Girls’ Indoor Track

Erica Marriott took first place in the 55-meter dash and the long jump, while Sarah Vanacore prevailed in the shot put, to lead the North Haven girls’ outdoor track team to a fourth-place finish at the SCC West Sectional Championship. The Indians totaled 58.50 points to take fourth among 10 teams at the sectional meet, which was held at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Jan. 25. Mercy won the meet.

Marriott, a sophomore. ran the fastest time of 7.53 seconds for the preliminaries of the 55 dash, after which she captured first in the finals by running a 7.32 to defeat runner-up Aisha Gay of Hamden (7.40). Marriott’s time in the event broke her own school record, which had been 7.35. Marriott also won the long jump behind a leap of 16 feet-9.5 inches, besting Career’s Brooke Joyner, who went 16-8. Marriott had previously won that event at last spring’s Class L State Championship with a school record distance of 18-1.5. Additionally at sectionals, Marriott posted a ninth-place finish in the 300 with a 45.42.

Meanwhile, Vanacore, a senior, defended her sectional shot put title by winning the event with a throw of 37 feet-4.5 inches, which was nearly four feet better than Mercy’s Mary Pitruzzello (33-5.5). Vanacore has now claimed first in the shot put at the last two indoor and outdoor West Sectional Championships.

Senior Elise Symon had an excellent performance at sectionals by racing to second place in a pair of individual events and also helping her 4x800 relay take second. Symon finished second in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:26.33 and was runner-up for the 3,200 at 12:29.88. Then in the 4x8, Symon, fellow seniors Maily Tran and Elya Paolillo, and junior Macey DiCarlo finished second with a mark of 10:42.37.

Also for North Haven at the sectional meet, seniors Nina Maratea and Adra Cbihi qualified for the finals of the 55-meter hurdles, placing fifth (10.42) and seventh (10.64), respectively. Katie Rogers took fifth in the high jump and fellow sophomore Julia Mappa was eighth, with both athletes clearing 4-6. Additionally, senior Kayla Rodriguez (29-2.5) and junior Sarah Bouffard (28-1.5) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the shot put; while sophomore Clare Connell finished eighth in the 600 by crossing the finish line in a time of 6:10.92.

Boys’ Indoor Track

The Indians saw one athlete record his first postseason win with another adding to his long line of victories at last week’s SCC West Sectional Championship. Josh Bryson put his initial win in the books by taking first place in the 55-meter hurdles, while fellow senior Omar Gebril notched career postseason win No. 7 between the indoor and outdoor seasons with his first-place performance in the 600-meter run. As a team, the Indians placed sixth out of nine clubs by tallying 34 points. Hamden took first place at the meet, which was held on Jan. 25 at Floyd Little Athletic Center.

Gebril posted a time of 1:25.95 in the 600 to race past runner-up Pierre Sylvain of Xavier, who finished at 1:28.72. It’s the second year in a row that Gebril won the 600 at indoor sectionals and he also won the event at last winter’s Class L State Championship. Also at the sectional meet, Gebril finished seventh for the 300-meter dash with a mark of 37.99 seconds.

Bryson qualified for the finals of the 55 hurdles by notching the top time of 8.58 for the preliminaries. Then in the final, Bryson came back to run an 8.54 and defeat Kevin Colon-Quinones of West Haven (8.92). Indians’ freshman Robert Farley was second for the prelims at 8.85 and finished third overall by running a 9.17.

North Haven also saw two athletes score points in the pole vault. Senior Modikiah Johnson placed fourth by clearing 9 feet and junior Matthew Coyle took fifth place at 8-6. In shot put, junior Eric Milliard came in fifth with a distance of 41 feet-10 inches, while senior Carson Tebbetts finished seventh at 39-4. Todd Richards took eighth place in the long jump with a mark of 18-4 for North Haven.

In relays, the Indians’ 4x800 of senior Jordan Tong, junior Gabe Durante, and sophomores Jack Opramolla and Jackson Frank placed fifth (9:07.12); as did the 4x400 of Bryson, Tong, senior Bryce Locke-Bromell, and Gebril (3:47.14). North Haven’s 1,600 sprint medley relay of Richards, senior Ryan Harvey, junior Brian Daley, and Opramolla came in sixth place at 4:09.11; plus the 4x200 featuring Richards, freshman Jianni Snipes, Bromell-Locke, and Daley finished seventh with a time of 1:40.32.

Boys’ Ice Hockey

North Haven was victorious in two of its three recent contests to improve to 3-9 on the year. The Indians defeated Cheshire and Masuk and then lost to Hand during what was their best week of the season thus far.

The Indians got it going by hosting Cheshire at Northford Ice Pavilion on Jan. 23 netted a 2-1 overtime victory on a shorthanded goal from Mike Gambardella. In the first period, Gambardella gave North Haven a 1-0 lead when he scored a power play goal on CJ Kenny’s assist. Cheshire tied the game at 1 in the second period before Gambardella won it with a goal 6:04 into the overtime period. North Haven was outshot 41-14, but John Reilly stood tall in net by making 40 saves in the victory.

Two days later, North Haven faced Masuk at The Rinks at Shelton and came away with a 5-0 win. Reilly stopped all 20 shots he faced to get the shutout in goal. Alex Cianci scored from Jake Wentworth to stake North Haven to a 1-0 lead after the first period. The Indians put up three goals in the second as Dom Biondi scored from Alan Tranceti, Sam Pethick scored from Kenny, and Jamie Montesi converted a power play goal with Pethick and Sean Quinn getting the assists. In the third, Andrew Carmody lit the lamp on Quinn’s helper to put a bow on the 5-0 win.

North Haven wrapped up the week by taking a 5-0 home loss to Hand on Jan. 28.

Boys’ Basketball

The Indians stand at 5-7 on the season after going 1-1 in last week’s action. North Haven opened the week by earning a 73-59 home win over Foran on Jan. 23. Three nights later, the Indians took a 73-57 loss at Shelton.

North Haven led Foran 23-20 after the first quarter and extended that advantage to 43-33 at halftime on its way to the 14-point win. Jarrod Sancho scored 20 points, while Jack Steinman had 18 points for the Indians. Mike Gagliardi and Tom Myjak pitched in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Against Shelton, Sancho put up 22 points to lead North Haven. Steinman scored 13 points, Tom Dodge had eight points, and Anthony Beretta and Ethan Okwuosa both scored six points apiece.

Girls’ Basketball

North Haven hosted West Haven for its lone game last week on Jan. 27. The Indians dropped a 61-48 decision against the Blue Devils and are now 2-12 for the year.

The Indians were only down by a point heading into the fourth quarter of the West Haven contest. However, West Haven won the final frame 23-11 to come away with the victory. North Haven’s leading point scorers were Ari DelVecchio (12), Laura Petrafesa (11), Julissa Maldonado (10), Laurissa Amaker (7), and Leah Zeisner (6).

Boys’ Swimming and Diving

The Indians got back to the .500 mark after claiming a home victory at Gawrych Town Pool last week. North Haven hosted the Lyman Hall-Coginchaug co-op squad on Jan. 24 and swam to a 105-80 victory to improve to 3-3 for the season.