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Q&A: mayoral hopeful Marty Flynn
By JOe EMANsKi
INTerVieW By JOe EMANsKi
Marty Flynn knows Hamilton Township, and Hamilton Township knows Marty Flynn. He grew up here, taught school here, and he is still working in education here, even after a long and successful career as teacher, coach and athletic director at Nottingham High School and in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district. The St. Anthony’s High School graduate currently serves as athletic director for the reborn Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy, which is situated on the same site as Flynn’s alma mater. But, as Flynn himself likes to say, he is always seeking out new challenges, which is one reason that he has accepted the Hamilton Republicans’ nomination to run against Democratic incumbent Jeff Martin for mayor of Hamilton this fall. Flynn spoke to the Hamilton Post by phone last month for See FLYNN, Page 6
Top 10 grads share future plans
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Seniors Ceara O’Neal (holding trophy) and Paige Schultz at Kean University on June 10, 2023 after Steinert’s softball team won the Central Jersey Group III state championship over Morris Knolls, 3-2. (Photo by Amanda Ruch/amandaruchphotography.smugmug.com).
Spartans take CJIII title By Rich Fisher
There are a million different words that could be used to describe the Steinert softball team’s 2023 state championship victory. If they were to be condensed into one word, it would be “surreal.” “That’s just the way it felt,” coach Jenn Melker said. “It was like an out-of-body experience.” That’s not surprising.
It’s extremely hard to win a state title; and even tougher to win it when losing the heart and soul of the team early in the championship game. That’s exactly what happened in the top of the second inning. With Steinert holding a 3-0 lead against Morris Knolls, pitcher Izzy Bonacci was at bat. She fouled a ball off on a check swing and immediately fell to the ground, injured. For the
next 25 minutes, as the players in both dugouts and the fans at Kean University awaited the ambulance’s arrival, it was as if time stood still. At home plate, Melker never left Bonacci’s side. “She was helping me get through the pain I was dealing with,” the hurler said. “Without her, I honestly don’t think I would have been able to get off See SOFTBALL, Page 16
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The Class of 2023 may have had the most memorable high school experience of any graduating class, and all too rarely for the best of reasons. This year’s graduates were freshmen when Covid-19 struck in the winter of 2020. They finished every year of high school in a post-pandemic world. And yet they did all that they could to keep this from deterring them from their hopes and dreams. As it does every year, the Hamilton Post is celebrating this year’s top achieving students from the three public high schools in the township. These 30 students were the top academic performers from each school in terms of grade point average, though they are by no means the only high achievers in their classes. Please join the Post in wishing all of the Class of 2023 good fortune from here on out and hoping for the best for their future. Our profiles of the top graduating seniors from each school begin on page 10.
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