Boys’ Indoor Track

Shane O’Connor continued his remarkable run this winter by claiming first place in the shot put at two postseason meets with victories at the SCC Championship and State Open Championship. O’Connor has now won the shot put at all four postseason competitions this year and qualified for the New England Championship at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on Sunday, Feb. 28. First at the SCC Championship, O’Connor, a senior, won the shot with a distance of 47 feet-4.5 inches to defeat Amity’s Cameron Griefenberger (46-5.75) and score 10 points that helped the Indians tally 35 and finish fifth. Back at Floyd Little Athletic Center three days later, O’Connor threw 49-10.5 and soared past Bloomfield’s Christian Hall-Gardner (49-1.25), who entered as the top seed. Both athletes had their best throws on their first attempts. O’Connor again scored 10 points and the Indians totaled 12 to place 12th for the Open.

Also for the Indians at SCCs, senior Ryan Brennan was runner-up in a pair of distance events by placing second in the 1,600-meter run (4:30.12) and also racing to second in the 3,200 at 9:57.94—scoring eight points with each performance. He later ran the 1,000 at the Open and took 10th (2:36.62). After winning the 600 at sectionals and states, junior Omar Gebril took fourth at SCCs in 1:28.85 to post four points and he was also ninth for the 300 (37.99). At the Open, Gebril ran 1:23.62 in the 300 and finished fifth to score North Haven’s two other points. Sophomore Eric Milliard scored four points at the SCC meet by finishing fourth in the shot put (42-8.25). Junior Josh Bryson took seventh in the 55 hurdles preliminaries (8.79 seconds) before finishing sixth in the finals (8.50) to score a point.

Additionally in the shot put at the conference championship, Aaron Wilson placed eighth (40-4.5), Anthony Valentino was ninth (39-10), Carson Tebbetts finished 15th (37-9), and Michael Tran was 19th (35-6.5). Brad Schweickert placed 10th in the 1,000 at 2:51.36 and also ran on two relays that finished ninth in the 4x400 with Trevor MacDonnell, Bryson, and Jordan Tong (3:46.38); plus the 4x800 with Tong, Gabe Durante, and Forrest King (9:05.04). North Haven’s 1,600 sprint medley relay of Julien Martinez, Ryan Harvey, Michael Greene, and Tong took seventh place (4:08.88) and the 4x200 featuring Todd Richards, Greene, Dominic Scarano, and MacDonnell finished 10th (1:41.34. Modikiah Johnson finished 16th in the pole vault (8-6) and Richards was 18th for the long jump (16-9.5).

Girls’ Indoor Track

North Haven scored 25.5 points and placed eighth among 18 teams at the SCC Championship on Feb. 17.

The Indians were led by a pair of runner-up performances that each resulted in eight points. Senior Sonia Atluru took second place in the high jump by clearing 5 feet and the 4x800-meter relay of senior Erica Salvo and juniors Elya Paolillo, Maily Tran, and Elise Symon ran a 10:24.25 to finish second. Atluru later placed 13th at the State Open Championship with the same height. Also from SCCs, Symon also crossed the finish line in 5:20.40 for fourth place in the 1,600 to score four points for North Haven. Fellow junior Sarah Vanacore tallied four points with her fourth-place showing in the shot put behind a throw of 34-7.75. Freshman Erica Marriott was fifth in the preliminaries of the 55-meter dash at 7.68 seconds and tied for fifth in the finals at 7.70, scoring 1.5 points.

Additionally, North Haven’s 4x200 relay took eighth in 1:54.93 with Atluru, Ashley Brown, Katie Rogers, and Marriott leading that effort; the 4x400 relay of Salvo, Nina Maratea, Paolillo, and Rogers was ninth (4:40.11); Salvo also finished ninth in the 600 at 1:50.32; and the 1,600 sprint medley relay of Juliana Bencivengo, Paolillo, Rogers, and Clare Connell placed 11th (4:58.48). Maratea also ran the prelims of the 55 hurdles and was 23rd at 11.15.

Also in field events, Kamran Burns was 15th in the high jump (4-4) and ninth in the long jump (15-0), an event that saw Bencivengo finish 18th (13-6) and Marriott place 19th (13-5.75). For the shot put, Katrishia Bell finished ninth (30-4) and Kayla Rodriguez was 15th (28-11.25).

Boys’ Basketball

The Indians took a 54-41 home loss to Branford on Feb. 17 and then hosted West Haven two days later and won 41-32 for a record of 9-10 with one game remaining in the regular season. Justin Falcon’s squad has qualified for both the SCC Tournament that starts this week and the Class L State Tournament that gets underway next week.

The Branford loss put North Haven’s final Oronoque record at 4-4 for the year. The Indians led 10-3 after the first quarter, but were outscored 51-31 the rest of the way in taking the defeat. Jarrod Sancho had a nice all-around game by scoring 11 points to go with seven rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Jack Steineman scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and added four assists. Chris Watson scored nine points and Emadi Okwuosa had five rebounds for the Indians.

The victory versus the Blue Devils gave North Haven a measure of revenge after the Indians had lost at West Haven 46-36 on Jan. 13.

