Printer Friendly Version - North Haven Sees Three Runner-Ups at SCCs; Hockey Squads Get Wins

Senior Omar Gebril took second place in the 600-meter run by recording a time of 1:22.94 for North Haven at the SCC Championship on Feb. 3. Gebril’s time was three seconds faster than in his win at the SCC West Sectional Championship the previous week. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

Senior Omar Gebril took second place in the 600-meter run to lead North Haven boys’ indoor track to an eighth-place finish at the SCC Championship. The Indians scored 15 points at the meet, which was held at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 3.

Gebril, who had won the 600 in 1:25.95 at the West Sectional Championship, bettered his time by three seconds by running 1:22.94 at the conference meet. Shelton’s Patrick English edged out Gebril with a time of 1:22.69. Gebril garnered All-SCC Second Team distinction by taking second place.

On the heels of his victory at sectionals, senior Josh Bryson came in sixth place in the 55-meter hurdles at the SCC meet. Bryson ran a time of 8.51 seconds to place fifth in the preliminaries and then ran 8.48 for sixth place in the finals. His winning time at the sectional meet was 8.54. Also at the SCC Championship, junior Eric Milliard led a deep field of shot putters by placing third in the event at 44 feet-3.5 inches. Also competing were junior Joe DePrimo (8th, 40-5.75), senior Dustin Byrnes (9th, 39-10.25), freshman Kyle Maruca (10th, 39-3.5), senior Carson Tebbetts (11th, 39-0), freshman Luke Maruca (14th, 38-6), and senior Nelson Espada (16th, 38-4).

Brian Daley finished 14th in the 55-meter dash at 6.99 seconds, while fellow junior Matt Daley was 16th for the 1,000-meter run with a 3:03.76. In the pole vault, senior Modikiah Johnson finished 13th by clearing 8-6 and junior Matthew Coyle took 16th place with a height of 8 feet. Senior Todd Richards came in 15th place in the long jump by reaching 18-1.25. The Indians’ 4x800 relay of senior Jordan Tong, sophomores Jack Opramolla and Jackson Frank, and junior Gabe Durante finished in ninth place at 9:12.07. The 1,600 sprint medley relay of Richards, senior Bryce Bromell-Locke, Brian Daley, and Opramolla came in 12th place (4:11.66).

North Haven saw Sarah Vanacore take second place in the shot put while Erica Marriott finished second in the long jump at last week’s SCC Championship. As a team, North Haven scored 25 points and finished tied for 10th place.

One week after winning the shot put at West Sectionals, Vanacore took second at the conference meet by throwing 37 feet-11.25 inches. She only placed behind Shelton’s Samantha Stevens (40-2.75). Vanacore recorded a better distance than in her victory at sectionals, where she threw 37-4.5.

Meanwhile, sophomore Marriott followed her sectionals victory in the long jump by placing second with a leap of 17 feet, bettering her mark of 16-9.5. Marriott finished behind Law’s Kiara Smith, who hit a distance of 17-11.75. In the 55-meter dash, Marriott was fifth in the preliminaries at 7.49 seconds and tied for fourth in the finals with a 7.43. Marriott had run 7.32 to break the school record in her win at West Sectionals. Vanacore and Marriott both collected All-SCC Second Team honors with their runner-up performances.

Senior Elise Symon took third place in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:29.76 for North Haven. Sophomore Clare Connell was 14th at 5:59.68. Junior Ashley Brown found ninth place in the 300 with a mark of 43.89. Senior Kayla Rodriguez took 13th place (31-1) in the shot put with junior Sarah Bouffard finishing 20th at 28 feet. In the high jump, Katie Rogers finished 16th by clearing 4-2. Nina Maratea was 15th for the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles in 10.37 seconds, while fellow senior Adra Chbihi placed 22nd at 10.65. North Haven’s 4x800 relay of seniors Maily Tran, Elya Paolillo, junior Macey DiCarlo, and Symon came in seventh in 10:47.17.

North Haven took a 6-5 loss in overtime against North Branford on Feb. 1 and then beat Milford 4-2 three days later for a record of 4-10.

Opening the week with a road game at Northford Ice Pavilion, the Indians rallied from a two-goal deficit in the last minute of the third period to send it to overtime, where North Branford won it. North Haven trailed 2-0 entering the second period, when Dom Biondi scored a power play goal from Alex Cianci to make it 2-1. A minute later, CJ Kenny scored on the power play from Jamie Montesi to knot the contest at 2-all. The Thunderbirds came back with a goal later in the frame and led 3-2 entering the third. North Branford went up 4-2, but the Indians promptly drew within a goal when Cianci scored from Jake Wentworth and Andrew Johnson. Brian McKee scored for North Branford with 5:34 to play and the Indians were facing a 5-3 deficit. It stayed that way until the Indians pulled goalie Jeremy Hickcox for an extra skater in the final minute. North Haven used that to its advantage as Cianci scored from Simom Brubacher to make it 5-4 with 52.6 seconds left. With Hickcox back in net, Kenny tied the game at 5 on Sam Pethick’s assist with just 10.6 seconds to play. Overtime was needed to decide a winner and McKee won it for North Branford by scoring his third goal of the night with 4:21 remaining.

