Printer Friendly Version - H-K Wrestling Finishes 3rd at States; Girls’ Hoops Battles Way into Playoffs

Matthew Jenkins was the runner-up in the 138-pound weight class to help the H-K wrestling team take third place at the Class S State Championship at Windham High School. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Source

The Haddam-Killingworth wrestling team competed in the Class S State Championship at Windham High School on Feb. 16 and 17, and scored 149 points to finish in third place overall.

Matthew Jenkins turned in the top showing for the Cougars by reaching the final of the 138-pound weight class, where he lost to Jared Swett of Lyman Memorial-Windham Tech by a 6-4 decision. On his road to the championship bout, Jenkins defeated Joe Nieroda of Suffield (by pin at 0:48), Stonington’s Sam Light (pin at 1:08), and Dan Castro of Windham (11-3 decision).

H-K also saw several athletes earn fourth-place finishes at the Class S state meet. Cam Hines lost to Josue Bobe of Portland by a 10-4 decision in the consolation final of the 106-pound division. At 160, Justin Popp lost to Jack Cronin of Nonnewaug by pin at the 1:22 mark of the consolation final. Trevor Hines lost a 3-0 contest against Notre Dame-Fairfield’s Dan Geriak in the consolation final of the 220 bracket. Malakai Maher (126-pound weight class) and Aiden Maher (285) finished fifth for the Cougars, while Jake Frith (145) posted a sixth-place finish. Additional competitors for H-K were Elena Hughes (113), Wyatt Wright (120), Zach Wyzykowski (132), and Matthew Carson (170).

H-K nabbed a win in the final week of the regular season to earn berths to the Shoreline Conference Tournament and Class M State Tournament. The Cougars then won their opening game in Shorelines, before losing in the quarterfinals.

The Cougars clinched a postseason spot by notching a 48-44 win over Morgan on Feb. 12. H-K then finished the regular season at 8-12 after taking a 60-19 loss to Cromwell on Feb. 14.

H-K then faced Valley Regional in a play-in game for the Shoreline Conference Tournament on Feb. 15 and prevailed 46-37 behind 23 points from Tara Murphy. Facing top-seeded Cromwell in the quarterfinals, the Cougars lost a 62-39 contest on Feb. 17.

Next up for H-K (9-13) is the Class M State Tournament, which begins with qualifying-round play on Saturday, Feb. 24.

The Cougars recently picked up their second win of the year by edging out Shoreline Conference rival Morgan 70-69 on Feb. 13. Three days later, the Cougars took a 76-25 loss against Cromwell to move to 2-17 on th year.

The Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug boys’ ice hockey team now stands at 12-5 after picking up a victory in its lone game last week. The Trojans faced off against Bethel-Brookfield-Danbury on Feb. 14 and prevailed by the final score of 8-1.

The Cougars saw a few athletes hit the track at the State Open Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 17

Andrew Meredith came in 12th place for the 3,200 with a time of 9:43.47, while Jonah Spector finished 15th (9:48.71) in the event for the Cougars. Additionally, H-K’s 4x800 relay of Dan Schumann, Spector, Meredith, and Conor McCabe posted a 15th-place finish behind a time of 8:35.56.

H-K was represented by a handful of athletes at last week’s State Open Championship.

Veronica Chrzanowski finished eighth in the long jump by reaching a distance of 16 feet-8.25 inches for the Cougars. The 4x800 relay of Lexie Bouthillier, Kelsey D’Amico, Emma Anziano, and Julie Kelly finished in 13th place for H-K by running a time of 9:57.99.

H-K’s 200 medley relay of Jake Torello, Kyle Mazziotti, Eli Houlton, and Chris Garrelts finished in first place with a time of 1:53.96 at the meet. Zach Houlton won the 200 free (1:58.51) with Michael Morman second (2:11.90), Eli Houlton won the 200 individual medley (2:19.13) with Torello in second (2:21.87), and Garrelts won the 50 freestyle (24.02) for the Cougars. Mazziotti was first for the 100 butterfly (58.83), Eli Houlton took first in the 100 free (52.41) with Garrelts in second (53.95), while Zach Houlton was first for the 500 free (5:12.53). Also, H-K’s 200 freestyle relay of Garrelts, Morman, Mazziotti, and Zach Houlton placed first (1:39.20), Torello won took the 100 backstroke (1:03.77), and Nate Carlson came in second for the 100 breaststroke (1:19.06). In an exhibition event, the Cougars’ 400 freestyle relay of both Houlton boys, Torello, and Mazziotti took first place by swimming a time of 3:46.65.

The Haddam-Killingworth/Hale-Ray/Morgan gymnastics team squared off against SCC champion Hand, SCC runner-up Mercy, and Valley Regional in a quad-meet on Feb. 13. The Cougars tallied 116.9 points to defeat Valley (88.75), while losing to Mercy (131.1) and Hand (134.35).

The team’s performances at the meet included Brianna Livingston (7.85 on vault, 6.0 on bars, 6.5 on beam, 6.3 on floor, 26.65 in all-around), Emma Anderson (8.4 on vault, 6.5 on bars, 8.15 for beam, 6.8 on floor), Ally Viens (8.25 on vault, 6.0 on bars, 7.5 on beam, 7.5 on floor), and Haley Smith (8.4 for vault, 7.3 on bars, 7.25 for beam, 8.2 for floor).

Tara Murphy and the H-K girls’ basketball team qualified for a spot in the postseason by earning a 48-44 win against Morgan on Feb. 12. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Source