Roundup
Centaurs
capture first-
ever ECC
Div. I crown
There were plenty of smiles on the track at the South Campus track last week.
For a first time ever, the Woodstock Academy girls’ track team had won an ECC Div. I title.
The Centaurs had clinched a tie for the title with a win over Fitch the week before, but had they lapsed and lost to Norwich Free Academy, that title would have been shared three ways.
The Centaurs weren’t about to let that happen as they downed the Wildcats handily, 103-47.
“That’s pretty awesome,” said coach Josh Welch. “These kids have been working their butts off and they have a lot to be proud of. I know they had a lot of jitters coming in but they managed it pretty well and put up some great performances.”
It wasn’t exactly a fired-up start to the meet as NFA elected to not run the 4x800m relay, giving the Centaurs the win.
 “I think we saw the competition and were ready to go. The 800m was one of the first races where our distance kids really had to battle and brought it. We were stoked and ready to go. NFA looked a little held back and we were there to pick it up,” Welch said.
More so than the one day it took to accomplish it was all the time spent prior to, just trying to get the program to the point where it could challenge schools like East Lyme, Fitch and NFA.
“This was incredibly special, at least, to me and probably to everyone else. The program has never done it and it means a lot,” said senior Bella Sorrentino. “It’s different than winning the ECC (championship) meet. This title means we’ve won every dual meet in our division.”
And that, agreed Welch, means more than winning an ECC championship where the scoring is done differently and teams with higher-level athletes tend to do better whereas the divisional championship is more of a team-oriented accomplishment.
“I’m really hoping this brings more validity to what we are doing,” Welch said. “The first year coaching here, I remember meets against East Lyme seemed like an insurmountable task, how are we going to compete with them? A few years later, the right kids with the right attitudes helped develop the right culture and they have made something that is incredibly special. I hope it helps to feed the program, guys and girls alike, in the future. I hope it sets an example school-wide that we can do this. Going up against bigger teams, it hurts, it’s tough, but we can get there.”
Juliet Allard led the Centaurs with three individual first-place finishes in the 100 and 200-meter races as well as the 300-meter hurdles. The sophomore was also a member of the winning 4x100-meter relay team. Reegan Reynolds won both the long and triple jumps.
Other first-place finishes included Talia Tremblay (400m), Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain (800m), Olivia Tracy (1600-meter), Julia Coyle (3200-meter), Bella Sorrentino (100-meter hurdles), Mia Sorrentino (high jump) and Magdalena Myslenski (javelin).
“Bella came in, was questionable because her hamstring was bugging her but she had solid performances all around and put up a ton of points. Juliet Allard, you could see the nerves were getting to her a bit, she’s only a sophomore and there was a lot of pressure on her to perform and she won four events,” Welch said. “We got the leadership we needed from Magda and Bella that helped keep everyone galvanized and just had a ton of great performances.”
The Centaurs still have a home meet with Waterford still to come and that will be followed by the ECC Championship.
“Championship meets are funky. There are a lot more scoring opportunities. You start to question standouts versus depth and they are different animals,”Welch said. “But I think we can push right up against it. We have a number of kids that can take home individual championships and some kids who have much bigger personal bests left in them that just haven’t been tested, they have been pushed a bit but we have some time to prep for it. Some of our middle distance stuff is going to get much better over the next couple of weeks as long as we train and keep everyone healthy.”
Boys’ Track
Christian Menounos wanted and expected to own the record in the 800-meter by the end of the boys’ track season this spring.
Carter Saracina didn’t have exactly the same trajectory in the 200-meter.
But both came home from Norwich in possession of a school record as Saracina finished in 22.7 seconds to become the proud owner of the 200-meter mark and Menounos finished in 1:59.5 to break the previous 800-meter mark.
“I would say it was unexpected,” boys’ track coach Gerry LaMontagne said of Saracina’s accomplishment. “I think he had the potential and in the last couple of weeks, he’s really come on for us. He had a breakout meet against Fitch, winning the 100 and 200-meters and he did the same against NFA.”
The two records didn’t help the Centaurs win the meet with the Wildcats, however, as Norwich Free Academy prevailed, 96-54.
“I didn’t really expect it against NFA. I was thinking it might happen further down the line but I felt good running and I just ran I guess,” Saracina said of breaking the previous mark of 22.9 seconds in the 200m.
He, possibly, could have finished faster.
