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01/28/2014 11:00 PMGymnastics
The Tigers hosted both Foran and RHAM on Jan. 23 and tallied 136.7 points to sweep the meet and improve to 8-0.
Stefani Taschner won both the vault (9.4) and floor (9.3) events, while Abby McGuirk captured the bars (8.9), beam (8.7), and all-around (35.35). Kendall Jerzyk also finished second for floor exercises (9.2) and third for the bars (8.4). Rounding out the Hand scoring were Maria Iennaco (31.05 all-around; 8.45 on floor), Lily Spencer (31.05 all-around; 8.4 on floor), and Ashlyn Thompson (8.4 on vault; 8.3 on floor).
Boys' Basketball
Hand defeated Shelton by a 64-41 decision on Jan. 24 to move to 8-3 and clinch a state tournament spot for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
Sam Jablonski's three-pointer on Hand's second possession ignited a 14-1 Tigers' run to open the game. After a 34-15 halftime lead, Hand led by as many as 26 late in the third. Jablonski led with 14 points, as Brendan Hughes added 11, and Andre Frederick contributed with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Girls' Basketball
Due to weather, Hand had to play on consecutive nights last week, but it came away with two wins in routing Cross, 69-27, at home on Jan. 23 before a 55-53 road victory over Sheehan the next night to move to 10-4.
Hosting the Governors, Cross jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but it would be short-lived, as Hand finished out the quarter on a 21-6 run with six different Tigers getting in the scorebook. Hand continued to stretch the lead to 35-12 at the half and 52-16 at the end of three, holding the Governors to just six points in the second and third quarters combined. The Tigers had cleared the bench by the fourth, cruising to the 42-point win.
Sophie Joel led all scorers with 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half, and Cori Ouellette was also in double figures with 11 points with the Tigers having 14 players score on the night.
At Sheehan, Hand fired out of the gate in opening the game on a 12-0 run behind Cassidy Wygonik's five points, but Sheehan would close the quarter on a 14-2 run to even the score at the end of one. But Hand took a 43-40 edge into the final frame and looked to finally seize control of the game, yet the Tigers struggled at the foul line, going 6-of-14 in the quarter (10-of-20 overall), allowing the door to stay open for the Titans. After rebounding a Hand miss with six seconds left and the Tigers clinging to a two-point lead, Sheehan launched a three at the buzzer that was just off the mark, allowing Hand to escape with the decision.
Gege Catalano led the Tigers with 15 points, 13 rebounds, six steals, and three blocks, while Lily Taylor was the only other Tiger in double figures with 11 points.
Indoor Track
Hand competed in the SCC East Sectional Championship on Jan. 26 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center. The boys were strong third-place finishers with 64.66 points, while the girls came in fourth with 63 points.
On the boys' side, the 4x800 relay squad of Mike Gentile, Connor Favre, Kevin Clarke, and Adam Taylor was first with a time of 8:37.85. Ian Bergere took the pole vault (14-3), and Rich Sangster wasn't too far behind in third (11-6). With the girls, Kathryn Phillips took home the 1,000 title (3:14.71), and the 1,600 sprint medley team of Phillips, Lauren Brady, Justine Griffin, and Sam Schaefer won its event (4:31.67). Another relay victory came from the 4x400 group of Emily Shafer, Jane Butler, Madeline Yaggi, and Molly Citrin (4:17.21).
Elsewhere, the 4x200 team of Citrin, Brady, Griffin, and Schaefer was third (1:52.01); Caroline O' Neil came in third for the 55 (7.53); Jane Butler saw third in the 600 (1:45.89); and O'Neil found third in the 300 (43.33).
Boys' Swimming and Diving
Hand won three straight decisions over Xavier (98-88) on Jan. 7 in addition to ones against Hamden (99-84) on Jan. 10 and Lyman Hall (97-87) on Jan. 15 to bring its mark to 3-1.
Versus Lyman Hall at Sheehan, the meet started out with team of Jack Lynch, Noel Haren, Mike Healey, and Doug Wu winning a very close 200 medley relay by just over half a second (1:50.95). Subsequent first-place finishes went to Haren in the 200 IM (2:11.82), Teddy Zeng in diving (329.65 points), Ethan Crans in the 100 backstroke (1:01.73), and the 400 free relay team of Davide Mendonca, Crans, Lynch, and Haren (3:47.44).
Wrestling
Hand notched a 36-32 home win over Foran on Jan. 23 to move to 7-3 on the year.
Wins came courtesy of Connor Sakmar (106; 8-6 decision), Lucas Mendicino (120; pin 1:02), Liam Sullivan (126; 4-2 decision), Kevin Mallon (132; pin 1:59), Ashton Gyenizs (138; pin 2:30), Owen Gottlick (145; pin 3:32), and Zakery Santoemma (152; pin 4:59).
Fencing
The Tigers took on Rectory School and Morgan on Jan. 23. Versus Rectory School, the boys' novice group went 8-1 with Jack Lazor and Sam Cohen both 2-0 on the day, while the boys' JV won 5-4, as Miles Mantzaris took all three of his bouts. Furthermore, the boys' (13-3) and girls' (9-0) varsity units each prevailed.
Facing Morgan, girls' novice won, 7-2, with Lauren Ganino and Chloe Moulin both going 2-0. In addition, boys' JV fell, 7-2, girls' varsity triumphed, 7-2, and boys' varsity lost, 10-6.
On the week, strong records included Kathleen Downes (6-0), Chloe Broquet (5-1), Griffin McShane (7-1), and Ha Yeong Kim (6-2).