Girls’ Basketball

North Haven finished its season on a high note by earning a 56-52 victory at division opponent Cross on Feb. 16. It was the first Oronoque Division win of the year for the Indians and avenged a 52-50 loss to the Governors on Jan. 27. Earlier in the week, North Haven lost a 66-41 contest to Hamden at Albertus Magnus on Feb. 16. The Indians went 5-15 on the campaign.

Boys’ Swimming and Diving

North Haven split a pair of recent road meets to stand at 3-5-1 this season. The Indians took an 85-77 loss at non-conference squad Masuk on Feb. 12 and then prevailed at SCC opponent West Haven 92-77 on Feb. 17. The team has more victories than it did a season ago.

Indians’ swimmers who posted lifetime-best performances between these two meets were Joe Stock in the 200 freestyle (2:16.91) and 50 freestyle (6:28.09), Angelo Fraschilla in the 100 freestyle (1:20.77), Albi Koleci for the 200 individual medley (2:49.87) and 100 butterfly (1:18.61), Kevin Powers in the 200 IM (2:30.03) and butterfly (1:08.58), Ryan Tanguay in the 50 free (27.56) and 100 breaststroke (1:23.66), Tommy O’Connor in the 50 free (27.61) and 500 free (6:55.14), Holden Perrelli in the 100 fly (1:20), and Will McCleery for the 100 free (1:00.65). Additionally, Riley Powell swam a season-best time of 1:15.29 in the 100 freestyle.

On Thursday, Feb. 25, the Indians will honor senior captain Perrelli on Senior Night when they compete against Bunnell-Stratford at 4 p.m. Later this coming week, the SCC Championship takes place and then there’s the Class M State Championship two weeks after that.

Girls’ Ice Hockey

The Blades stand at 14-4 following three recent games against SCC Division I teams. Amity-North Haven-Cheshire took an 8-1 loss at East Catholic-Glastonbury-South Windsor, lost 5-4 at Ridgefield, and defeated Mercy-Northwest Catholic 4-1. The Blades will play in the semifinals of the SCC Division II Tournament on either Monday, Feb. 22 or Wednesday, Feb. 24. With a victory, they would play for the title at Bennett Rink in West Haven on Friday, Feb. 26.

On Feb. 16, the Blades faced East Catholic-Glastonbury-South Windsor in Newington and dropped an 8-1 decision. Gina Driscoll scored the Blades’ goal in the third period.

Playing a road game against Ridgefield the next day, the Blades lost a close contest, 5-4. Meghan Hogan scored from Driscoll early in the first period to give Am-NH-Ch a 1-0 lead early just 2:43 into the game before Ridgefield tied it later in the period. Erin Owens then scored on Kiley Degrand’s assist for a 2-1 lead with 13 seconds to go in the first. The back-and-forth duel continued in the second as Ridgefield tied it, but the Blades retook the lead at 3-2 when Driscoll scored with 3:50 remaining. Ridgefield came back to tie it again a minute later and it was 3-all entering the final period. In the third, Ridgefield scored a pair of goals in the first four minutes and, although Bailey MacNamara scored from Hogan to make it 5-4 with seven minutes left, the Blades were unable to net the equalizer.

Against Mercy-Northwest Catholic, Owens netted the first goal from Degrand and then assisted with Hogan on a Driscoll goal for a 2-0 Blades’ lead after one. MacNamara scored from Driscoll and Jena Casman in the second period and Driscoll tallied the fourth goal on an Owens helper for a 4-0 advantage early in the third.

Boys’ Ice Hockey

North Haven is now 8-5-2 after losing 3-2 to Branford and tying Guilford 3-3 last week. The Indians are in contention to compete in the SCC/SWC Division II Tournament that begins this week and have already clinched a berth in the subsequent Division II State Tournament.

First up last week, North Haven battled Branford in a road game at Northford Ice Pavilion and came up on the short end of a 3-2 decision. The Hornets brought a 3-0 lead to the third period before the Indians rallied with two goals in the final 2:14 and nearly tied it. Mike Gambardella scored and then JJ Jensen’s goal from Jason St. Peter and Pasquale Liuzzi cut the Indians’ deficit to a goal, yet they could get no closer. Justin Daddio had 22 saves for North Haven, which took 64 shots on net.

“Another disappointing loss, but again, the boys played real hard,” Coach Mike Silengo said. “We ran into a hot goaltender he was very good today.

The next day, North Haven faced Guilford in East Haven and the clubs skated to a 3-3 tie. Guilford led 1-0 after one and then North Haven scored all three of its goals in the second. St. Peter’s goal from CJ Kenny tied it early. Guilford responded with a goal and led 2-1, after which St. Peter scored on Alex Cianci’s assist to make it 2-2, followed by Liuzzi’s score from Gambardella with 51 seconds left to put the Indians up 3-2 through two. Just over three minutes into the third period, Guilford scored to knot the game at 3 and that was the way it ended. Daddio had 36 saves in this one for North Haven, which was outshot 39-25.

“Another good effort from the team. Thought we play a good game we never quit,” said Silengo. “We had to kill off a five-minute major penalty. We had our chances in OT, but we just couldn’t convert. We played a hard-working, well-disciplined Guilford team.”