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02/25/2017 11:00 PMBoys’ Basketball
Senior Jack Steinman scored his 1,000th career point when the Indians’ boys’ basketball squad netted a 64-52 victory at East Haven on Feb. 20. Steinman scored 21 points for North Haven, which won its last six games of the regular season to finish at 11-9.
Steinman, who needed 18 points to hit 1,000, did so by draining a three-pointer from the left corner in the third quarter. Ethan Okwuosa had the assist on the basket, which put North Haven up by a point. After that, the game was briefly stopped for a ceremony in which Athletic Director Steve Blumenthal gave the game ball to Jack, who was joined on the court by his mother Linda and brother Joe Carasone. When it was time to get back at it, the Indians broke open a close game by outscoring East Haven 22-12 in the fourth quarter on their way to the 12-point win.
Steinman’s milestone came on the five-year anniversary of when Billy McDonald scored his 1,000th point with the Indians. Steinman idolized McDonald as a youngster, making his achievement all the more special.
“One of my first goals when I first got to high school was that I definitely wanted to score 1,000 in basketball and, now that I’ve worked hard to get here, it’s pretty cool,” said Steinman. “I’ve been waiting for this moment and used to look up to Billy when I was just starting to grow up into basketball. I told myself in 5th grade that I wanted to score 1,000 points one day and here we are.”
Jared Sancho scored 11 points, Mike Gagliardi scored nine, and Tom Dodge added eight points in the win for North Haven.
Later in the week, the Indians opened the SCC Tournament as the No. 13 seed and took a 72-56 loss at No. 4 Wilbur Cross on Feb. 23. Sancho had 17 points, while Steinman and Dodge scored 14 points apiece. Okwuosa added six points.
Next up for the Indians is the Class L State Tournament that gets underway next week.
Boys’ Indoor Track
Senior Omar Gebril took fifth place in the 600-meter run for North Haven at last week’s State Open Championship. Gebril’s performance scored two points for the Indians and put them in 37th place at the meet.
Gebril recorded a time of 1:24.38 while racing to fifth at the Open. His mark was slightly faster than the 1:24.63 he ran for his victory at the Class L State Championship. Gebril has prevailed in the 600 at the SCC West Sectional Championship and the Class L State Championship during each of the last two indoor seasons.
Girls’ Indoor Track
North Haven was represented by Sarah Vanacore, Erica Marriott, and Elise Symon at the State Open Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 20.
Vanacore, a senior, finished seventh in the shot put with a distance of 36 feet-8.25 inches, topping her throw at the state meet by two inches. She had previously won the event at the SCC West Sectional Championship and took second place at the SCC and Class L State championships.
Marriott finished seventh in the 55-meter dash and the long jump for the Indians. In the 55, the sophomore ran a time of 7.44 seconds to take seventh in the preliminaries. In the final, Marriott ran a 7.42 to finish seventh again. Earlier in the year, Marriott broke the school record by running a 7.32 in her victory at the sectional meet. In the long jump, Marriott finished seventh by reaching 16-6.75. She took first place in the event at this winter’s sectional and state meets.
Symon finished eighth for the 1,600-meter run at the Open. Symon, a senior, clocked in with a time of 5:20.63, which was more than four seconds faster than her time at states, where she placed fifth.
Rifle
On Feb. 22, North Haven competed at the State Championship at its home site of Blue Trails Range. The Indians recorded a score of 935 and finished in fifth place.
Every team had 10 athletes compete at the meet and the top five shooters accounted for their squad’s point total. North Haven’s top five was comprised of sophomore Camille Sahirul, who shot a 188; sophomore Matteo Franco, Harrison Callahan, and fellow junior captain Michaela Felipe, who all scored a 187; plus sophomore Caleb Johns, whose total was a 186.
Head Coach Brent Heidenis talked about his team’s performance at the state meet, in addition to North Haven’s overall performance at the range this winter.
“Our average going into [the State Championship] was a 937. In terms of our performance, we did a great job of maintaining our focus and performing to our capabilities in a state title match. For such a young team, this in itself was a great accomplishment at such an event. There was a sense, however, that they were slightly disappointed as our all-time best score this year was a 951, which was two points away from the winning score. I understand why they would feel this way, but I know it will only fuel them to want to improve their average for next year, which at the end of the day, is a good thing for our program,” Coach Heidenis said. “This experience has been very empowering for them going forward because, as a team, they now know they can do this and win a state title. We do not have seniors that are graduating this year, so overall, it will only serve to make us that much better in the long run. I look forward to continuing to do great things with this team and it is great to finish ranked fifth in the state this year and earn a place...at the state competition.”
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
The Indians completed their regular season at West Haven on Feb. 22 and came away with a 90-73 victory. North Haven finished with an overall record of 4-7 and went 4-3 against fellow SCC Division II teams.
At the West Haven meet, junior Albi Koleci swam a lifetime-best mark of 1:07.13 in the 100 butterfly and also recorded a lifetime best in the 500 freestyle with a 6:15.66. Also posting lifetime-best marks were sophomore Tommy O’Connor in the 200 free (2:16.93), sophomore JP Stoeffler in the 100 backstroke (1:03.36), and sophomore Kevin Powers for the 100 backstroke (1:08.23).
The Indians are competing at the SCC Championship this week and then have the Class M State Championship next week.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
North Haven took a loss and notched a tie in last week’s action to stand at 4-14-1 on the season. On Feb. 22, the Indians took a 10-0 defeat in East Haven. Three days later, North Haven skated to a 2-2 tie versus Newtown at Danbury Ice Arena. North Haven concludes its season by playing Branford this week.
Against Danbury, Michael Gambardella scored from CJ Kenny, who later scored from Alan Tancreti, to give the Indians a 2-0 lead through two periods. Newtown came back with a pair of goals in the third to earn the 2-2 tie. Jeremy Hickcox made 31 saves in net for North Haven, which concludes its season by playing Branford this week.