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12/22/2016 11:00 PMThe winter of 2016 was very kind to East Haven athletics. The Yellowjackets’ girls’ basketball and boys’ ice hockey teams made some noise in the playoffs, while wrestler Tim Seksinski took first place in his weight class at the SCC Championship. Elsewhere, the Easties’ indoor track teams combined to break 14 school records.
Girls’ Basketball
The East Haven girls’ basketball team put together an exceptional winter campaign as the Yellowjackets boasted a 21-5 overall record with trips to the SCC semifinals and the Class L state quarterfinals. In the respective tournaments, the Yellowjackets lost to Hand in the SCC bracket and against Bacon Academy in the Class L tourney.
East Haven also won a share of the SCC Oronoque Division title and was led by sophomore Kylie Schlottman, who averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds per game. Aside from collecting team MVP honors, Schlottman was an All-Division, All-Area, and All-State selection. Yellowjakets’ senior captain Miranda Gladwin was named to the All-SCC Oronoque squad, as well. Head Coach Anthony Russell needed to make room in his trophy case after being named the SCC Coach of the Year, the New Haven Register All-Area Coach of the Year, and the New Haven Tap-Off Coach of the Year. Alyssa Guarino was selected as the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials Board 10 Assistant Coach of the Year.
Boys’ Basketball
The Yellowjackets ended the season at 6-14 overall, but did wrap up the year on a winning note with a 68-37 victory over Platt Tech.
Seniors Conor Reynolds and Nick Durso led the team in scoring throughout the season and even pitched in on the glass by grabbing several rebounds per game. Durso averaged a team-high 16.7 points a night, while Reynolds added 13.2 per game for the year.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
It was the tale of two seasons for East Haven this winter as the Yellowjackets started slow and then came on late to reach the playoffs for the 30th-straight season with Head Coach Lou Pane, who picked up his 400th career victory during the year.
After a 2-6-3 start, Easties could have folded, but a late-season surge propelled them into the Division II State Tournament, where they continued to play well. East Haven defeated Conard and Branford in the first two rounds of the tournament to get to the semifinals at Ingalls Rink in New Haven. They were then defeated by top-seeded North Branford, 7-1, to finish the season at 9-10-4 overall.
A major milestone for Coach Pane came on Feb. 20, when the Easties shut out Masuk 6-0. The victory marked No. 400 for Pane’s behind the bench as East Haven’s head coach. Joe D’Albero was the team’s lone captain for the winter season and Joe Aloi led the Easties in scoring with 49 points on 24 goals and 25 assists.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
On the heels of winning back-to-back SCC Division II titles, Branford-East Haven-North Branford posted an overall record of 9-10-1 in its first year in Division I of the SCC.
Sophomore Julia SanGiovanni, an East Haven resident, earned All-Conference Second Team honors for her play in goal. The Hornets’ co-head coaches were Jack Norton and Lauren Wiggins. The team’s senior captains were East Haven student Julia Schatz and Branford’s Anna Pascale. Schatz played on the top line with junior center Sydney Hogan and fellow North Branford student Emmy Norton, a sophomore.
Wrestling
East Haven was well represented at the SCC Championship, the Class M State Championship, and the State Open, while showcasing plenty of skill in Head Coach Lou Rivellini’s second season.
The highlight for the Yellowjackets came at the SCC Championship, where Tim Seksinski was the victor in the 195-pound weight class. In the final, he won by a 6-4 decision over Branford’s Jackson Seward. With 10 other wrestlers represented at the SCC competition, East Haven finished seventh as a team.
Boys’ Indoor Track
Six school records were set in the winter of 2016 for East Haven with five coming in individual events.
The new marks were set by Mike Griffith in the long jump at 21 feet-9 inches, Austin Thornberg in the high jump at 6 feet, Austin Rivera in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:13.3, and Garrett Pates in the 300 (37.25) and 400 (54.05). East Haven also broke a relay record as the 4x200 team of Griffith, Pates, Jay Donaldson, and McClay Marshall ran a 1:34.25 on a banked track and 1:34.72 for a flat surface. That group also finished First-Team All-State with their victory at the Class M State Championship.
Girls’ Indoor Track
The Yellowjackets took down five individual and three team records during the 2016 winter season.
The individual marks broken by the girls’ squad were in the high jump by Molly Mazzucco, who attained 4 feet-10 inches, along with Megan Kikosicki in the 300 meter dash at 43.17, Emily Maffeo in the 400-meter dash at 64.80, and Katie Maffeo in both the 800 (2:29.98) and 1,000 (3:14.76). East Haven also broke records in the 4x200 relay, 4x400 relay, and the 1,600 sprint medley relay. The 4x200 team of Kikosicki, Hailey Onorato, Annie Coleman, and Emily Maffeo set marks of 1:50.83 on a banked track and 1:50.89 on a flat track. The 4x400 squad of Kikosicki, Onorato, Katie Maffeo, and Emily Maffeo posted a mark of 4:23.81, while the sprint medley group of Kikosicki, Coleman, Emily Maffeo, and Katie Maffeo ran a time of 4:33.82.
Cheerleading
East Haven claimed an eighth-place finish in the All-Girl Division at the SCC Championship this winter.
The Yellowjackets followed that up with a ninth-place performance at the Class L State Championship.