Printer Friendly Version - Baldwin Breaks Valley’s Pole Vault Record in Win at States; Falivene Fells Two at Class S Championship

Ben Falivene capped his sophomore campaign on the wrestling mat by claiming two victories for Valley Regional at the Class S State Championship at Windham High School last weekend. Falivene went 12-10 on the campaign. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

Travis Baldwin set a new school record in the pole vault while claiming victory in the event at the Class S State Championship last week.

Baldwin, a junior, cleared a height of 12 feet-6 inches in his record-breaking win at states, beating runners-up Cody Goodson of East Hampton and Anthony Fernandez by six inches. Baldwin’s performance scored 10 points for the Warriors that put them into 17th place at the Class S meet.

Also at the meet, Baldwin ran on the 4x200 relay with juniors Cole Ensinger, Michael Berardis, Baldwin, and Nicholas Klomp.

The Warriors were represented by a pair of athletes at last week’s Class S State Championship.

Junior Addie Byars posted an eighth-place finish in the 3,200-meter run by running a time of 12:27.84. Senior Maleena Frazier competed in two events at the meet. Frazier placed 16th in the high jump by clearing 4 feet-8 inches and she also finished 22nd for the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 10.07 seconds.

Sophomore Ben Falivene recorded two victories to finish seventh in the 220-pound weight class at last week’s Class S State Championship. Falivene’s performance resulted in seven points on behalf of Valley Regional that put the Warriors in 27th place at the meet, which took place at Windham High School on Feb. 17 and 18.

Falivene was the No. 11 seed in the 220-pound division and started things off by pinning 6th-seeded Samuel Beadle of Canton at the 4:14 mark. The victory avenged a defeat to Beadle in a previous meet. In his next match, Falivene lost by pin fall at 3:01 against No. 3 seed and eventual champion Klyde Auba from Notre Dame-Fairfield. That sent Falivene to the consolation bracket, where he faced 12th-seeded Prosper John Vignone and claimed a 5-3 win by decision. The match was tied 3-3 before Falivene went ahead with a reversal and then held on for the win. Falivene was eliminated with a 6-2 loss to No. 7 seed Johnny Falco of Griswold in his next bout. Falivene finished with a record of 12-10 on the season.

Valley Regional dropped a pair of contests at home last week to bring its record to 7-12 on the season. The Warriors lost against Cromwell by a 53-46 final on Feb. 14, after which the Warriors took a 52-31 defeat versus fellow Shoreline Conference opponent North Branford on Feb. 17. Valley faces Coginchaug in its regular season finale on the road at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 20. The Warriors need to win the game to qualify for the Class S State Tournament.

Against Cromwell, Valley saw senior captain guard Jordan Moran score 18 points to go with four rebounds and four assists. Junior forward Ben Weinstein scored five points while corralling 11 rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Ernest Jean-Pierre added eight points for Valley.

Hosting North Branford on Senior Night, Moran scored 15 points for the Warriors. Weinstein had 10 rebounds, plus junior captain Colin Sparaco scored five points and collected six rebounds.

Valley Regional completed its regular season by hosting Haddam-Killingworth/Hale-Ray/Coginchaug at Flip-Flop Gymnastics on Feb. 16. The Warriors recorded a 126.45-63.35 victory at the meet.

Jordan Moran and the Warriors dropped a pair of contests last week to set up a one-game season against Coginchaug with their State Tournament hopes on the line. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier