captions:
Coach Earl Semmelrock, left, looks on as freshman Reagan Scheck sends the ball down the fairway in the ECC girls’ golf championship.  

Bella Mawson takes a rip out of the rough on the first hole during the ECC girls’ golf championship.  Photos by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.



Roundup
Rawson named ECC Player of the Year
Logan Rawson has someone to thank that is no longer at Woodstock Academy.
Two years ago, the now junior, had to be convinced to come out and play for the boys’ golf team by his friend and now Woodstock alum, Kyle Brennan.
Rawson just wasn’t all that interested in the game.
He now owes Brennan a debt of gratitude after Rawson was named the inaugural ECC Player of the Year in boys’ golf following the league championship tournament.
“(Brennan) pushed me toward playing. I have known him for a while and he gave me the idea and I thought I might as well try it,” Rawson said.
The Centaurs are happy he did.
“I was thrilled with it,” coach Rich Garceau said of Rawson getting the honor. “I think Logan took a lot of pride in his level of play this year. He was watching the rankings and I think it helped affirm in his mind that he belongs in the upper tier of golfers. Not only in the ECC, but he also made the State Open, so in the state.”
Garceau said Rawson never saw himself as a golfer, instead he was just someone who went out and hacked around with his father on occasion. But the experience of being in the team environment and being able to get together with friends and family on the course in the summer, helped transform Rawson into a pretty good player.
He remembered when he shot a 109 in the ECC tournament two years ago.
On Thursday, he carded an 80 and — guess what — he wasn’t all that pleased.
“My irons are so much better now,” Rawson said. “I probably hit the ball farther than most kids that I play against. My driver is pretty good, but my irons have been amazing.”
Just don’t bring up the short game.
Rawson just winces thinking about it.
“Around the green is pretty rough right now, but my putting is pretty good,” he said.
Nothing went too well early for Rawson in the ECC championship.
He started with a pair of double bogeys, had a bogey on the third hole and then three more over the next six holes.
It was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy as golf usually is.
“I think he knew going into it that he had a reasonable chance to win the individual title and I completely agreed, looking at his success this season. Starting on the first hole, I think he tried too hard to make it happen. You just can’t force the issue in golf, you have to just go out there, get all the other thoughts out of your mind and concentrate on the shot that you are hitting now,” Garceau said.
But he got it together on the back nine.
“To a degree he started to recover toward the end and he helped us as a team in the process to move up in the standings,” Garceau said.
Rawson finished even on the back nine. His eight-over par finish tied him for ninth overall.
“I didn’t think it was terrible but could he have done better? Probably. He knows that. I think the good thing was that we talked at the meal, afterward, and I think he learned a lot about not necessarily playing the game physically on the course but playing the game in his head,” Garceau said.
Senior Donny Sousa paced the Centaurs with a six-over par 78, good enough to tie for fourth.
“Donny’s interesting,” Garceau said. “To a certain degree, he was disappointed because, especially for the last two weeks, he’s been playing at an exceptional level. I think he went in with high expectations for himself and I think those were reasonable. His wedge play is some of the best I’ve ever seen from a Woodstock Academy golfer in year. He plays his 60-degree (wedge) well.”
Senior Nick Sivertsen was next with a 91 for the Centaurs who placed fourth overall as a team.
Rawson and Sousa finished as ECC Division I All-Stars. The team’s ECC Scholar-Athlete is Aidan O’Connor while Brady O’Brien received the team’s ECC Sportsmanship Award.
Garceau was hopeful that East Lyme may not have its best day and maybe his Centaurs could sneak away a title for the first time in 12 years.
That didn’t happen as the Vikings posted a 315 total with Wheeler (328) and Waterford (335) also finishing ahead of Woodstock (343).
“Waterford has really come on really strong and it is their home course so they had a little advantage, regardless, you can’t deny a good level of play. I was pleased for us. It’s probably the best tournament finish we have had in the last 10 years. I can’t remember when we were in the top-5. I think we learned a lot of how to manage a golf course,” Garceau said.
That will be put to the test this week.
The Centaurs qualified for the Div. I state championship.
Rawson qualified individually for the State Open championship on Friday.
“I’m excited,” Rawson said. “Those are both going to be tough. There are a lot of good golfers out there. It’s going to be a nice time and I get to play on some nice courses.”
Woodstock goes in as the 10th seed as a team in the Div. I championship.
“I always like to move up in the rankings,” Garceau said. “Twelve or 13 years ago, I took a 12th seed and we finished second, two shots out of the lead. You just never know. If all clocks chime at the same time, which we really haven’t had happen yet. I would love to win. East Lyme is really strong and there are other teams from other places. I know a 10th seed can do it, but it’s the experience of playing an 18-hole, competitive tournament with good golfers that is going to help this team learn a lot.”
Girls’ Golf
Freshman Reagan Scheck stated her goal in the middle of the Woodstock girls’ golf season. She just wanted to be scoring in the low 40’s by the end of the season.
Scheck accomplished that and it paid off last Wednesday as she finished runner-up in the ECC girls’ golf championship with a seven-over par 43.
“It really has progressed,” Scheck said of her game. “I feel like I can go even lower next year, maybe high 30’s.”
Scheck played a consistent nine holes of golf in the championship match. She didn’t get any birdies but did par five holes.
“She has been rounding into form and personal bests have been coming every other round or so and she is starting to learn how to control a golf ball. It’s good to see,” coach Earl Semmelrock said.
Scheck finished three strokes behind medalist Caroline Goderre of Norwich Free Academy.
“I knew that (she could be near the top) if I put my mind to it. I’m really happy and I’m glad I did it,” Scheck said.
Scheck had a struggle on a par-three that could have put her below 40 for the day.
“She’s that close to really putting in some good scores. She’s excited about it and it’s fun to coach her,” Semmelrock said.
Senior Isabella Siwko saved her best for last. In her final outing as a member of the Centaurs, she shot a 54.
“This was my all-time low in a match, I’m really happy,” Siwko said. “It was a great way to finish out the year. I’m really proud of the team and really proud of Reagan for finishing second and I think this team will do really well in the future.”
Lily Moran also scored well, a career-best, putting a round of 51 together.
Combined those scores meant the Centaurs posted one of their best numbers of the season as a team, 204.
 “We had expectations coming in to do as good as we could and I think we fulfilled those (Wednesday),” Semmelrock said.
Woodstock finished fifth as a team, but was just 12 strokes back of first-place NFA.
The Centaurs finished the regular season just the day before with a 201-216 loss to the Killingly/Ellis Tech co-op.
Woodstock finished 5-11 overall and 2-8 in the ECC regular season.
“Very pleased,” Semmelrock said of the final record. “When the schedule was being put together at the beginning of the season, it looked like we had only four girls, maybe five. We thought we would have two or three wins this year and that would be successful. We ended with five wins and six players and had a good finish here (Wednesday).”
Unfortunately, the season came to an end as the Centaurs did not qualify for state play.
“It’s a little disappointing but I didn’t think it was a realistic goal at the beginning of the year. I thought maybe Reagan could sneak in as an individual but she will finish just outside the line and that should give her something to play for next year,” Semmelrock said.
Siwko is the only player the Centaurs will lose to graduation.
“This team has a lot of potential for the future especially because multiple teams are composed of more seniors. I feel like someone else will step up and take my place and shoot better than I did. The team is in a really good place,” Siwko said.
Track
The Woodstock girls’ track team had hopes for a state championship. But almost everything had to go right.
The Centaurs didn’t finish far from their goal as Hillhouse, their expected primary competition was just that, finishing with 73 points. Mercy High School snuck in with 60 followed by Woodstock with 55.
“Third is OK,” coach Josh Welch said. “Finishing third is a lot to be proud of for our program. We’ve come a long way. It’s a good thing. It’s tough to fight some of the disappointment when you know if we just had the right day, it could have been there but we had some weird mishaps that made it tough.”
Still, the Centaurs were in contention for the state title right up until just three events remained where they trailed Hillhouse by only nine points.
Unfortunately, the triple jump resulted in a first-place finish for the New Haven-based school.
That was followed by the 3200m where senior Julia Coyle could not go.
She was a part of the 4x800m relay team, along with Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain, Talia Tremblay and Olivia Tracy that finished third in the first event of the meet.
 “She went for a run on the road (the previous) weekend and came back with some tendinitis in the knee. She muscled it out for the 800 but was hit-and-miss in the1600m. She was going for it, pulled back, and then pushed again, not a great day because of that,” Welch said.
In addition, Jillian Edwards fell in the 100m hurdles.
There were plenty of possible reasons why and it wasn’t only Woodstock beset by bad luck and the like.
