Printer Friendly Version - Girls’ Swimming Wins First Dual Meet, Football Wins Big

The Shoreline Co-op girls’ swimming and diving team won its season opener against Ledyard 93-76. Pictured from the team are (back) Olivia Campo, Elsa Shatraw, Sasha Dziebel, Liv Macaluso, Maggie Miller, Sofia Campo, Claire Johnson, Phoebe Spallone, Lauren Thebeau, Sophia Langer, Veronica “VV” Pypa; (front) Emma Wakelee, Kinsley Grenier, Bethany Erkkilam, Olive Forristall, Zi Abbott, Aria Cummings, and Maddie Cummins. Photo courtesy of Alison Karam

The newly formed Shoreline Co-Op girls’ swimming and diving team, with high school swimmers from Haddam-Killingworth, Valley Regional, Lyme-Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook, won its first dual meet of the 2024 season on Sept. 17, defeating Ledyard 93-76.

Haddam-Killingworth senior Olivia “Liv” Macaluso qualified for the state championships, swimming the 100-yard backstroke in 1:11.39 and the 100 freestyle in 1:01.23. Valley Regional freshman Claire Johnson also qualified for states in the 200 Individual Medley (2:38.46) and the 100 butterfly (1:14.10).

Swimmers who competed for Shoreline Co-Op included Aria Cummings (freshman, H-K), Bethany Erkkila (junior, Valley), Johnson, Elsa Shatraw (sophomore, H-K), Emma Wakelee (junior, Old Saybrook), Kinsley Grenier (freshman, Lyme-Old Lyme), Lauren Thebeau (freshman, H-K), Maddie Cummins (freshman, Lyme-Old Lyme), Maggie Miller (junior, H-K), Olive Forristall (sophomore, H-K), Olivia Campo (senior, H-K), Macaluso, Rose Dimmock (junior, Lyme-Old Lyme), Sasha Dziebel (junior, Old Saybrook), Sofia Campo (senior, H-K), Sophia Langer (sophomore, H-K), Veronica Pypa (senior, H-K), and Zi Abbott (sophomore, H-K).

Top 3 finishes for Shoreline Co-Op came from the 200-yard Medley Relay team. Johnson, Sofia Campo, Macaluso, and Miller placed first, and in second place was Shatraw, Pypa, Dimmock, and Olivia Campo. In the 200 freestyle, Miller placed second and Forristall took third. In the 200 Individual Medley (IM), Johnson placed second and qualified for states. Sofia Campo placed second in the 50 freestyle, and Erkkila placed third in that event.

In the 100 butterfly, Johnson placed second and qualified for states, and Macaluso won the 100 freestyle, qualifying for states. Erkkila placed third in that event. In the 500 freestyle, Miller came in second and Shatraw came in third. The 200 freestyle relay team of Olivia Campo, Forristall, Sofia Campo, and Johnson came in second place. In the 100 backstroke, Macaluso won and qualified for states. Dimmock placed second. Forristall took second in the 100 breaststroke, and Sofia Campo placed third. In the 400 freestyle relay, Erkkila, Thebeau, Forristall, and Miller came in first. In third place was Langer, Dziebel, Wakelee, and Grenier.

H-K football traveled to North Branford on Oct. 4 and won 51-21. Josh Frith ran for three touchdowns and threw for another in the victory. Tyler Napierkowski added two rushing touchdowns, and Jamien Evans threw a 41-yard strike to Bryce Lacoss for the Cougars (3-1).

The Cougars jumped out to a 28-7 halftime lead and thwarted North Branford's second-half comeback attempt. After North Branford scored early in the third quarter, the Cougars reeled off three scores before the quarter was out on rushing touchdowns by Frith and Napierkowski, and a safety on a botched Thunderbird kick return.

The Cougars amassed 406 total yards on offense, including 312 on the ground. Frith and Napierkowski finished with 126 yards each. The powerful ground attack was complemented by two touchdown passes -- a 32-yard strike from Frith to Joseph Slane, and a 41-yard pass from Evans to Lacoss.

“We've taken steps to improve every week,” said H-K Head Coach Tyler Wilcox after the game. “I was pleased with our effort on offense. We still need to clean up some mistakes, like giving up big plays on defense. But overall, the kids' preparation and hard work in practice is paying off in games.”

H-K volleyball hosted Cromwell on Sept. 30 and won 3-0. Caley Napoletano had 10 digs in the match, and Ava Mazzotta had 14 assists.

On Oct. 2, the team traveled to North Branford and won 3-0. Jayani Bennett had nine kills, while Napoletano had 26 digs, and Mazzotta had 23. Bennett added 13 digs, and Mazzotta had 16 assists.

On Oct. 5, the Haddam Killingworth boys’ and girls’ cross country teams traveled to Brewster, New York to compete in the Brewster Bears Invitational against 40 schools from New York and Connecticut.

Both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams won their races as a team, while the boys’ JV squad placed second as a team. Boys’ varsity scored 72 team points to beat out the 15 other teams in the race. The boys’ team was once again led by senior co-captain Jack Cozean, who placed fourth in the race with a time of 16:40 for the 3.1 mile course. Following him were juniors Cash Smigel in 11th (17:26), Dan McCourt in 12th (17:30), Alex Fredericksen in 16th (17:41), and Anthony Frederickson in 29th (18:10). The boys’ JV team scored scored 51 points and were led by sophomores Paul Birkmeyer, who placed fourth (18:55), and Wyatt Voegtli in eighth (19:19).

The girls’ team won its third invitational of the fall, as the Cougars placed first in the varsity 1 race, scoring 34 points. The girls were led by junior Grace Mitchell, who placed third in a time of 19:49 for the 5,000 meter course. Next for H-K was sophomore Charlotte Behnke, who crossed the line in a time of 20:06 to place fourth in the race. She was followed by senior co-captain Keira Sehl-Albert in ninth (21:12), junior Julia Downing in 10th (21:32), and junior Amelia Riggs in 11th (21:34) to round out the team scoring.