Kyle Maruca Wins the Shot Put for North Haven at SCCs; Marriott Finishes 2nd in the Long Jump
Boys’ Indoor Track
Junior Kyle Maruca took first place in the shot put for the North Haven boys’ indoor track team at the SCC Championship on Feb. 1. The Indians finished in eighth place by totaling 26 points at Floyd Little Athletic Center.
Maruca unleashed a throw of 48 feet-1 inch to win the shot put and score 10 points for the Indians at the conference meet. Maruca’s distance was about two feet better than runner-up Davon Colon of Xavier, who threw a 46-1.25. Maruca also topped his distance of 43-10.25 from his second-place finish at the previous week’s SCC West Sectional Championship by a considerable margin. Maruca’s brother, fellow junior Luke Maruca, scored two points by finishing fifth in the shot put with a distance of 44-3.25, which bettered his mark of 42-1.25 from his fifth-place performance at sectionals.
One week after winning the pole vault at the West Sectional meet, senior Eric Spignesi claimed second place in the event at SCCs by clearing the same height of 12 feet, scoring eight points for North Haven. In the 55-meter hurdles, senior Robert Farley ran a time of 8.50 seconds in the preliminaries to advance to the finals, where he improved to an 8.10 to take third place and score six points. Farley had previously won the event at sectionals with a time of 8.05.
Farley also finished seventh in the pole vault by clearing 10-6. Senior Jacob Wurm took 11th place with a height of 10 feet. Junior Matt Mullen finished ninth in the shot put with a throw of 41-10.25. Junior Dominic Borrelli came in 15th place (39-4), while fellow junior Josh Blumenthal finished 17th (38-10).
Junior Ethan Testa placed 11th (9.21) in the prelims of the 55 hurdles, and junior Kevin Spencer finished in 19th (9.56) for the Indians. Freshman Jack Pollard posted a time of 1:37.09 in the 600-meter run and finished in 18th place.
North Haven also saw two of its relays finish in 10th place at the SCC meet. The 4x400 relay of senior Jackson Frank, sophomore Aaron Barbiero, junior Aidan Bergin, and sophomore Patrick Rourke ran a time of 9:21.02; while the 1,600 sprint medley relay quartet of Testa, junior Zach Gibbs, freshman Mike DeVilliers, and Barbiero took 10th place with a mark of 4:29.67.
Girls’ Indoor Track
Senior Erica Marriott took second place in the long jump for the Indians at the SCC Championship last week. North Haven finished in 12th place by scoring nine points at the meet.
Marriott reached a distance of 17 feet-6 inches to place second in the long jump and score eight points for North Haven at SCCs. Nyimah Ambrose of Hillhouse won the event by recording a distance of 18-0.75. Marriott had previously won the long jump at the SCC West Sectional Championship with a leap of 17-10.75.
Junior Makayla Mansur scored North Haven’s other point at the SCC Championship by posting a sixth-place finish in the pole vault with a height of 6 feet-6 inches. Freshman Lorelei King cleared 4-6 in the high jump to finish in seventh place.
In the 1,600 sprint medley relay, the Indians’ quartet of senior Giselle Zumerchik, junior Sammy Curcio, freshman Grace Finch, and King finished in 4:53.89 to take eighth place. North Haven’s 4x200 relay featuring Zumerchik, Curcio, senior Katie Rogers, and Marriott took 10th place behind a time of 1:55.40. The Indians’ 4x800 relay of seniors Emily Casamento, Madeline Libero, and Kelly Fresher, and junior Reagan Forbes came in 12th place with a time of 12:13.52.
Junior Elizabeth DeVaux ran a time of 10.38 seconds to finish 14th in the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles for the Indians. In the shot put, junior Courtney McFarland placed 16th (28-8.25), while freshman Emily Cocco finished in 22nd (24-1.25). Forbes finished 19th for the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:28.33.
Girls’ Basketball
The Indians earned a 33-30 home win versus Sacred Heart Academy (SHA) on Feb. 1 and then took a loss versus Hamden in another in another SCC Quinnipiac Division matchup the following day. North Haven now stands at 7-9 overall and 3-3 in the division. The Indians also completed a season sweep of SHA after having previously defeated the Sharks 57-38 on Jan. 16. North Haven now needs one more win to clinch a berth in the Class L State Tournament.
Freshman Evani Okwuosa scored six points, while junior Mia Antonino had five points for North Haven against SHA. Sophomores Sarah Puzone and Olivia Stefanik added four points apiece in the win.
On Feb. 2, North Haven took a 70-36 road loss versus Hamden.
Boys’ Basketball
North Haven took home losses against Amity and Cheshire last week. The Indians have a record of 5-10 on the season.
On Jan. 28, the Indians hosted Amity for an SCC Housatonic contest and dropped a 60-39 decision versus the Spartans. North Haven trailed 13-6 after the first quarter and was down 28-21 at halftime. Amity outscored the Indians 17-8 during the third quarter and 15-10 in the fourth to pull away for the win. Senior RJ Hager scored 10 points, senior Mike Collins had nine points, and fellow senior Josh Monk added eight points for North Haven.
Three days later, North Haven lost to Cheshire by a 58-37 final in a home game. The Indians grabbed a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, but Cheshire outscored North Haven 17-2 during the second quarter, and then won the third quarter by a 20-9 margin on its way to the victory. Hager scored nine points, Christoforo and junior Jaden Watson both had seven points, and Monk scored six points.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
The Amity-North Haven-Cheshire girls’ ice hockey team traveled to Bennett Rink to face off with SCC South Division opponent West Haven-Sacred Heart Academy (WH-SHA) on Jan. 29. The Blades dropped a 5-1 contest against the Blue Devils, but then bounced back by skating to a 5-2 home victory versus Branford-North Haven-Sheehan Lyman Hall to move to 7-9 on the year.
WH-SHA scored two goals in the first period and one in the second period to take a 3-0 lead into the third. After the Blue Devils made it 4-0, Shannon Reilly scored a goal from fellow senior captain Meaghan Hogan to get the Blades on the board. WH-SHA came back by scoring the final goal of the game to get the 5-1 win.
On Feb. 2, the Blades earned a 5-2 home victory against Branford-North Branford-Sheehan-Lyman Hall at Lou Astorino Ice Arena.