Cherry Hill High School East has a strong athletics program, from packed football stands on Friday nights, to rowdy fans cheering on the basketball team in the Dibart gym, to long seasons on the track. Sports have always been an important aspect of school spirit. Yet, not every athlete’s story begins at East. For some students, success comes in sports that the school simply doesn’t offer.

Multiple East athletes found their craft outside of high school: in rowing, horseback riding and rock climbing. These sports require special facilities, equipment and long hours of training. Though their sports aren’t represented at East, Carmella Viglietta (‘26), Peyton Frankovich (‘26), and Charlotte Bomze (‘26) have all shown what dedication looks like even when there isn’t a varsity roster or an East jersey to wear.

For Viglietta, rowing is more than just an after-school activity. It has become a way of life. She started training five years ago and now competes year-round while balancing schoolwork and 5 am practices.

“At practice, we warm up on the rowing machines or go for a run, then head out on the water,” Viglietta said. “Some days we focus on technique and longer steady pieces, and other days we do race-style intervals like ten by five-hundreds.”

Rowing takes both physical strength and mental focus. The routine can be exhausting, but Viglietta explains that’s how she gets better.

“It has to be hard if you’re going to get better,” she said. “Even if I perform poorly in a race, I know just doing the work helps me improve.”

Her mindset and hard work have paid off after recently committing to Boston University for rowing, a rare accomplishment for a high school athlete training outside of a school program.

“Committing was an amazing feeling,” she said. “All the hours of work finally paid off, and getting to tell my coaches and family that I did it was really rewarding.”

Viglietta sees rowing as a sport that teaches focus and strength. She also believes a rowing program at East could open the doors for other athletes in the future.

“Rowing teaches discipline beyond what any other sport I’ve done does,” she said. “It could give students opportunities they might not know exist.”

While Viglietta spends her mornings on the rowing machine, Frankovich spends her afternoons at the barn with her horse. Her sport, horseback riding, requires a partnership unlike any other. What began as just a casual resolution has turned into a lifelong passion.

“It was really random,” Frankovich said. “I decided one time as a New Year’s resolution that I just wanted to get into it. My mom put me in camp, and I just kind of continued from there.”

Frankovich now competes in eventing, a difficult aspect of horseback riding made up of three parts: dressage, where riders guide their horses through specific movements, show jumping, which tests accuracy and timing of jumps over fences; and cross-country, a fast course with natural obstacles. Each part challenges her in different ways, but what matters most to her is the bond she’s built with her horse.

“He’s honestly like my best friend,” she said. “He makes the day so much better whenever I go to see him.”
The sport has taught her to slow down and trust her intuition.

“You really just have to take your time and not rush through it,” said Frankovich. “Every horse is different, and everyone moves at a different pace.”

Similar to Viglietta, Frankovich competes completely outside of East’s athletics. She believes an equestrian program would spark some interest, but understands the challenges that come with it.

“It would bring a lot of people into the sport,” she said. “But it might be hard because of finding horses and the safety concerns.”

Even though they compete on their own, both athletes have the same drive that doesn’t come from attention or awards. Bomze also carries this mindset,, finding her place in a totally different setting, the climbing gym.

Bomze began climbing when she was younger after attending a birthday party at a local gym in Maple Shade. She paused on this spot for some time, but after not making the volleyball team her freshman year, she returned to the sport and never looked back.

“I think I just realized that climbing was what I really wanted to do,” she said. “I went back and haven’t stopped since.”

She now trains at Elite Climbing, a small gym that she describes as a second home. Everyone knows each other at this gym. The friendly atmosphere at Elite Climbing is something she wouldn’t trade for the world, along with the friends she’s made there throughout the years.

Climbing takes strength, focus and problem-solving. Bomze comments that she isn’t really scared when she climbs, but more struggles with trusting herself.

“You have to take a deep breath and focus on the movement,” she said. “If you want to get the climb, you have to commit and trust yourself.”

Competitions add another layer of pressure. Unlike team sports, climbers compete both individually and side by side.
“In competitions, you have a few hours to complete five climbs of the hardest difficulty you can,” Bomze explained. “If you fall, you have to wait in line again, and that stress builds up because you’re racing the clock.”

Even with that pressure, climbing has become an outlet rather than a source of stress.

“It’s such a good way to be yourself and focus,” she said. “The community is special because there’s no grudges or competition—it’s all people helping people.”

Bomze thinks that if East offered climbing as a club or elective, it could help bring students together the way her gym does. She also noted that climbing isn’t very common among students at East, saying she only knew one other student who climbed during her time at school, and that person has since graduated.

“I don’t see the harm in it,” she said. “The social side of climbing is amazing. You can go anywhere, walk into a gym, and people will help you. It’s not about being the best, it’s about solving the problem.”

Across three very different sports, Viglietta, Frankovich, and Bomze all hold the same lesson: success doesn’t depend on whether a sport is offered at school. Each has had to carve out their own path, balancing long training hours, travel and school life. All of this was accomplished without the structure or support of a team based at East.

Their dedication shows that winning within their sport is not about uniforms or student sections, but rather the early mornings and late nights spent perfecting their skills at the gym, barn or river. These athletes show that hard work, passion and talent don’t depend on what the school provides, but their own consistent effort.