BYFIELD (Podcast) For their exploits both in the classroom and their respective athletic fields, Braeden McDonald of Triton Regional and Cindy Shehu of Salem Academy have been chosen as the Moynihan Lumber Student-Athletes of the Month for May. For information and interview with Shehu click here
Update: McDonald and #15 Triton boys lacrosse will play #18 Wayland at home Monday afternoon at 5 p.m.
Braeden McDonald – Triton Regional High School with Bill Newell
McDonald is a three-sport captain for the Vikings who is currently a key contributor and leader for the lacrosse team. He’s scored 8 goals this spring while assisting on 10 others, but more importantly has helped to guide the Vikings (9-8) to the No. 15 seed in the Division 3 state tournament — and a home playoff game — after a rough 2-7 start to the season.
“Braeden is one of the most coachable and hard-working players you will ever meet,” said Triton boys lacrosse coach Mike Rice. “His character qualities are outstanding, and explains why he has been elected captain in three sports during his senior year.”
While McDonald enjoys, and excels, in lacrosse, he could have been chosen as a Moynihan Scholar-Athlete in either golf or hockey as well. He leaves as a two-time Daily News Golf All-Star, and this past fall helped the team win both the CAL Kinney and popular Rival Rival Tournament, as well as place second at the Division 3 North Sectional. Then during the winter, McDonald used his 6-foot-5 frame and massive reach to be a shutdown defenseman for the hockey team. Under his leadership, the Vikings won the Lion’s Cup tournament early in the season, then went on a magical run to the Division 3 Semifinals as the tournament’s No. 10 seed. “This whole year between golf, hockey and lacrosse, I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better season,” said McDonald, who says he can’t choose a favorite sport between the three. “We won the CAL in golf, made the Final Four in hockey, and now we’ve really turned it around in lacrosse. It’s just been a lot of fun.”
But whenever it’s time to get schoolwork done, McDonald always gives it his main focus. He’s ranked No. 26 in his Triton senior class, and holds an overall GPA of 3.92 with a stellar senior year GPA of 4.30. That’s with taking all Honors classes this year along with AP Calculus, which was important before he heads off to UMass Amherst next year to major in Civil Engineering. He’s also in the World Language Club, Student Council and jazz band as a star saxaphone player, and during the summer he enjoys working as a forecaddie at Ould Newbury Golf Club.
“I think I’ve always known the right balance between the different activities,” said McDonald. “For me, my biggest thing is academics comes first. If I do well in the classroom, and I’ve had great teachers and great classmates who have helped me along the way, then the athletics will follow.”Shehu, by all accounts, will graduate as the most successful athlete in Salem Academy history.A three-sport standout (soccer, basketball, softball), Shehu hit .594 with 4 HR and 13 RBI while playing for the Navigators this spring. But also a 2,122-point scorer on the basketball court during her five-year high school career (including 8th grade), she has now shifted her focus to getting ready to play women’s college basketball at Salem State.“I really love basketball the most just because it’s more active,” said Shehu. “I never really expected to score 2,000 points when I came in during eighth grade, especially when we lost some games with COVID. But after my junior year, that was really when it started to seem possible.”
And speaking more on that time during the pandemic, Shehu says that’s when she tried to make the most of an unfortunate situation and really hone her studying abilities. She holds a 3.40 GPA, has routinely been on the school’s high honor roll, and certainly didn’t slouch her senior year with three AP classes (biology, literature, psychology) along with a College Prep Statistics class.
“During COVID it gave us a lot of time to ourselves,” said Shehu. “You really had to focus on homework, because there could be a lot of distractions being at home all the time. But after COVID, I found it was pretty easy to sort of keep that routine to make sure everything got done.”
