Printer Friendly Version - H-K Girls’ Cross Country Finishes 1st at Suffern Invitational

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ cross country team took the title when the Cougars competed in the Suffren Invitational in New York last weekend. Photo courtesy of Matt Diglio

Senior captain Erin Marica took first place in the 100 breaststroke and the 500 freestyle, qualifying for states in the latter event, to lead the H-K girls’ swim team to victory in its first meet of the 2022 season. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Thebeau

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ cross country team earned a first-place finish when it started it competed at the Suffern Invitational in Bear Mountain, New York last week. The Cougars finished with a team score of 52 points to place ahead of 23 teams from New York and New Jersey in the race.

Freshman Grace Mitchell led H-K by taking fifth place with a time of 20:04 at the invitational. Senior Izzy Berardino finished in fifth place (20:08), freshman Delaney Aronson came in 11th place (20:55), junior Sydney Adelberg finished in 16th (21:18), and sophomore Keira Sehl-Albert crossed the finish line in 18th place (21:16). Senior Kira O’Brien finished in 31st place (22:55), and fellow senior Chloe Lacross came in 36th place (23:06) for the Cougars.

Haddam-Killingworth’s JV squad recently took part in the CT River Valley Regional that was hosted at Cromwell High School. The Cougars finished in third place as a squad by scoring 72 points at the meet. Sophomore Margaret Robinson placed ninth in the race with a time of 23:52 for the H-K.

The Haddam-Killingworth boys’ cross country squad took fourth place when the Cougars participated in last weekend’s Suffern Invitational. H-K finished in fourth among the 20 teams that competed at the meet in Bear Mountain, New York.

Senior captain Alex Lara led the way for the Cougars by finishing in 13th place with a time of 16:54 in the race. Senior Jack Insalaco finished in 16th place (17:02), sophomore Jack Cozean took 28th place (17:34), junior Luke Hedges came in 34th place (18:00), and senior Joe Giaccone finished in 50th place (18:53) on behalf of H-K.

The Cougars also saw their JV team compete in the CT River Valley Invitational at Cromwell High School, claiming first place at the meet with an overall score of 20 points. Freshman Daniel McCourt covered the course with a time of 18:11 to take first place at the meet.

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ swimming and diving team won its first dual-meet of the season by earning a 90-77 home victory versus the Old Lyme-Valley Regional-Old Saybrook co-op squad on Sept. 13. Alison Karam returns for another season as H-K’s head coach.

H-K began the meet by taking first place in 200 medley relay and held the lead for the rest of the way in its win against the Wildcats. Senior captain Erin Marica finished first in the 500 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke for the Cougars, qualifying for the Class S Championship with her performance in the 500 free. H-K also received victories from junior Peyton Tyler in the 200 freestyle, junior Layla Hayward in the 50 freestyle, and sophomore Liv Macaluso in the 100 freestyle.

The Cougars swept all three relays en route to their season-opening victory. H-K received victories from its 200 medley relay of senior captain Kristen Thebeau, Marica, senior captain Jo Houska, and Macaluso; the 200 freestyle relay of Houska, freshman Maggie Miller, Hayward, and Tyler; and the 400 freestyle relay featuring Tyler, Thebeau, Macaluso, and Marica.

The H-K boys’ soccer team improved to 3-0 on the year after winning both of its games last week. The Cougars netted a shutout against Portland and then defeated Hale-Ray to stay undefeated thus far this fall.

In their first game of the week, the Cougars hosted Portland and blanked the Highlanders by a 1-0 final on Sept. 13. Three days later, H-K was on the road to face Hale-Ray and notched a 4-1 victory against the Noises.

Junior Cole Merriam scored 3 goals and had 1 assist for the Cougars in their win over Hale-Ray. Freshman Phin Merriam scored a goal, sophomore Ryan Lasusa had 2 assists, and freshman Tetsu Imai contributed an assist in the victory.

H-K is on the road to face Old Lyme in its next contest on Friday, Sept. 23 at 3:45 p.m. After that, the Cougars will be back on the road for a matchup with St. Paul at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 26.

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ soccer team had contests versus Portland and the North Branford/Hale-Ray co-op on last week’s schedule. The Cougars earned a tie with Portland and then claimed a win over North Branford/Hale-Ray to move to 1-1-1 on the campaign.

