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03/04/2017 11:00 PMBoys’ Swimming and Diving
The North Haven boys’ swimming and diving team was represented by eight athletes at last week’s SCC Championship and scored 253 points to finish in 12th place out of 16 teams at the meet. The finish marked the Indians’ highest placing at SCCs in Martha Phelan’s four-year tenure as head coach.
“Our performance at the SCC Championship is evidence of North Haven’s growing program, with talent on the horizon for next year’s squad,” Coach Phelan said. “It has been a most gratifying season to date and I am hopeful we will finish on a successful note. This season, we finished [with a winning record in SCC Division II] for the first time since I took over the team.”
The SCC meet began with the Diving Championship at Hamden High School on Feb. 28. Senior Kyle Duby posted a score of 273.20 points for his 11-dive performance to take ninth place among the 22 divers in the competition. Duby’s finish resulted in 26 points for the Indians.
Then on March 1, the swimming portion of the SCC Championship was held at Southern Connecticut State University. John Stoeffler posted a pair of top-10 finishes for the Indians. Stoeffler, a sophomore, came in 16th place in the 50-yard freestyle by swimming a time of 23.65 seconds to score 19 points for North Haven. Later in the meet, Stoeffler finished 18th in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.74 seconds to score 14.5 points.
Fellow sophomore Will McCleery also placed in two events for North Haven. In the 500 freestyle, McCleery recorded a lifetime-best mark of 5:15.05 to take 19th place for 14 points. Then in the 100 backstroke, McCleery finished 30th with a mark of 1:03.89 to score three points.
The Indians also saw two athletes compete in the 100 breaststroke at the SCC meet. Junior Riley Powell finished 19th with a lifetime-best time of 1:09.29 to score 14 points, while freshman Carlo Frunzio scored 11 points by taking 22nd at 1:09.95, which marked a lifetime best.
In the 100 butterfly, sophomore Kevin Powers finished 26th for the Indians by swimming a lifetime best 1:03.06 to post seven points. Teammate Albi Koleci, a junior, took 31st place with a lifetime-best time of 1:04.33, scoring two points.
Also at SCCs, junior Ryan Tanguay scored 2.5 points in the 50 freestyle by taking 30th place with a time of 24.55 seconds.
North Haven also saw all three of its relays record season-best times at the SCC Championship. The Indians’ 200 medley relay of McCleery, Frunzio, Powers, and Stoeffler finished 10th at 1:51.21 and scored 50 points. In the 200 freestyle relay, North Haven’s quartet of Tanguay, Powell, senior Jack Hildebrandt, and Frunzio scored 48 points behind an 11th-place finish and a time of 1:40.06. North Haven’s 400 freestyle relay of Stoeffler, McCleery, Hildebrandt, and Powell finished 14th with a time of 3:44.65 and scored 42 points.
“At this year’s SCC finals, we had the most individual swims and fastest relays since I took over the boys’ team four years ago. I attribute this success to the majority of the team investing in their desire to improve by training year-round and team camaraderie--the desire to win,” Coach Phelan said. “These boys took great pride in their wins and lifetime-best performances. The relays set the tone for our great swims, particularly the 200 and 400 free relays. The boys were determined to drop time and move up in our team ranking.”
Cheerleading
North Haven competed in the Co-ed State Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on March 3. The Indians posted a score of 154.50 and finished in third place at the meet. Seymour took first place with a score of 174.10. North Haven had previously finished first in the Co-ed Division at the SCC Championship.
North Haven’s team is comprised of senior captains Jordyn Aurora and Shelby Wuchek, along with fellow seniors Jordan Vaccaro and Michael Ricci; as well as juniors Morgan Sullivan, Samantha Konspore, and Josephine Toni; sophomores Renee Myjak, Abby Haggerty, Sarina Sandwell, Kelly Gallagher, and Jill Rowland; plus freshmen Sophie Kornacki, Alyssa Cannavaciolo, and Alexa Cappella.
The Indians are hosting a meet at North Haven High School on Saturday, March 11, after which they will be competing at the New England Championship in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, March 18.
Boys’ Indoor Track
Senior Omar Gebril finished ninth in the 600-meter run at the New England Championship at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on March 4.
Gebril, a senior, recorded a time of 1:23.98 to take ninth place in the 600 at New Englands. Gebril’s time was faster than the mark of 1:24.63 from his win at the Class L State Championship, as well as his time of 1:23.38 from when he finished fifth at the State Open.
Girls’ Indoor Track
Senior Elise Symon and sophomore Erica Marriott competed for the Indians at last week’s New England Championship.
Symon was in the 1,600-meter run and posted a time of 5:23.21 to finish in 19th place. Marriott ran the preliminaries of the 55-meter dash and clocked in at 7.52 seconds to come in 13th place.
Boys’ Basketball
North Haven is the No. 22 seed in the Class L State Tournament and plays a first round game at 11th-seeded Newington at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 7. With a victory, the Indians would either play at No. 6 Wilton or host 27th-seeded Woodstock for a second round contest at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 9. The quarterfinals are at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 13; the semifinals take place on Wednesday, March 15; and the final is at Mohegan Sun Arena on either Saturday, March 18 or Friday, March 19.
North Haven finished the regular season on a six-game win streak to go 11-9 before taking a defeat to Wilbur Cross in the SCC Tournament to stand at 11-10 overall entering states.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
North Haven dropped a 4-2 decision at home against Branford in its season finale at Northford Ice Pavilion on March 1. The Indians finished the campaign with a record of 4-15-1.
North Haven scored the only goal of the first period in the Branford game when Jake Wentworth scored on a Corey Reilly assist just 2:13 into the game. The Hornets came back with three goals in the second period. Scott Klouda recorded a natural hat trick by scoring three goals in a row to give Branford a 3-1 lead entering the third period. Just 43 seconds into the final frame, the Indians cut it to 3-2 when Dom Biondi netted a power play goal on CJ Kenny’s assist. However, Branford scored an insurance goal a couple of minutes later and went on to the 4-2 win. Ryan Millea made 30 saves in goal for North Haven.