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02/11/2017 11:00 PMGirls’ Indoor Track
Sophomore Erica Marriott claimed first place in the long jump to help the North Haven girls’ indoor track team post a third-place finish at the Class L State Championship. The Indians totaled 34 points to finish one point ahead of Hand for third at the meet, which was held at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 10.
Marriott scored 10 of those points behind her victory in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet-2.75 inches, placing ahead of runner-up Sophia Shack of Farmington (16-2.25). This marks the fourth career postseason victory for Marriott, who also won the long jump at the recent SCC West Sectional meet, as well as last spring’s Class L State Championship.
Marriott also put up eight points with her second-place performance in the 55-meter dash. Marriott ran a time of 7.60 seconds for third in the preliminaries and then came back with a 7.43 in the finals to finish behind Hand’s Caroline O’Neil, who went a 7.27. On top of that, Marriott ran with junior Ashley Brown, sophomore Katie Rogers, and freshman Sammy Curcio on North Haven’s 4x200 relay that scored six points by taking third place with a time of 1:53.00.
Senior Sarah Vanacore scored eight points for the Indians by finishing second in the shot put with a throw of 36 feet-6.25 inches. Guilford’s Jalynn McCown won the event at 36-7.25. Fellow senior Elise Symon finished fifth in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:24.94, scoring two points for North Haven.
Additionally at the state meet, Brown came in third place in the 300 by posting a time of 44.01. North Haven’s 4x800 relay featuring seniors Maily Tran and Elya Paolillo, junior Macey DiCarlo, and Symon took ninth place at 10:39.51. In the shot put, senior Kayla Rodriguez finished 22nd (28-4), while junior Sarah Bouffard placed 27th with a throw of 27-2.25.
Boys’ Indoor Track
Senior Omar Gebril defended his state title in the 600-meter run by winning the event at the Class L State Championship for the second straight season last week. Gebril’s victory resulted in 10 points that put the Indians into 16th place at the meet.
Gebril prevailed in the 600 by less than a second at states, timing in at 1:24.63 to squeak past Windsor’s Marcus Manson, who ran a 1:25.07. Gebril now has eight postseason victories between his indoor and outdoor track careers. He’s won the 600 at the West Sectional and Class L State championships in each of the past two indoor seasons.
North Haven saw several other athletes compete at the state meet. Junior Eric Milliard claimed ninth place in the shot put by launching a toss of 41 feet-9.5 inches. Milliard was followed by senior Carson Tebbetts (11th, 41-1.5), junior Joe DePrimo (12th, 40-10.25), freshman Luke Maruca (15th, 39-10.25), freshman Kyle Marcua (21st, 38-9.25), and senior Dustin Byrnes (24th, 37-11.5). In the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles, senior Josh Bryson took ninth place in 8.69 seconds with sophomore Robert Farley finishing 11th (8.76). Junior Brian Daley placed 24th for the prelims of the 55-meter dash by running a 6.98.
All four of North Haven’s relays also ran at the meet. The 4x400 of Bryson, seniors Bryce Bromell-Locke and Jordan Tong, and Gebril finished 13th (3:45.66); the 4x800 of Tong, sophomore Jack Opramolla, sophomore Jackson Frank, and junior Gabe Durante took 15th (9:07.07); the 1,600 sprint medley relay featuring senior Todd Richards, Farley, Daley, and freshman Evan Schweickert was 17th (4:04.40); and the 4x200 of Richards, sophomore Jianni Snipes, Bromell-Locke, and Daley came in 20th place with a time of 1:41.31.
Boys’ Basketball
North Haven claimed victory in both of last week’s games to qualify for both the Southern Connecticut Tournament and the Class L State Tournament with a record of 8-10 for the season. North Haven posted a 47-28 victory at Hand on Feb. 7 and then punched its playoff ticket by edging Sheehan 55-53 at home on Feb. 11. The Indians have now reached the postseason in each of their two campaigns with Head Coach Justin Falcon.
“Kids always play hard. It’s always great for the program to get into the State Tournament,” Coach Falcon said. “I’m happy for the kids to achieve their first goal of getting in. They deserve it.”
On Feb. 7, Falcon’s squad completed a season sweep of Hand by defeating its Housatonic Division foe 47-28 in Madison. The Indians trailed 11-8 following the first quarter, but then outscored the Tigers 15-8 in the second to hold a 23-19 lead at halftime. North Haven dominated the third quarter to the tune of a 16-2 differential and brought a commanding 18-point advantage into the fourth. Jack Steinman hit 10 field goals and scored 24 points to lead North Haven to the win. Tom Myjak added six points for the Indians.
Four nights later, North Haven hosted Sheehan and beat the Titans 55-53 to qualify for postseason play. The win marked a measure of revenge for the Indians, who had lost to Sheehan 51-36 on Jan. 20. In the rematch, North Haven won a nail-biter and featured a balanced attack led by Steinman (13 points), Jared Sancho (9), Myjak (8), Ethan Okwuosa (7), Tom Dodge (6), and Mike Gagliardi (6). Paul Murray pitched in with four points, while Anthony Beretta sank two at the free throw line in the big win for the Indians.
Girls’ Basketball
The Indians concluded their season by playing three games last week. North Haven took defeats against Maloney, Hillhouse, and Law, and finished the year with a record of 2-18.
North Haven opened the week by losing a 49-41 contest at non-conference squad Maloney in Meriden on Feb. 6.
The following night, the Indians were home against Hillhouse and lost by a 61-42 final. Ari DelVecchio scored 14 points for North Haven. Jess McInnis and Julissa Maldonado added eight points apiece.
On Feb. 11, North Haven hosted another Oronoque Division opponent with a game versus Law and took a 71-41 loss in its season finale.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
The Blades had a home game against Notre Dame-Fairfield/Foran at The Rinks at Shelton on Feb. 11. Amity-North Haven-Cheshire claimed a 4-1 victory to move its record to 9-5 on the season. With the win, the Blades capped a season sweep of their SCC Division II rival after having prevailed 3-2 earlier this year.
Haley Cable put the Blades on the board when she scored from North Haven freshman Melissa Montesi with 3:29 left in the first period. The Lancers came back with a goal 24 seconds later and it was 1-1 after one. The Blades scored twice in the second as Olivia Dittman scored from Meghan Hogan, followed by Cable’s goal from Dittman. With 6:56 remaining in the game, Montesi iced it for the Blades by netting a goal that gave them a 4-1 advantage. The Blades outshot the Lancers 27-16 in the victory.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
North Haven came up on the short end of two decisions last week and is now 4-12 for the year. On Feb. 8, the Indians had a road game versus Hand at Northford Ice Pavilion and were edged by a 2-1 score. On Feb. 11, North Haven faced off against Watertown-Pomperaug on the road and took a 4-0 defeat.
In the Hand game, the Tigers scored two goals in the last three minutes of the second period and led 2-0 through two. North Haven got on the board three minutes into the third period when Jamie Montesi scored from Sam Pethick to make it a 2-1 game. Hand held off the Indians the rest of the way to come away with the one-goal win. Jeremy Hickcox made 30 saves in net for North Haven.
Three days later, North Haven had another SCC/SWC Division II game with a duel versus Watertown-Pomperaug at Taft Mays Rink in Watertown and lost by a 4-0 score.