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05/25/2017 12:00 AMBoys’ Lacrosse
The Valley Regional boys’ lacrosse team recorded a 16-4 home victory versus Old Lyme on May 23 to advance to the championship game of the Shoreline Conference Tournament. The Warriors will play Haddam-Killingworth for the conference title at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 25 at Indian River Complex in Clinton.
In the Old Lyme victory, the Warriors broke open a 1-1 game by winning the second quarter 6-2, after which Valley outscored the Wildcats 9-1 in the second half en route to the lopsided victory. Valley won all three of its games this season against Old Lyme, which won the Shoreline Conference title last year.
Freshman Davis Burleson scored four goals and had four assists for the Warriors in the victory. Senior Ryan Davis scored four goals and notched an assist, senior Rocky Harpin had four goals to go with two assists, Jonathan Brophy recorded four assists, Sean Cole had a pair of goals with three assists, and Charlie Ferrucci scored two goals for the Warriors, who saw Jacob Azzinaro make 10 saves in net, while Dylan LaPlace had one.
After Shorelines, Valley is competing in the Class S State Tournament.
Softball
After closing the regular season with a 4-0 win at Morgan, the Warriors squared off against Haddam-Killingworth in the Shoreline Conference Tournament quarterfinals on May 24. Valley took a 13-6 defeat to move to 13-8 overall with the Class M State Tournament up next.
In the Morgan victory, Valley Regional scored two runs in both the first and third innings and played solid defense in support of Addy Bullis’s three-hit shutout performance. Lauren Allen was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI, while Kelly Schafer was 1-for-2 with two RBI for the Warriors.
Crew
The Valley Regional crew competed at the 16th annual Connecticut Public Schools Rowing Association Championship Regatta held at Lake Waramaug State Park in New Preston on May 17. The Warriors saw vast improvement over previous year’s results, continuing their rapid improvement as a program.
The novice eight shell earned fifth place with a time of 6 minutes and 25.2 seconds for Valley. The novice four placed third with a time of 6:21.9. Boat two claimed third with a time of 6:07.6, and boat one placed fourth 5:51.6.
Boys’ Outdoor Track
The Valley Regional boys’ outdoor track team competed in the Shoreline Conference Championship at Morgan High School on May 24. The Warriors took fourth place with 84 points, buoyed by strong performances across the board.
Valley Head Coach Tim King felt great about the way his young team came together down the stretch of the season as many of his athletes clicked at just the right time.
“The young kids really stepped up today,” said Coach King. “We found ourselves. Our last meet was great. All the kids had great times. Today, they just brought it.”
One of King’s young athletes who had an outstanding day was Jason O’Brien. The sophomore claimed first place in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.10 seconds, was first in the long jump behind a distance of 20 feet-5.25 inches, took second in the triple jump with 40-4.5, and placed third in the 110-meter high hurdles by running 16.38.
Sophomore Nick Braga earned first-place honors in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.48, and he also grabbed fourth in the 200 at 24.08. Junior Travis Baldwin placed first in the pole vault by clearing a height of 13 feet. Valley’s 4x100 relay of sophomore Ryan Santos, senior Alex Lepore, freshman Andrew Ferguson, and Braga finished second with a time of 45.41 seconds. Lepore finished fourth in triple jump with his distance of 38-9. In the high jump, junior Josh Donahue placed fifth by clearing the bar at 5-6. For the long jump, Lepore’s leap of 19-4.75 was good for seventh. The quartet of sophomore Roman Rios, sophomore James Diluca, freshman Brian Rankin, and freshman Arick Aoutama placed eighth in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:00.99.
Also competing for Valley at the conference meet were sophomore Jason Montecalvo (13th, 4:45.46) and senior Daniel Ryan (25th, 5:12.30) in the 1,600; Rankin (17th, 57.39) and Arick Aoutama (19th, 57.46) in the 400, junior Josh Arnum for the 300 hurdles (10th, 46.83), DiLuca in the 800 (9th, 2:08.11), Ferguson (21st, 25.29) and Santos (29th, 25.67) in the 200, and Montecalvo in the 3,200 (12th, 11:08.63). In the long jump, Cole Ensinger finished 16th at 18-1, while Rios finished 21st with a 17-11.20. In the pole vault, junior Michael Berardis cleared 9-6 to finish 18th. Baldwin and John Tibbets both finished 16th in the high jump at 5-2, with Rankin in 22nd (5-0). Competing for Valley in the shot put were Aidan Walsh (9th, 35-3) and fellow junior Josh Donanhue (11th, 35-2.75). In the discus throw, the Warriors were led by junior Ian Neviaser (9th, 99-1) and freshman Justin Badolato (11th, 96-5). In the javelin, senior Greg Magruder finished 11th (122-0) and Walsh was 20th (101-5).
Girls’ Outdoor Track
The Warriors’ girls’ outdoor track team finished seventh by scoring 42.5 points at last week’s Shoreline Conference Championship. Valley Regional Head Coach Chris Allegretti believes that this meet was just the beginning of great things for his young squad.
“I think our whole team has shown a lot of growth this season,” said Allegretti. “We still have a very young team. There was just some outstanding performances today in particular. It just shows that our program is moving in the right direction.”
Senior Maleena Frazier earned second place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.70 seconds for Valley. She was also fifth for the high jump at 4 feet-6 inches and took sixth with a time of 17.27 in the 100 high hurdles. Senior Libby Spitszchuh finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.08, was fifth in the 200 with a time of 28.10, and placed 10th in the long jump with 15-1.5. Sydney Suedemeier finished fourth in the long jump with a distance of 15-9.5. In the 3,200, junior Addie Byars claimed fifth with time of 2:25.03. Senior Haley Hammen finished sixth in the 300 hurdles at 51.04, while junior Bonnie Caulfield placed sixth in javelin with a throw of 92 feet. The quartet of junior Jillian Ockem, senior Maya Whitcomb, senior Francesca Daniels, and Spitzschuh finished eighth in the 4x100 relay with a time of 54.04.
Other athletes competing for Valley included Byars (9th, 5:36.22) and senior Cameron Johnson (19th, 5:55.23) in the 1,600, junior Lilly Ball in the 400 (15th, 1:09.55), senior Claudia Dalterio in the 800 (20th, 2:42.89), freshman Lacey Rae Hall in the 200 (47th, 31.95), junior Kayleigh Johnson in the long jump (23rd, 13-10), Caulfield in shot put (10th, 25-10.25), Francesca Daniels in pole vault (10th, 7-6), freshman Jennifer Caulfield in the javelin (15th, 72-2), along with Daniels (19th, 28-11.5), junior Rachel Trezza (20th, 28-11), and senior Claudia Dalterio (21st, 28-10.75) for the triple jump.