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12/30/2012 11:00 PMThe Morgan girls' basketball squad saw its storied Coach Joe Grippo notch his 500th victory behind a strong 16-win campaign.
Girls' Basketball
Coming into the season, many might not have expected the Morgan girls' basketball squad to be fighting for a chance at the Class S title. But in March, that's exactly what the Huskies were doing as they advanced all the way to the semifinal round before being knocked off by familiar conference foe Coginchaug. Morgan posted an overall 16-9 mark and, though didn't come home with any shiny hardware, finished the season as proud as ever.
Led by longtime coach and 500-game winner Joe Grippo-who was assisted by Sal Fiorillo, Danielle Godin, and Jim Budkus-the Huskies battled their way through another successful campaign and were led by senior captains Christy Coyne and Jess Choronzy, as well as forward Lauren Fitzgerald. Point guard Coyne earned Honorable Mention All-Shoreline honors. Also contributing largely were junior forward Sarah Thompson, who earned the coveted MVP Award and First Team All-Shoreline, as well as sophomore guard Lily Dawson and freshman phenom and guard Tori Hopkins, who often led the offense for the Huskies.
Boys' Basketball
As the 2011-'12 season progressed for the Morgan boys' basketball squad, it seemed the Huskies might end their campaign with only a few wins and pack up the season before the halfway mark. Maybe another team would have assumed that fate, but Morgan instead played some of its grittiest basketball in the second half of the season, namely the last two weeks, when the Huskies won two games to bring their record to 5-15 at season's end.
Leading the pack were junior captains Tyler Anglin and Will Thompson. Anglin led the team in scoring (averaging 19.4 points per game) and rebounding (8.7 rebounds per game) and earned Second Team All-Shoreline honors while Thompson finished the season as the assists leader. Lone senior Ian Robinson also contributed to the effort while junior Sal Fiorillo earned the Coaches' Award.
Indoor Track
The 2011-'12 campaign will be one to remember for the Morgan girls' and boys' indoor track program as the Huskies finished in the top 10 of the Shoreline Conference Tournament and the top 15 of the Class S Championship.
The girls' squad saw leadership from seniors Emily Perzanoski, Elena Schroeder, Taylor Donaldson, and Katie Elliot. Finishing fourth in the conference and 11th in states, the Huskies boasted First Team All-Shoreline athletes in Stephanie Carroll, Donaldson, Rachel Duda, Amanda Garbinski, Perzanoski, Schroeder, and Kelley Thompson.
For the boys' group, seniors Nate Corcoran, Ryan Corcoran, Tyler Costello, Evan Doolittle, Justin Hauser, Cody Kuczenski, and Cameron Williams all led the way for Morgan, which saw the boys finish ninth in the conference and 14th in Class S. Hurdlers Will Teas and Doolittle competed well at the Open with Teas winning the hurdling state title and earning First Team All-Shoreline for his third-place finish.
Wrestling
Despite the fact that the Morgan wrestling squad had only 16 wrestlers total in the program, Coach Erik Leiss called the season the best he's seen in the years he's been a coach. In fact, the low numbers may have only strengthened the desire that the team had to fight through every weight class no matter what the competition.
The Huskies graduated lone senior Alex Falk (145), but the remainder of the varsity lineup was led by juniors Hunter Aiono (238), Brian Taylor (120), and CJ Saunders (164) with help from Chad Paradis (138), Robby Gabucci (182), and Brandon Ruggiero (132); and freshmen Jordan Corrigan (185), Jace Garcia (329), Greg Lee (170), Chris Searles (255), Joe Luchuk (126), and Shawn Topping (115).