Watchung Hills' Graboyes Honored at Annual Scholar Athlete Luncheon

They are opponents on the track, the court, the diamond and the course, but once a year, these opponents come together as friends and fellow honorees to acknowledged New Jersey’s top high school athletes.

On May 19, at the Pines Manor in Edison, they gathered to be honored, while an audience of some 1,000 persons—parents, coaches, and athletic officials looked on—at the 20th annual Scholar Athlete Luncheon of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).

One distinguished representative in the Class of 2013 from each of New Jersey’s more than 400 public and private high schools, came together to celebrate what they all have in common: talent in both athletics and academics.  Watchung resident Luke  Graboyes was Watchung Hills Regional High School’s representative in this prestigious sampling of student/athletes in New Jersey’s 2013 graduating class.

As though that were not honor enough, the very next day Graboyes also captured the overall individual title at the 79th NJSIAA Tournament of Champions (held at the Hopewell Valley Golf Club) with a 4 under par, taking the Watchung Hills team to the Group 4 Championship.

“To have pulled it off—it was amazing,” said Graboyes. 

Needless to say, Hills Coach Sean Mealey (who teaches in the Warren Township school system) was delighted with this victory. That individual title is what  Graboyes has been going for all these years, Mealey said.                         

Graboyes has had an enviable as well as outstanding record in the sport. He is the first Watchung Hills athlete to have been honored at the NJSIAA event for an outstanding record in golf. In 2012, he was Somerset County Champion; in 2011 and 2013, he was the Skylands Champion. In 2012-2013, he was named  Group II Sectional Champ, and  this year as well, earned the state championship medal.

Graboyes was also named High School Player of the Year in 2012 by the New Jersey Professional Golf Association.

Outside of  state, he has won recognition for his feats in such events as the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur Club of New England, the American Junior Golf Association  Open Championship, the William Penn Junior Championship.

Scholastically, Graboyes is also a winner, as evidenced by his membership in the National Honor Society. He has also been named to both the English and the Spanish Honor Societies Watchung Hills.

Graboyes will most assuredly continue to play golf when he enters Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) in the fall. He plans to major in economics in this Division 1 school. 

The NJSIAA, organized in 1919, began the recognition luncheon event for outstanding student athletes of its member schools in 1994. It awards scholarships as well as tokens of recognition to those who have been designated Scholar-Athletes by their respective high schools.