Roundup
Relay team
sets record
It was a late Sunday night in New Haven as the Woodstock Academy indoor track teams competed in an ECC meet.
But while it was a late one, it was also a good one.
The Centaurs saving the best for near the last as the boys’ 1600m sprint medley relay team had a night to remember.
Jeff Phongsa, Braedon Emerson, Vincente Bastura and Christian Menounos put their names in the school record book as the foursome shattered the previous SMR school record by almost six seconds, finishing in 3 minutes, 46.63 seconds to take home a first-place finish from the event. That time also qualified the relay team for the Nationals.
Menounos would have had a school record of his own in the event as he ran the anchor leg, the 800m, in two minutes flat.
That is well under the school record in the 800m but doesn’t count as such because it was run in a relay, not an individual, event.
Also making his mark was senior Jared Eaton who put together a personal best throw of 45-feet-4-inches in the shotput to finish second in the event.
Charles Caggiano finished seventh in the 1000m but it was important for the senior as he qualified for the upcoming Class MM state meet.
On the girls’ side, senior Bella Sorrentino finished second in the 55m hurdles in 9.3 seconds and was also second in the shotput with a throw of 32-1.
She also joined Juliet Allard, Isabella Selmecki and Talia Tremblay for a fourth-place finish in the 4x200m relay. The team’s time of 1:57.37 qualified it for state competition.
Allard also had a personal best for the season as she finished in third in the 55m dash in 7.75 seconds. Junior Julia Coyle also had a personal best for the season as she placed fifth in the 1600m in 5:42.66 and qualified for state competition.
Gymnastics
Centaurs own a share of 1st in ECC
After a season-opening loss to Killingly, the Woodstock Academy gymnastics team has now reeled off three straight wins and finds itself tied atop the ECC regular season standings.
“It’s really exciting,” said coach Kasey Tocchio. “I think it’s pretty cool when the ECC is all kind of doing well together. It truly is what team is putting out their best gymnastics on a given day. We’re all trying to shoot for that.”
The Centaurs, who posted a pair of wins over Stonington this past week, are now tied with Killingly atop the regular season standings as both teams own a 3-1 record.
They are scheduled to meet for a second time this season at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at Deary’s Gymnastics in Danielson.
Killingly won the first meeting 129.65 – 129.1.
“(The Centaurs and Killingly) know they are neck-and-neck,” said Tocchio who serves as head coach for both programs. “We’re big on start values. It depends on what start values the kids have to determine what their (scoring) potential is. Start value-wise for the two teams are neck-and-neck. It’s that close. They just have to hit it, the two teams know that and it adds a little pressure to both of them.”
The Centaurs bested Stonington on Thursday down by the shoreline 133.3- 131.9.
Killingly was also involved in that same meet and fell short to the Bears, 131.9-130.2, for its first loss of the season.
Woodstock also prevailed over the Bears, 133.65-125.45, on Saturday.
Killingly was also involved in that meet and, this time, downed the Bears 126.1-125.45 to also finish the week with a 3-1 record in the league.
Sophomore Olivia Aleman was the key for the Centaurs as she finished first in the All-Around competition in both meets. On Thursday, she finished with a 37.05 total to lead the field. That included a first-place finish in vault (9.2); a tie for first in beam (9.3); a second on the bars (9.2) and a third on the floor (9.35). She bettered that routine at home, finishing first in the All-Around on Saturday with a 37.15 total. Aleman was best on bars (9.4) which is important for the sophomore.
Aleman was also best on beam (9.1); second on floor (9.4) and third on vault (9.25).
Freshman Julia Kerr finished with an 8.6 on beam at Stonington to finish third overall and she followed that up with a third-place finish on both beam (8.75) and bars (8.8) on Saturday.
Sophomore Allie Boyd finished second-best in the All-Around on Saturday with a 30.45 for the Centaurs.
The scoring may not be as high as the Centaurs have enjoyed in past years as a team but it’s coming along with the pair of 133-plus totals.
Not only did Woodstock post the two wins over Stonington, they scored better than Killingly, even though they were not scoring against their gym mates.
Girls’ Basketball
It was a short week for the girls’ basketball team.
They traveled to New Haven on Saturday and posted a 41-28 win over Amistad Academy, raising their record to 10-5 on the season. They are currently 12th in the Class L state rankings.
The Centaurs jumped out to a 7-4 first quarter lead over the Wolves with sophomore Eva Monahan getting four of her team-high 12 points in the first eight minutes.
Monahan split her production right down the middle, getting six points in each half of play.
The Centaurs doubled up on that lead by the half, going up 17-11.
They followed that up with a 10-1 third quarter run to enjoy a 15-point lead going into the final quarter.
Sophomore Sophia Sarkis hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 11 points. Freshman Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain added seven. Fatema Thomas led all scorers as she finished with 16 points for Amistad (1-16).
This week they have only one game to be concerned with an it’s on the road at NFA.
The Centaurs finish up the regular season with four games in seven days beginning on Feb.7.
Boys’ Basketball
The boys’ basketball team, despite playing without their top scorer and rebounder due to illness, hung tough with Windham. But the visiting Whippets changed their defense and the course of the game in the second half and walked away with the 78-50 win.
“The guys came out and played hard. We got down by (five points) early in the first but we fought back, tied it and made it 0-0 going into the second half,” said coach Donte Adams.  “We had a chance.”
The Whippets (8-3, 4-1 ECC Div. II) led 11-6 early but the Centaurs rallied as junior Hunter Larson (14 points, 7 rebounds) hit a basket and senior Carter Morissette (13 points) hit a 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 11 seconds left in the first quarter to tie things up.
Windham would take a 14-11 lead by the end of the first quarter but the game remained close throughout the second quarter.
Windham did forge ahead 23-18 with 3:45 to play in the half but the Centaurs (3-10, 1-5) kept fighting back.
A Teddy Richardson basket with 16 seconds left off an offensive rebound cut Windham’s lead to 1-point, 27-26.
Travis Mangual Jr., who led four Whippets players in double figures with 27 points, hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds to play to make it a 29-26 Windham lead.
But with just three seconds left before half, Richardson floated one in from the right side for a 3-pointer and a tie game at half.
But the momentum did not carry into the second half as the Whippets changed up their defense, going from a zone to man, and that increased energy fired up their offense. The Whippets scored the first 14 points of the third quarter.
“They were in a 1-2-2 (in the first half) which slowed us down but we got shots out of it. When they went man, they were a little more aggressive and the shots stopped falling for us. We started settling for 3’s instead of trying to get to the rim. That (defensive) switch hurt us a bit,” Adams said.
The first point for the Centaurs in the quarter came with 2:47 to play on a Larson free throw.
The Whippets led by 17 at the end of the third quarter and pulled away with a 9-2 run to start the fourth.
James D’Alleva-Bochain added eight rebounds for the Centaurs who clearly missed having 6-foot-6 sophomore Brady Ericson in the paint.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

Senior Carter Morissette keeps a keen eye on Windham senior Travis Mangual.

Senior Brandon Nagle (12) leads the break down the floor with teammate Garrett Bushey, right.

Junior Hunter Larson, left, tries a little between the legs dribble against Windham’s Tahj Jones.

Sophomore Garrett Bushey tries to get into a good defensive position against Windham. Photos by Marc Allard.

.