This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/22/2020 11:00 PMGirls’ Indoor Track
Senior Mackenzie Glenn took fifth place in the long jump while representing the North Branford girls’ indoor track team at the State Open Championship last week. Glenn’s performance yielded two points that put the T-Birds in 33rd place at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 22.
Glenn leaped to a distance of 17 feet-0.75 inches on her way to placing fifth in the long jump at the State Open. She had previously finished fourth in the event at the Class S State Championship with a distance of 16-9.75 and also placed first in the Shoreline Conference Championship at 16-7.5.
Girls’ Basketball
The Thunderbirds started off the postseason by earning a 51-44 victory versus Haddam-Killingworth in the play-in round of the Shoreline Conference Tournament on Feb. 20. North Branford went on to take a 62-38 against East Hampton in the quarterfinals. The T-Birds have an overall record of 10-12 as they get ready to compete in the Class M State Tournament this week.
No. 8 seed North Branford and No. 9 H-K were tied at 38 entering the fourth quarter of their Shoreline play-in game. Sophomore Hannah Senerchia forced a steal and broke away for a layup to give the T-Birds the lead. Senerchia and junior Erica Piercey combined for 11 of North Branford’s fourth-quarter points as the Thunderbirds pulled away for the seven-point victory.
North Branford was bolstered by a standout performance from sophomore Braeden LeBeau, who scored eight points to go with 16 rebounds and four blocks in the victory. Piercey had eight points for the T-Birds, while seniors Julia Ricardo and Lily Blomster scored 10 and seven points, respectively.
With the win, North Branford advanced to face top-seeded East Hampton for a quarterfinal road game on Feb. 22. The Bellringers came away with a 62-38 victory to advance to the semifinal round. LeBeau had 15 points with nine rebounds for the Thunderbirds. Sophomore Marissa Ricardo scored seven points.
Prior to Shorelines, North Branford hosted Coginchaug for its regular-season finale on Feb. 18. The T-Birds lost by the score of 47-15 to finish at 9-11 in the regular season this year. LeBeau scored seven points in the game.
Boys’ Basketball
North Branford lost a pair of away games last week and is now 6-12 on the campaign.
On Feb. 18, the T-Birds traveled to Durham to take on Coginchaug and dropped a 63-51 decision. Two days later, North Branford was back on the road to face O’Brien Tech and took a 42-39 defeat versus the Condors.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
North Branford lost three contests in last week’s action to move to 1-17-1 this season.
On Feb. 17, the T-Birds took a 3-1 road loss to East Catholic at the Champions Skating Center. Junior captain goalie Tyler DiNapoli made 49 saves for North Branford.
Two days later, the Thunderbirds returned home to play South Windsor and lost by a 4-2 score at Northford Ice Pavilion. North Branford was only down 2-1 entering the third period, but gave up two goals during the frame in an eventual 4-2 defeat.
Then on Feb. 22, North Branford hosted Farmington Valley and lost the game by the final score of 11-1.
Fencing
North Branford hosted Cheshire Academy for a matchup on Feb. 19. The T-Birds’ varsity team took a 7-2 defeat, while the JV squad won a 5-4 decision against the Cats.
Ethan Sabetta won two his three bouts while fencing for the varsity squad. Jason Stanford was victorious in all three of his bouts for the JV team.
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
The Greater New Haven Warriors boys’ swimming and diving team hosted Lyman Hall-Coginchaug for a divisional matchup at Walter Gawrych Community Pool on Feb. 20. The Warriors won the meet by the final score of 98-80 to improve to 7-2 overall with a record of 5-0 in SCC Division 2 action. GNH faces Sheehan in its regular-season finale before competing at the SCC Championship this week.
Sophomore Kyle Borrelli swam a lifetime-best time of 1:15.06 for the Warriors in their win over the Wallingford co-op. Junior Collin Romero turned in a lifetime best of 1:04.51 in the 100 freestyle, while freshman Patrick Cucchiarelli went a lifetime-best of 1:08.94 for the 100 butterfly.
Freshman Joey Gould swam lifetime best in the 500 freestyle (5:38.32) and a season best in the 200 freestyle (2:09.95) for GNH. Also posting season-best times were senior Evan Laughlin in the 50 freestyle (24.58) and 100 freestyle (56.94), junior Daniel Kamen in the 100 freestyle (54.05), and junior Tanner Powell in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.00).
The Warriors will begin the postseason by competing at the SCC Championship this week. The SCC Diving Championship takes place at Sheehan High School on Friday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m.; the Swimming Qualifier is at the Cheshire Community Pool on Monday, March 2 at 4 p.m.; and the SCC Swimming Championship will be held at Southern Connecticut State University beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4.