Printer Friendly Version - Guilford Girls’ Track Finishes as Class L Runner-Up; Girls’ Hoops Improves to 11-7

Meredith Bloss captured state titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 for the Guilford girls’ indoor track team, which finished second as a squad at the Class L State Championship on Feb. 8. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

One week after finishing as the runner-up at the SCC Championship, the Guilford girls’ indoor track team claimed the silver medal at the Class L State Championship last week. The Indians scored 47 points at the state meet and only placed behind Windsor, which scored 62 points to win the title on Feb. 8 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.

Meredith Bloss and Jacqui Guerra both won state titles in individual events for the Indians. Bloss finished first in the 1,600 with a time of 5:18.39 over Avon’s runner-up Rhiannon Richmond (5:25.40), and then won the 3,200 crown by running a 11:27.31 to outpace Haley Gens of Avon (11:44.87). Guerra won the 1,000 with a time of 3:05.46 over second-place runner Julia Ozimek of New Canaan (3:07.39).

Elsewhere, the Indians’ 4x800 relay of Elissa Strand, Gianna Siciliano, Kelsi Putnam, and Chloe Shaw finished second (10:02.99) to New Milford (10:01.98) at the Class M meet. Guerra was fourth for the 3,200 (11:56.17), the 1,600 sprint medley relay of Jess Bohan, Shaw, Strand, and Putnam finished fifth (4:35.35), Sofia Migani finished fifth for the high jump (4-6), and the 4x400 relay of Bohan, Shaw, Strand, and Julia Esposito placed sixth (4:25.49).

Corey Sondak secured six points for the Indians by virtue of a third-place showing in the 55-meter dash at last week’s Class M State Championship.

Sondak posted a time of 6.67 seconds in the 55 to only finish behind Jay Donaldson of East Haven (6.60) and winner Dylan Hatajik of East Lyme (6.59). With the six points that Sondak scored, the Indians finished in a four-way tie for 19th place at the Class M meet, which took place at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 9.

The Indians improved to 11-7 overall and 4-3 in SCC Hammonasset Division play after posting a pair of divisional victories last week, while going 3-0 overall.

Guilford notched a 48-35 divisional win over Sacred Heart Academy (SHA) on Feb. 6. The Indians then recorded another divisional victory by a 47-35 final versus Branford on Feb. 8. Guilford finished off the week with a 52-38 win against Shelton on Feb. 9.

Against SHA, Guilford jumped ahead early as Samantha Leiby, Janie Danaher, and Amanda King sparked a 21-point first quarter. Leiby swished a couple of three-pointers to get Guilford rolling. King paced a balanced scoring attack with 11 points, and Lily Hedge came off the bench to score seven points. Julia Hyman had a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with five steals and five assists.

Facing Branford, the Indians went on an 11-0 run to start the game. Leiby provided the spark with seven first-quarter points. Guilford went on another run midway through the second quarter on eight points from Danaher and Jordan Hedge to take a commanding 27-11 lead. Branford called a timeout and came back with a run to cut the lead to 27-19, and the Indians took a 29-19 advantage to intermission.

The two teams battled pretty evenly in the second half as Guilford employed a box-and-one defense. Leiby paced the Indians with 13 points, and Head Coach Bob Welsh also praised Emma Appleman’s efforts, saying that she “came off the bench to play outstanding defense on Branford’s center.”

In the Shelton win, Guilford switched to a full-court press after halftime and scored 19 points in the third quarter to take a 41-23 lead, with many of the points coming off defensive steals. King and Hyman combined for 11 steals in the game. King led a balanced offensive effort with 11 points, while Molly Linell scored nine and snagged six rebounds. Danaher and Elle Petra each tallied six points for Guilford.

On Tuesday, Feb. 13, the Indians will host Amity in their season finale, which is Senior Night for Guilford. The Indians will be honoring seven seniors in captain Hyman, King, Hannah McDermott, Linell, Jordan Hedge, Emma Rand, and team manager Anna Reagle prior to the 7 p.m. tipoff.

Guilford took its first loss of the season last week, before earning a versus Cheshire to move to 15-1 on the year.

The Indians lost a 63-60 decision to Xavier on Feb. 6 when the Falcons hit a three-pointer to win it at the buzzer. Matt Donlan led Guilford with 23 points.

Guilford then upped its SCC Hammonasset Division mark to 5-1 after posting a 65-55 victory over Cheshire on Feb. 9.

Guilford improved its record to 12-3 on the winter after earning two wins in its last three contests.

The Indians took a 5-1 loss to New Fairfield-Immaculate on Feb. 3. After that, Guilford edged Watertown-Pomperaug 2-1 on Feb. 9, and then defeated rival Hand by a 7-3 score the following day.

The Indians now stand at 6-11 after posting a big victory over rival Hand-Coginchaug-Old Lyme last week.

Guilford lost a by a 9-5 final to Wilton-Norwalk-Brien McMahon on Feb. 3, and then took a 9-1 defeat versus Amity-North Haven-Cheshire on Feb. 8. However, on Feb. 10, Guilford bounced back and posted its sixth victory of the year by defeating Hand-Coginchaug-Old Lyme 2-1.

Olivia Ciocca represented Guilford at the SCC Championship on Feb. 9 at Law High School in Milford. Ciocca tallied an all-around total of 30.85 by scoring an 8.0 on the vault, 7.7 on bars, 7.0 on beam, and an 8.15 for the floor at the meet.

Jacqui Guerra ran her way to first place in the 1,000 to help the Indians earn runner-up honors at the Class L state meet in New Haven. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier