Printer Friendly Version - McCown Takes Class L Shot Put Title for Guilford; Fencing Team Has Busy Week

Veronica Pantelone went undefeated in the épée competition when the Guilford girls’ fencing team defeated Greenwich last week. The girls’ squad owns a record of 10-4 on the season, while the boys are 14-0. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

Jalynn McCown won the shot put for the Guilford girls’ indoor track team at the Class L State Championship on Feb. 11. McCown launched a toss of 36 feet-7.25 inches to defeat North Haven’s Sarah Vanacore, who threw 36-6.25. The Indians finished seventh with 26 points at the state meet, which was held at Floyd Little Athletic Center.

Additionally at states, Meredith Bloss broke the school record in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:08.09, which put her in third place. Jacqueline Guerra was third in the 1,000 at 3:11.03, while the 1,600 sprint medley relay group of Jessica Bohan, Rachel Lauzier, Chloe Shaw, and Guerra finished fourth (4:31.25).

Guilford scored eight points and finished in 19th place at last week’s Class L State Championship.

Finn Davidson led the Indians by finishing third in the 1,600-meter run behind a mark of 4:36.45. Corey Sondak was sixth in the 55-meter dash by running a time of 6.78 seconds. Also, Guilford’s 4x400 relay of Jordan Lembo-Frey, Joe Walters, Caleb Benedict, and Sam Sessions placed sixth (3:40.45).

The Guilford fencing program hosted Hand for its Senior Night matchup on Feb. 7. The Indians recorded two wins over the Tigers as the boys won 23-4, while the girls prevailed 20-7.

Guilford prevailed in five of the six competitions on the night, dropping only girls’ foil, 6-3. Boys’ sabre and girls’ épée both shut out Hand 9-0. On the girls’ side, Hannah Oboyski, Alieen Du, Faren Roth (foil), and Mikayla O’Connor (sabre) went undefeated. For the boys, Hank Huhnke (sabre) and Remy Lepeak (épée) were undefeated for the Indians.

“It is always a great competition fencing Hand and more so on Senior Night with the seniors leaving nothing on the strip. We have just under one month for individual states and, a week after that, team states,” said Head Coach Kyle Mezzi. “Our kids continue to work hard to stay focused on our meet season, always keeping states in sight.”

On Feb. 11, the boys’ team defeated Greenwich and Fairfield both by 18-9 finals to improve to 14-0. The girls split decisions by defeating Greenwich 18-9 and losing 16-11 to Fairfield to move to 10-4.

Boys’ epee blanked Greenwich, 9-0, but took its second loss of the year by losing against Fairfield, 6-3. Boys’ foil continued to dominate the competition by besting Fairfield 8-1 and a tough Greenwich team, 6-3. Brendan Balestracci had a clean sweep of the Greenwich foil competition, as did Oscar Scott, Ian Sessions, and Lepeak for épée. On the girls’ side, Veronica Pantelone and Roth swept their fellow épée competitors. Against Fairfield, Mark McNamara (foil) had the only clean sweep for Guilford.

“Fairfield and Greenwich are two very competitive teams with a very dominant women’s team,” said Mezzi. “We have 11 more practices to prepare for our individual state Competition, then team states after that.”

The Indians took part in the JV Tournament at North Haven on Feb. 4. Guilford placed 15 fencers in the tournament, highlighted by Evans Schulter and Shayla Flynn, who took first place in the boys’ foil and girls’ sabre tournaments, respectively. Others who placed for Guilford included Mark McNamara (3rd, foil), Matt Gedrich (13th, foil), Adella Cho (5th, sabre), Maria Jennings (15th, sabre), Landon Gendreau (16th, sabre), Alyssa Domino (10th, épée), Lindsay Smith (7th, foil), Isabella Labelle (33rd, foil), Holly Johnson (11th, foil), Ella Stanley (13th, foil), Rishi Nallur (2nd, sabre), Dexin Huang (5th, sabre), and Daniel Lu (2nd, épée).

Guilford split a pair of Hammonasset Division games last week to stand at 12-5 overall and finish at 3-5 in divisional play.

First, the Indians edged out Xavier 48-47 on Feb. 6. Noah Rubino led the way with 19 points, plus Jordan Krause added a dozen points in the win.

The Indians claimed victory in their lone game last week. On Feb. 10, Guilford routed Shelton 85-58 to improve to 14-5 on the season.

The Indians took a 3-2 loss to Watertown-Pomperaug on Feb. 8, but rebounded on Feb. 11 with a 5-1 win over Hand. Guilford now owns a record of 11-4 for the year.

In the defeat against Wartertown-Pomperaug, Guilford trailed 2-0 before getting second period goals from John Delucia and Jack Ring. The Indians outshot the opposition 38-22 with Kyle Dwyer making 19 saves for Guilford.

“We put a lot effort into the game to get it tied. However, we couldn’t get the go-ahead goal. That left this game open for a bounce of the puck to decide it. They got it with a misdirected shot from the point with just over a minute left,” said Head Coach Ralph Russo. “We skated well, but needed more consistency in managing our puck possessions throughout the game...When we decisively and aggressively get the puck to the goal and manage the puck for two and three pass connections, we really generate more offense and limit opponent’s chances to score. Continued focus on those areas and situational play will allow us to improve as a team.”

The Indians had one game last week when they squared off against Hand on Feb. 11. Guilford took an 8-1 defeat to move to 0-15 on the season.

Henry Huhnke and the Indians’ boys’ fencing squad remained unbeaten on the season after collecting a few more victories last week. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier