward a new commitment to preserving and maintaining Exeter’s buildings and other facilities at the highest level possible. Through his clear dedication and commitment to Exeter, he helped shape the school’s fiscal — and physical — future.

Aldrich is the founder and retired chair of AEW Capital Management, one of the nation’s oldest real estate investment advisories, as well as a former chair of the investment holding company AEGIS, LLC, and a former faculty chair of the Research Council on Global Investment of the Conference Board.

In retirement, Aldrich has followed his passion for oil painting, and displays his artwork near his home in Little Compton, Rhode Island, and elsewhere. He and his wife, Widgie, are “distinguished benefactors” of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where he is also a trustee. Two of their four children, Charley Aldrich ’99 and Amanda Hastings ’03, attended Exeter.

Aldrich will accept the Founders’ Day Award and speak during assembly on Friday, May 17.

Grevious repeats as Gatorade Player of the Year

Exeter senior Byron Grevious ’24 earned yet added another recognition to his remarkable collection as he was named New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year for his successful cross-country season this past fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year award honors the nation’s most elite high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community. In addition to his high standards he has set for himself on the trails and in the classroom, Grevious also volunteered for the Special Olympics and an organization serving at-risk youth in his home state of Connecticut while also working for WPEA, Exeter’s student-run radio station.

“State champ, regional champ and All-American: It’d be hard to ask much more of Byron Grevious in 2023,” said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack in the Gatorade press release. “He also broke the meet record at the Manchester Invitational for good measure and seems destined to make a name for himself on the left coast at Stanford next season.”

This is the third Gatorade Player of the Year honor Grevious has received in his career, also earning the recognition following the 2022 cross-country season and the 2023 track and field season.

Grevious placed first in each regular-season race he ran, including at the always competitive Manchester Invitational and Black Bear Invitational. His postseason performance was just as impressive as he earned his third straight New England individual and team title at Loomis Chaffee before running to a Nike Cross Regional championship at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls, New York, where he crossed 17 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, leading Big Red to a fifth-place finish overall. He capped his season and his high school cross-country career with a strong performance at Nike Cross Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, where he placed 11th overall in a field stacked with the best runners from around the country.

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Focus on Filipino history

After more than two years of planning, the Academy led its first travel-and-learning trip focused on Indigenous Filipino history in the U.S. The 10-day Balikbayan Program to California in November supported nine students and three chaperones, including me.

As the adviser of the Exeter Pinoy Society, the dean of Multicultural Affairs, and a person born and raised in Manila, Philippines, I feel privileged and honored to be a part of a project that has been professionally and personally affirming.

The idea for this cultural trip took root in 2021 when the Pinoy Society co-heads at the time — Grace Nivera ’23, Gretl Baghdadi ’22, Elijah Porras ’22 and Aaron Venzon ’22 — dreamt of bringing the club to the Philippines as a way of “coming home.” Balikbayan is the Tagalog word for “returning home” for someone who has been away for some time.

The Philippines still had COVID travel restrictions, so we pivoted to a domestic trip. We researched cities that had significance to the Filipino American experience, including St. Malo, Louisiana, the first settlement of Filipinos in the U.S.; and St. Louis, Missouri, home of the 1904 World’s Fair, where 2,000 Filipinos, many of whom were Indigenous, were displayed in a human zoo. We decided to visit Morro Bay, California, where the first Filipinos landed on U.S. soil on Oct. 18, 1587.

After submitting the club’s trip proposal to the Academy, the students had the opportunity to talk about the project at the People of Color Conference in San Antonio, Texas, and the Asian American Footsteps Conference ’22 at St. Paul’s School. Shortly thereafter, we received confirmation that the proposal was approved and that Exeter would support our dream.

Our journey began in San Francisco where we visited the SOMA Pilipinas cultural neighborhood. Our tour guide led us through the San Francisco Filipino Cultural Heritage District and showed us the impact of gentrification on the Filipino communities that were displaced. One of the students reflected: “It is easy to sympathize with the city workers and their wish to ‘clean up’ the city and make it more ‘presentable’ by modernizing roads and buildings. Yet this point of view completely ignores deeply important cultural and social values imbued in these spaces that ‘need modernizing.’”

After four days in San Francisco, we made our way south to Morro Bay, where we visited the Landing of the First Filipinos. One student said, “One of my highlights was visiting the Morro Bay Rock and reading about the first landing of the Filipinos in America … being able to crane our necks at the towering rocks and watch the sunset while journaling was truly a breathtaking experience.”

In Los Angeles, we visited Historic Filipinotown, spending time at Unidad Park which has a mural that outlines over 2,000 years of Filipino history. We also met with Anthony Christian Ocampo, a sociology professor and author of The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race. He was generous with his time and the students appreciated the meaningful exchange.

In the end, one student summarized her experience with gratitude: “We learned on this trip that Filipinos often feel the need to assimilate, and thus try to distance themselves from the culture. Now that I have clearly seen this and learned about it, I feel more compelled to learn more about the other 50 percent of me that I feel I have neglected for a very long time. This trip has taught me so much about who I am, and I am sincerely grateful for it.”

Editor’s note: This feature first appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.