“He probably could have been another tenth or 15/100th’s of a second faster. He had about a 10-yard lead and looked to his left and right to see where the competition was with about 20 yards to go,” LaMontagne said.
Saracina said it just happened. “I was running down and, I don’t know why, but I just turned my head back to see where everyone was and it slowed me down. It will definitely teach me not to look back,” Saracina said.
Menounos had some competition. NFA’s Kyle Kornacki was pushing him.
 “It was not a great day to run (the weather was chilly, damp and breezy) but I had good competition from NFA so he pushed me the first lap and I let it rip on the second lap. I still have some work to do on my 800 but I was happy with my time,” Menounos said.
The sophomore was hoping to accomplish his goal a couple of weeks before when the previous record holder, Ian Hoffman who had just established the mark last year, was in attendance at the East Lyme meet.
“I was really happy to reach that goal. I knew I was going to get it sooner or later but it was sooner so I was happy about that,” Menounos said.
Menounos also won the 3200-meter and was a member of the winning 4x800-meter relay team with Vincente Bastura, Colton Sallum and Charles Caggiano.
Caggiano also took first in the 400-meter, Jared Eaton was best in the javelin, second in the shotput and third in the discus and Thatcher Paterson won the triple jump.
“Thatcher Paterson had a breakout day with the triple jump. I thought it was really great. Thatcher has been stepping forward with the triple jump and he’s been kind of close in recent weeks. He had a little breakout with the personal best (37-feet, 4 ½ inches) and, for a freshman, he’s only a foot and a half off of state qualifying so he is in a good spot,” LaMontagne said.
Baseball
East Lyme continued to be a thorn in its side but the Centaurs baseball team won more than it lost this week to improve to 12-2 on the season.
“I told the kids on the way home from Stonington (Saturday) that at the end of the day, they won two out of three and even though it didn’t roll exactly the way that we wanted it to, we’re also 12-2. I gave them a day off to recharge the batteries. They know they have a chance to (clinch the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II title this week) and what’s at stake,” said coach Brian Murphy. “I want to peak at the right time; hopefully, we’re going to do that.”
Woodstock ended last week on a come-from-behind note as it rallied for a 5-2 victory at Stonington.
The Centaurs trailed the Bears, 2-0, going into the top of the fifth inning but got a little help from their hosts.
Caleb Simoneau walked, Maxx Corradi singled and both advanced on a ground out. Brady Ericson followed with a pop fly that looked like it was destined to end the inning but an error on the play allowed both Corradi and Simoneau to score and tie the game.
“We didn’t start the way we wanted to. We were going into the fifth inning and really had not done much and then we get a couple of runners on and moved them over but that (error) opened the door for us,” Brian Murphy said.
Ericson came around on a single by Marcus McGregor to put the Centaurs into the lead.
Woodstock carried that momentum into the top of the sixth.
Carter Morissette had a leadoff single and came all the way around on an opposite-field triple by Eric Mathews who scored on a base hit by Kaden Murphy to give the Centaurs their winning margin.
Riley O’Brien went the first four innings on the mound to improve to 4-1 on the season. McGregor and Morissette were the only batters to finish with a pair of hits.
The week began on a good note against the Centaurs closest rivals. Ericson extended his streak to 26 innings on the mound without allowing an earned run as the sophomore lefthander raised his record to 4-0, pitching a two-hitter and striking out 13, in a 5-2 win over Killingly Wednesday.
“That’s outstanding,” Brian Murphy said of Ericson’s 0.00 earned run average. “He’s battled through some times when he is not that good but he manages to find a way to get out of it which is a sign of a good pitcher. When you run a streak like he has, it’s awesome.”
The two teams played scoreless ball for the first three innings but Ericson got all the support he needed in the fourth.
Mathewson reached on an error, Ericson singled and Mathewson came around on a McGregor base hit. Morissette followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Keon Lamarche followed with the big blow. He sent a shot to right-center field that cleared the fence at Owen Bell Park in Dayville and scored McGregor ahead of him to make it 4-0.
“I was so happy for (Lamarche) because we’re working on some things other than him just hitting bombs but I tell him all the time that he will get his pitches center-in that he could turn on. He got one in the center (of the strike zone) and he turned on it. He’s becoming a better hitter by doing the little things and going to (the opposite field). But he has tremendous power and that was a shot,” Brian Murphy said.