Later in the week, North Haven trailed Milford 1-0 before getting goals from Corey Reilly, Andrew Carmody, and Cianci to go up 3-1. Milford made it 3-2 by the end of the second period, but Pethick scored an insurance marker from Kenny with 1:22 left in the game to ice it for the Indians. Hickcox stopped 23 shots in net for the win.

North Haven’s Melissa Montesi and Shannon Reilly had big nights to lead the Blades to a 9-3 win over Lauralton Hall at the Wonderland of Ice on Feb. 4. Trailing 2-1 in the first period, the Blades erupted by scoring the next seven goals to run away with the victory.

Montesi, a freshman, netted four goals with one assist in the win, scoring one goal in the first period, two in the second, and her last one in the third. Sophomore Reilly scored a pair of goals and had an assist for the Blades, who improved to 8-5 with the win. North Haven junior Maryssa Racino handed out an assist on Montesi’s first goal.

After losing two, North Haven recorded a 72-62 home victory versus Lyman Hall on Feb. 3 to move to 6-9. The Indians need to win two of their last five games to qualify for states.

On Jan. 30. North Haven hosted Hillhouse and took an 88-53 defeat. Jack Steinman scored 21 points, Tom Myjack had 11 points, while Mike Gagilardi and Jared Sancho both scored six for the Indians

Two days later, the Indians went to Hamden and lost 84-69. Steinman netted 26 points for North Haven, which also received offensive contributions from Gagliardi (9), Anthony Beretta (8), Sancho (8), Ethan Okwuosa (7), and Myjak (6).

Playing their third Housatonic Division game of the week, the Indians defeated Lyman Hall 72-62 to complete a season sweep of the Trojans. The Indians were down 29-26 at halftime before outscoring the Lyman Hall 21-11 in the third quarter and 22-17 in the fourth. Sancho scored 23 points, Steinman had 14 points, Tom Dodge had 12, Myjak scored 11, and Okwuosa had seven points in the win.

The Indians took defeats against Wilbur Cross, Hand, and Lyman Hall in last week’s contests.

North Haven opened the week by losing a 57-39 decision at Cross on Jan. 30. Ari DelVecchio scored 10 points, Julissa Maldonado had eight points, and Laurissa Amaker scored six for the Indians.

On Feb. 1, North Haven lost 61-17 at home against Hand. DelVecchio and Jess McInnis both scored five points.

Two nights later, the Indians faced another Oronoque Division opponent at Lyman Hall and lost 56-39. For North Haven (2-15). DelVecchio and Leah Zeisner had scored 10 points, plus Maldonado scored six.

North Haven posted a 105-80 home win over Lyman Hall at Gawrych Town Pool on Jan. 25. It was a notable victory for the Indians, who had lost to Lyman Hall last season.

Head Coach Martha Phelan said it was an exciting meet that yielded some great performances, one of which came from sophomore Kevin Powers. Powers dropped significant time in his two events, posting lifetime-best marks in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:22.62, as well as the 100 butterfly at 1:03.90. Senior captain Jack Hildebrandt also turned in two lifetime-best performances by swimming a 2:09.71 in the 200 freestyle, plus a time of 1:05.99 in the 100 backstroke. Stephen Borrelli, a freshman, swam lifetime bests in the 50 free (29.20) and 100 breaststroke (1:31.76). Also recording lifetime-best marks were junior Ryan Tanguay in the 50 free (24.47), sophomore JP Stoeffler in the 100 free (52.94), and sophomore Will McCleery in the 500 free (5:18.86).

Then on Feb. 3, North Haven hosted Sheehan and took a 94-89 defeat. Recording lifetime-best marks for North Haven (3-4) were Hildebrandt in the 200 free (2:07.58) and 100 backstroke (1:04.73), Stoeffler for the 50 free (23.24) and 500 free (5:11.21), Tanguay in the 50 free (24.45) and 100 free (58.11), plus Borrelli in the 50 free (27.97) and 100 breaststroke (1:29.31). Also posting lifetime bests were Tommy O’Connor for the 100 free (59.74), McCleery in the backstroke (1:02.64), Marcus Zikaras in the 500 free (6:33.04), and Carlo Frunzio in the breaststroke (1:12.82). Two of the Indians’ 200 medley relays also swam lifetime-best marks. The group of McCleery, Riley Powell, Kevin Powers, and Stoeffler did so by swimming a 1:51.67, while the quartet of Hildebrandt, Frunzio, Albi Koleci, and O’Connor posted a mark of 1:59.86.