Athlete Spotlight: Alex Melitz, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Lacrosse

by Andrew Garda

garda@montclairlocal.news

Monday’s boys lacrosse game between the Montclair Kimberley Academy Cougars and the Montclair High School Mounties was a seesaw affair, with the Cougars building an 11-2 lead only to watch the Mounties surge back to within two goals, In the closing minute of the game, Montclair High School trailed by a score of 12-10 and were on the attack.

MKA goaltender Alex Melitz had seen a lot of shots in the second half, as the Montclair Kimberly Academy defense stumbled and the Mounties fought to come back into the game, but wasn’t rattled. He’d already made 10 saves on the day — some of them incredibly well executed — but he stood on his head for two more big ones to preserve the win.

After the win, the Cougar senior said he’d really pushed himself at the end for his team.

”To have everyone rally with you the whole game, you really just want to repay them for all they’ve done,” he said. “They helped me get some easy shots, get warmed up in game and all that. So, I have to give it up to them too.”

Doing it for his team, Melitz said making those saves were special moments.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” he said.

During the rough second half, when MHS was on the attack, Melitz said he had to work on getting his team focused again.

“When they started to come back, we weren’t communicating as much. And we weren’t getting our one-slide and two-slides, but once we fixed that and started talking again, we were able to stop their run and get our energy back up,” he said.

Melitz was kind enough to give us a few minutes to get to know him after the game.

Have you decided on a college?

I’m going to Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Will you play lacrosse there?

Yes I am, but I’m on a merit-based scholarship, not an athletic one.

What are you going to study?

Biochemistry and journalism. Maybe mix those two fields together. You don’t see too many scientists writing about it from that direction.

Favorite class in high school?

Holocaust and Genocide. I really like learning the history of it, and how it comes to be. It’s not just “oh there’s genocide happening,” that came out of nowhere.” We need to look at the steps leading up to it and how to prevent it. I really find that interesting.

Do you have any hobbies?

Call of Duty. But right now, it’s really about playing lacrosse, hanging with friends, doing schoolwork and playing CoD. I watch Netflix and I’ve re-watched “The Office” about ten times every year. I love Stranger Things too, I binged that in three days.