Killingly did come back to cut the deficit in half on a pair of walks, a catcher’s interference call and an error.
Lamarche delivered again in the sixth for the Centaurs, driving a hard ground ball into center field that allowed McGregor to score.
The news was not as good in East Lyme on Thursday as Woodstock saw its eight-game win streak come to an end with an 8-1 loss to the Vikings.
East Lyme is responsible for both of the Woodstock Academy losses this season.
Morissette had the only hit of the game for the Centaurs, a double in the seventh inning. He came around to score the only run in the game for Woodstock Academy.
Boys’ Lacrosse
It’s that time of year when those teams on the cusp of qualifying for the state tournament have to get serious.
The boys’ lacrosse team is one of those.
“We need to win two more games,” said coach Jason Tata.
The Centaurs have four to play.
“I want four of four,” Tata added. “I think the last four games we have are all winnable. It’s going to be a test. We have tough games against Waterford and Fitch.”
The Centaurs played Waterford on Tuesday (the game ended too late for this edition), host Montville on Thursday and then go on the road for their final two against Fitch and St. Bernard-Wheeler next week.
The Centaurs played St. Bernard-Wheeler on Saturday and came away with the 10-2 victory.
That win followed a pair of losses earlier in the week to East Lyme and Norwich Free Academy.
“We really needed this win. East Lyme is a different beast but the NFA one was right there for us. We had it in our hands so this was a real test to see if we could come back and play with that same fire and we did,.” said Tata.
The Centaurs improved to 5-7 with a wire-to-wire lead as they broke out to an 8-0 lead by half and never looked back.
Jared Nielsen and Zach Gessner got untracked as they combined for eight of the 10 goals with Nielsen getting five.
“We put in a little bit of a different offense, decided to change things up a bit and free up our attack players more. We needed to make more space for our playmakers and Jared and Zach are a dynamic duo out there,” Tata said.
Dylan Phillips and Sam Clark also scored for the Centaurs while Andrew Newton recorded a pair of assists.
The match with NFA ended in a 9-8 Wildcats win on Thursday.
The two teams were tied at halftime and neither team could gain much separation in the second half.
Phillips gave the Centaurs a one-goal lead halfway through the third quarter and Nielsen followed with another tally 90 seconds later.
The Wildcats closed back within one but Gessner put the Centaurs up 7-5 with 9 ½ minutes to play. NFA came back to tie with 4:04 remaining before Phillips tallied again with 3:01 to play.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, the Wildcats tied it with 53 seconds left and got the game-winning goal in the closing seconds.
“It came down to winning the 50-50 balls. We had a couple of moments where we could have cleared the ball out if we would have won the groundball and we just couldn’t seem to get it back to our offensive side. We were prepped and ready to slow it down, eat some clock, but we didn’t win the 50-50’s,” Tata said.
Gessner finished with two goals and three assists while Jacob Jurnovoy joined Phillips with a pair of goals in the match.
Softball
A few feet on two occasions could have made a world of difference for the softball team early last week.
The Centaurs saw two long fly balls, both of which had the possibility of clearing the fence at the Commons field, snared by a Waterford outfielder and the Lancers went on to post a 6-3 victory over the Centaurs.
The game matched up the top team in Div. I of the ECC, Waterford (9-3), against the Centaurs (9-5) who are on top of the standings in Div. II in the league.
“I’m not unhappy at all with the effort,” said coach Jason Gerum. “We got a lot of opportunities to make plays and we made them. We didn’t make a couple of plays that cost a couple of runs that were critical but Waterford has been playing some of the top teams in the state. The ones it has lost were close games to top-10 teams. I think we’re in the mix.”
The Centaurs did bounce out to the early lead in the first inning as Maddie Martinez singled, courtesy runner Campbell Favreau then advanced to second on an error and scored on an Elizabeth Morgis double.
Morgis joined classmates Martinez and Lexi Thompson with two hits and a run batted in for the game.
Waterford tied the game in the top of the second and took the lead with two runs in the third inning. Anna Dziecinny then made it a four-run game with a two-run homer in the sixth.
Thompson had almost made it a one-run game in the third but centerfielder Paige Jessuck reeled it in, crashing through the temporary fence on the Commons Field to make the catch.
The game had to be played on the Commons because of wet grounds at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
Martinez had a similar fate in the bottom of the sixth when Jessuck again was pushed back to the plastic boundary but was able to reach up and bring it down, denying Martinez the easy trot around the bases.
