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03/05/2017 11:00 PMBoys’ Swimming and Diving
Corey Gambardella swam to first place in a pair of events for the Branford-Guilford (Bfd-Gfd) boys’ swimming and diving team at last week’s SCC Championship. Gambardella, a senior at Guilford High school, prevailed in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard freestyle to help Bfd-Gfd score 352 points and finish ninth out of 16 teams.
The SCC meet started with the Diving Championship at Hamden High School on Feb. 28. Senior Paul Rosenberg scored 224.15 points and placed 15th at the competition.
The swimming portion of the SCC Championship took place the following night at Southern Connecticut State University, where Gambardella recorded two first-place finishes for Bfd-Gfd. In the 200 IM, Gambardella swam a time of 1:55.21 to defeat runner-up Ben Brewer of Cheshire, who went a 1:56.55. The victory marked Gambardella’s second straight win in the event at SCCs as he also took first at last year’s conference meet with a time of 1:56.14. Then in the 100 freestyle, Gambardella finished with a time of 47.80 seconds to edge out second-place finisher Jamie Eigner of Cheshire by less than a second, as Eigner clocked in at 48.63.
Gambardella also swam on a pair of relays that posted top-10 finishes at the SCC meet. Bfd-Gfd’s 200 medley relay of Gambardella, senior Kyle Boucher, freshman Aidan Henry, and senior Alex Karosas finished eighth with a time of 1:44.29. The 400 freestyle relay featuring senior Aleandro Hanaj, Henry, Karosas, and Gambardella swam a time of 3:26.41 to take seventh place.
Henry also delivered an eighth-place performance in the 500 freestyle behind a time of 4:57.54 for Bfd-Gfd. In the 200 IM, Henry swam a time of 2:08.74 to take 16th place. Karosas finished in the top 20 of two events. In the 50 freestyle, Karosas placed 19th with a mark of 23.81 seconds. Then in the 100 backstroke, Karosas finished 14th at 59.02. Boucher finished 15th in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:06.32 and he also came in 29th for the 200 IM with a time of 2:17.83. Hanaj placed 32nd in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.62 seconds. Later, Hanaj swam on the 13th-place 200 freestyle relay that recorded a time of 1:49.34. That quartet also featured senior Dylan Williams, sophomore Andrew Orce, and Boucher.
Girls’ Basketball
The Indians’ girls’ basketball squad won its first two games in the Class L State Tournament to advance to the quarterfinal round. As the No. 8 seed, Guilford opened the Class L tourney with a 66-44 home win over No. 25 Platt on Feb. 27. In the second round against No. 9 Farmington, the Indians prevailed by a 60-46 final at home on March 2.
Guilford seized control midway through the second quarter against Platt and built 27-14 lead at intermission. In the third, the Indians exploded for 24 points with a balanced scoring attack that was sparked by eight points from Camryn Craig. Izzy Nerney led the overall scoring with 16 points, Craig finished with 10, and Amanda King scored eight. Samantha Leiby came off the bench to score seven points for the Indians, who also received seven points from Nicole Suchy.
Versus Farmington, Guilford fell into a 13-4 hole following the first quarter. The Indians responded in a big way and outscored Farmington 21-12 in the second to tie things up at 25 apiece at the break. In the third, Guilford went off for 24 points as the hot-shooting King scored 15 points in the frame. Farmington made a valiant effort to close the gap to nine, but Craig hit a great driving lay-up, was fouled, and completed the three-point play to build the lead to 12 with three minutes remaining. King led all scorers with 20 points, while Craig had 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. King and Craig also combined for seven steals. Kayley McLaughlin scored eight points, distributed a season-high six assists, and played superb defense, according to Head Coach Bob Welsh.
Guilford next faced No. 1 Holy Cross (21-1) in the quarterfinals on March 7 (after press time). The winner faces No. 4 Capital Prep or No. 5 RHAM in the semifinals on Friday, March 10.
Boys’ and Girls’ Fencing
The Indians took part in the Individual State Championships on March 4 at Hopkins.
For the boys’ team, Luke McNamara placed sixth in foil, Evans Schultes was seventh, and Brendan Balestracci finished 13th. In épée, Oscar Scott was 10th, Remy Lepeak finished 22nd, and Ian Sessions placed 35th. In the sabre competition, Hank Huhnke tied for 10th place, Zak Talbot was 15th, and Leo Westgard finished 30th.
On the girls’ side, Isabelle Migani finished 11th, Lindsay Smith followed in 14th, and Veronica Pantelone was 15th for the foil bracket. In épée, Faren Roth fenced to eighth, Alieen Du was 21st, and Mikyala O’Conner finished in 34th. For sabre, Willow Coleman was sixth, Grace Beatty finished ninth, and Hannah Obyoski took 14th place.
“I just want to echo what I told our team after the competition. All day long, we saw their passion, their dedication, and hard work. We also say that hard work pays off. We have been talking a lot about that all season long. Our willingness to outwork our opponents as a team, both in practice and in competition, is at the foundation of our process and allows them to excel athletically, academically, and in life,” said Head Coach Kyle Mezzi. “All our fencers earned recognition for their efforts at State Championships. I do, however, want to highlight a few exceptional performances. Senior Willow Coleman, senior Luke McNamara, junior Faren Roth, and sophomore Evans Schultes all earned medals for their top-eight finishes. Also, Evans Schultes, along with sophomore Oscar Scott and freshman Lindsey Smith, are all underclassmen who each had a great day. Finally, I just wanted to say we are all really proud of the way our fencers represented their team, their school, and the town of Guilford.”
The Indians are competing at the Team State Championships at Norwich Free Academy at 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 11.
Boys’ Basketball
The bracket for the Class L State Tournament was released last week and Guilford (15-6) is the No. 8 seed. The Indians hosted No. 25 Platt (9-11) in the first round on March 7 (after press time). The winner advances to the second round on Thursday, March 9 at 7 p.m. against either No. 9 Windsor (14-6) or No. 24 Bristol Central (10-10).