On Sept. 12, H-K was on the road to play Portland and battled the Highlanders to a 1-1 draw. Sophomore Seanna Ruimerman gave H-K a 1-0 lead when she scored a goal with 10:25 left in the first half. Portland scored the tying goal with 17 minutes remaining in the second half. Junior Vyv Laurenza made 7 saves in net for the Cougars.

Then on Sept. 17, the Cougars hosted the North Branford/Hale-Ray co-op squad and posted a 5-0 shutout versus the Thunderbirds. Ruimerman, junior Leah Walton, and senior Julia Favalora all scored goals for H-K during the first half. Freshman Maddie Sanderson netted a goal on an assist from fellow freshman Chloe Felder in the second half. Felder went on to score an unassisted to goal to finish off the 5-0 win.

H-K is hosting Old Lyme on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 3:45 p.m. The Cougars will then play a road game against Platt Tech at 3:45 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23.

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ volleyball squad had three matchups on last week’s schedule and came away with two victories to even its record at 2-2 this year. H-K earned wins versus Cromwell and Old Lyme and also took a loss to Coginchaug in recent action.

The Cougars opened up the week by recording a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-18) shutout at Cromwell on Sept. 12. Senior Kaleigh Bodak recorded 10 service points to go with 4 aces, and 6 kills for H-K. Senior Paige Corcoran had 3 service points, 2 aces, and 1 kill; senior Audra Yazmer had 4 service points, 2 aces, 2 blocks, and 4 kills; and junior Sammy Minickene had 10 service points, 5 aces, and 1 kill in the victory.

Two days later, H-K hosted Coginchaug and lost to the Blue Devils by a 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21) score. Junior Annabelle Zajac finished the match with 16 service points, 5 kills, and 9 digs for the Cougars. Junior Reese Timothy had 5 service points with 4 aces, 10 kills, 17 assists, and 10 digs; senior Payton Yazmer had 4 service points, 1 ace, 3 assists, and 12 kills; and sophomore Caley Napoletano posted 2 service points to go with 4 assists, and 11 digs in the contest.

H-K wrapped up its week by notching a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23) win over Old Lyme in a home match on Sept. 16. Bodak tallied 14 service points with 6 aces, 7 kills, and 10 digs in the victory. Minickene had 6 service points, 2 aces, 9 kills, and 20 digs; Payton Yazmer recorded 6 service points, 2 aces, 8 kills, and 5 digs; and Timothy finished with 9 kills, 18 assists, and 11 digs to help the Cougars get the win.

The Cougars are hosting East Hampton for their next match at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23. H-K will then hit the road to face Hale-Ray on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 6 p.m.

The H-K field hockey team gained a split of two recent games to put its record at 2-1 on the young season. The Cougars took a defeat to North Branford before rebounding with a shutout win versus Morgan in last week’s contests.

On Sept. 13, H-K lost to North Branford by a 2-0 score in a road game. Junior goalie Tea Norman made 12 saves for H-K in the game.

Two days later, the Cougars hosted Morgan and recorded a 3-0 shutout over the Cougars at H-K High School.

H-K’s next game is a road tilt against Old Saybrook on Friday, Sept. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

The Haddam-Killingworth football team traveled to Clinton to take on divisional rival Morgan for a Saturday afternoon matchup on Sept. 17. The Cougars took a 30-23 defeat to the Huskies at the Peters Complex to move to 1-1 overall with a record of 1-1 in the Pequot Conference Sassacus Division.

H-K fell into a 30-0 deficit entering the fourth quarter of its game versus Morgan. The Cougars rallied to scored 3 touchdowns in a row to the cut the deficit to 7 points. H-K went for an onside kick with 1:18 remaining in the game, but the Huskies recovered the ball and went on to get the 30-23 victory.

Senior Alex Phipps threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tate Callender to put H-K on the board in the fourth quarter. Wyatt Solosky kicked the extra point to make it 30-7. Later in the frame, Phipps found Bryce Lacoss on a 15-yard TD strike for another H-K score. Phipps followed by tossing the 2-point conversion pass to Kevin Gamache, trimming the deficit to 30-15.

Phipps went on to throw his third touchdown of the quarter with a 3-yard scoring pass to Callender. Phipps went to Callender again for the 2-point conversion to make it 30-23, which held up as the final score.

H-K is hosting Cromwell-Portland (2-0, 2-0) for another divisional matchup on Friday, Sept. 23. The contest kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at H-K High School.