“We had chances. We were a couple of swings away, a couple of strings of hits away, a couple of plays that we normally make and didn’t (Tuesday) that resulted in a couple of runs for them,” Gerum said.
The coach was also happy with the pitching of Grace Delsanto. The sophomore went the distance, gave up six hits and only three earned runs.
“She did a great job,” Gerum said. “She is very focused and doesn’t get wound up. She has a very laid-back personality. She is in there, goes to work, doesn’t get real jittery. She keeps hitters off-balance, doesn’t necessarily throw it by them, but you don’t need to if you pitch well and she knows how to pitch.”
The 6-3 score came back to haunt the Centaurs again on Wednesday as they lost to East Lyme by that same final.
The Vikings went up 2-0 early but saw that lead halved in the second inning.
Avery Collin laid down a suicide squeeze bunt to score Mia Pannone who had singled and gone to third on an Ainsley Morse base hit.
East Lyme effectively sealed the win with a three-run homer in the top of the sixth.
The Centaurs scored twice in the bottom of the seventh as Pannone doubled home Delaney Anderson who had singled and Pannone successfully stole home on a double steal.
Boys’ Golf
Davis Simpson shot a two-over par 38 and Logan Rawson was just a stroke back as the boys golf team blanked Ellis Tech, 7-0, at the Quinnatisset Country Club Wednesday to pick up their third win of the season.
Don Sousa added a 45 in the win.
The other two matches in the week were a little more difficult for the Centaurs.
They fell to East Lyme on Thursday, 6-1, at Quinnatisset.
Simpson had the only point of the match for the Centaurs as the senior carded a 40.
Logan Rawson, Sousa and Curtis Lefebvre all had identical 46 scores.
Earlier in the week, the Centaurs experienced a near miss.
The boys’ golf team was in the hunt against Norwich Free Academy on Tuesday at the Quinnatisset.
A total of three shots separated the top three golfers but the Wildcats held that advantage and won in overall strokes as well to post a 5-2 victory over the Centaurs.
Rawson led the Centaurs with a 42 while Simpson was one stroke behind him and Sousa added a 45.
Girls’ Golf
If there is one place that the girls’ golf team doesn’t like to play, it’s the Norwich Golf Club.
“We’ve never had really good luck going down to Norwich and playing there and that happened again (Monday),” said coach Earl Semmelrock.
With the wind seemingly blowing into their faces on every hole, Woodstock struggled a bit and fell to the Wildcats 217-243.
Only one player was able to break 50 on the blustery and chilly day, NFA freshman Caroline Goderre finished with a 47.
 “She is one of the best players in the league and they have another player (Madeline Smith) who is also starting to really play well so they have a good squad down there,” Semmelrock said.
Senior Maya Orbegozo finished with a 50 to pace the Centaurs, but Liliana Bottone was the only other player who could break 60.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 6-3 overall and 5-2 in the ECC.
But a week-long break may do them some good.
“It’s very good,” Semmelrock agreed. “We had a stretch there of four matches in four days and the kids didn’t have time to practice and we got into some bad habits. It’s going to be good to have a few practice days,”
Semmelrock said there were a couple of matches where the trend was headed in a good direction like the home match versus Glastonbury and a road win at Bacon Academy.
But the Centaurs weren’t able to sustain that level of play and Semmelrock would like to see that return in their remaining home matches at the Quinnatisset Country Club.
“We need to improve a little all over. They have to play with a little more confidence. A short-game improvement is the easiest place to do it but we’re going to have to work at it and be confident that what you bring to the range and putting green, we can bring to the course,” Semmelrock said.
The Centaurs aren’t done with Norwich Free Academy yet.
They met the Wildcats and the rest of the Eastern Connecticut Conference teams in their next match at the Wildcat Invitational, at the Norwich Golf Club, Tuesday (the match ended too late for this edition).
“We get to see how we measure up against them once more at the Wildcat and then the ECC tournament,” Semmelrock said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

Bella Sorrentino clears the final hurdle en route to a first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles against NFA last week at the Woodstock Academy South Campus track. The Centaurs won the meet and the ECC Girls Division I track title.


Carter Saracina, left, and sophomore Christian Menounos both set Woodstock Academy school boys outdoor track records last week in a meet versus Norwich Free Academy in Norwich.

Photos by Marc Allard.
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