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12/30/2009 11:00 PMBoys' Track
At season's start, senior Eli Shuler was four feet shy of Bob Defrank's 49-9¾ shot put record set in 1977, but came through to top it at 51-7. Junior Tyler Rose aimed for John White's 1975 record of 13-3 in the pole vault. He qualified for the State Open and vaulted 13-6 for a school record.
Alex Robertson, Ben Hammond, and John Lasko qualified for states in the high jump and Rob Mercier and freshman Rob Martino qualified in the 100 and teamed up with Mike Mercier and Dan Martin in the 4x100.
Robertson led the team in scoring, winning points in every meet in all events he competed in-javelin, discus, high jump, and triple jump-to earn MVP honors. Mercier, who was ranked No. 2 in his class, earned the Desire and Dedication Award.
Martino, who placed seventh in the 100 in Class M, and junior John Lasko, a javelin and discus thrower, took home Rookie of the Year honors. Mercier, Joe Lasko, and Hammond, a junior, captained the team.
Boys' Tennis
Under first-year head coach Gerry Carlone, the North Branford boys' tennis team finished 6-14, just shy of state-tournament qualification.
Junior Dewey Boatman and senior Mike Gangi (Desire and Dedication) captained the team. Jake Seaman, Cole Manceri, and Greg Scheiber added senior leadership.
Seaman and Manceri also earned MVP honors and a berth in the state tournament and SCCs, along with the No. 2 doubles team of Taylor Chaturvedi and Alan Farkash.
At states, Seaman and Manceri took a 6-1, 6-0 win over Suffield in the first round before falling to top-seeded Weston 6-0, 6-0 in the second round. Chaturvedi and Farkash fell 6-2, 6-4 to Northwestern.
Girls' Lacrosse
The girls' lacrosse team fell short of its goal of 10 wins this season, going 5-11, but there were bright spots along the way. Of the 11 losses, eight were by three goals or less with two decided in overtime. North Branford swept Old Saybrook and Valley and topped Shelton.
Sarah Flynn (Second Team All-State and First Team All-Shoreline), Melissa Grime, and Nicole Desruisseaux captained the team with other senior leadership coming from Stepanie Caravedo and Brittany Hottin.
Kirsten Kilburn earned First Team All-State, First Team All-Shoreline, and MVP while Kelsey Platner, Sara Robertson, and Kelly Martin all were named Second Team All-Shoreline with Michelle Caprio taking an Honorable Mention nod.
Girls' Track
Girls' track went 8-1 in the regular season to finish second in Shoreline Conference. Senior Madelaine Fargeorge was second in the Shoreline in the discus, while senior captain Kate Sullivan was the team's best javelin thrower. Colleen Kelleher led the pole vault, captain Deseray Peterson was a force in the triple jump and long jump, Meredith Falvey ran the mile and 800, Caitlin McCarthy
earned the Desire and Dedication Award, and captain Alyssa Selmquist took MVP honors.
Hailey Paternoster, Stephanie Sileo, Jessica Wharton, Sarah McDonald, Kellie Walker, Lindsay Maurer, Jessica Rogers, Alyssa Arre, Jackie Steinke, Lauren Vorio, and Mary DeMatteo were also key athletes.
Girls' Tennis
Girls' tennis team went 17-4 overall to finish second in the Shoreline Conference and in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
Senior tri-captains Kelley Connolly, Nicole Bouchard, and Emily Robertson led the team along with fellow senior Elena Ding.
Robertson was named MVP and took Second Team All-Shoreline honors. Connolly made it to the finals of the tournament to be named First Team All-Shoreline and won Desire and Dedication along with Amy Michaelson. Bouchard won the Coach's Award. Other key players were
Atena Mavani, Meghan Vumback,
Kasey Hart, and Anna Libby (Most Improved).
Softball
The team's 12-8 regular-season record earned it a berth in the state tournament, where they fell in the first round.
Julie DeFranco was named MVP and First Team All-Shoreline, while Amanda DeDomenico and Nikki Paolini earned Second Team All-Shoreline. Paolini and DeDomenico captained the team with fellow senior Morgan Onofrio;
Stacy Andrikas and Kim Caron rounded out the senior class.
Baseball
Former assistant Billy Mitchell took over as head coach. The team dropped its first three games before winning three in a row. After losing the next two, the T-Birds beat Westbrook and Portland. An eight-game losing streak was snapped with a season sweep of Old Saybrook before ending the season with a loss to East Haven to finish with a record of 6-14.