“I don’t know what was impacting people. Coming off the long weekend was tough, people were kind of vegging, and then had to try and get it back together. The 10 a.m. start time was different for us. It got hot and humid quick, too, and we haven’t really combatted a whole lot of that. I think it was just overwhelming. The overall expectation of the kids coming in was like ‘Oh my God, we can win this thing.’ Sometimes, that pressure can get to you. We’re not used to being at that level,” Welch said.
There were some very good performances.
D’Alleva-Bochain picked up the only first-place finish on the day for the Centaurs as she threw a personal best 117-feet, 8-inches in the javelin to earn the title of Class MM state champion in the event.
“It was awesome,” Welch said. “She has shown a lot of continued growth. We didn’t expect her to hit state champion, being new to the event and everything, but she is continuing to grow a lot.”
D’Alleva-Bochain said the new event, she has only competed in it four times, has just come natural to her.
“Coach (Gerry) LaMontagne is fantastic and I have a lot of great teammates who can teach me a lot. I just listen to everything they say,” the sophomore said.
D’Alleva-Bochain said it was certainly a surprise to win especially since she eclipsed her previous best by seven-feet.
Despite that, she doesn’t think she is anywhere close to her best in the event.
“I think I have a lot more to go. I’ve been practicing ever since (the MM meet), and just feeling more fluid. Right now, I’m just working on that final plant step, which is called blocking, transferring as much energy from my legs into the jav that I can. It’s all about efficiency,” D’Alleva-Bochain said.
She’s looking forward to having another opportunity on Monday in the State Open (the meet ended too late for this edition)
She is seeded fifth, top six go to New England’s, so it’s easy to guess what her goal is.
“I’m eyeing that definitely,” she said. “I’m having a lot of fun with it. There is not a lot of pressure. I just want to see what I can produce.”
The throwers, overall, had a good day as Lily Morgis placed second in the discus and Avery Plouffe was fourth in the shotput.
On the track, Juliet Allard was third in the 300m hurdles and fifth in the 200m.
“(Allard) had an all-around solid day. She didn’t PR (personal-best) in anything but wasn’t too far off in anything and it’s difficult to have a triple event day on a hot day,” Welch said.
Emma Weitknecht was fourth in the 100m hurdles.
Jillian Edwards placed fifth in the high jump and Reegan Reynolds was sixth in the triple jump.
Those who finished in the top three; D’Alleva Bochain (javelin, 4x800m); Tracy (4x800m); Tremblay (4x800m); Coyle (4x800m); Allard (300m hurdles); Plouffe (shotput) and Morgis (discus) qualified for the State Open Championship.
They will be joined by junior Christian Menounos who was the only athlete from the boys’ track team to qualify as he placed third in the Class MM state championship in the 800m.
Boys’ Lacrosse
It’s a word that Jason Tata has used before this season. Bummer.
The Woodstock boys’ lacrosse coach was thinking that as he looked over the CIAC Class M state tournament rankings prior to the field being announced.
He was looking to see if the Centaurs were going to be involved in a play-in game or where they might be headed.
He saw his Centaurs were No. 14 in the field at the time. East Lyme was No. 3.
Woodstock started the season with a match against the Vikings, played them again in the middle of the season and had to face them again in the second round of the state tournament.
“I joked with (East Lyme coach Gary Wight) that I guess we’re just going to see each other over and over again,” Tata said. “It’s just a bummer in the sense that you want to see someone new. You want to venture to the other side of the state. I don’t shy away from any opponent, but at the same time, a little change would have been sweet.”
The third time was also not the charm as the Centaurs fell behind by the half, 9-0, and lost to East Lyme, 16-1.
Seamus Coleman had the only goal for Woodstock in the fourth quarter off an assist from Sam Desmond.
“We haven’t had a ton of luck with East Lyme in my four years here so it is what it is. I know his players, he knows mine. It usually comes down to who comes out and play.”
The loss meant the Centaurs finished 7-10 but reached their goal of making the state tournament.
It was their fourth consecutive year under Tata that they have made the postseason.
“I thought it was a great season,” the coach said. “We made so many strides to better the program. We were more competitive within the ECC. We had four really tight games against two teams in the division and that’s a positive. If one of those Waterford games or the other NFA game came to our side, we would be having a different conversation. We may even still be in the tournament.”
The Centaurs are also still pretty young. They will lose only six seniors.
 “It’s next guy up and we can fill the holes. That’s the beauty of high school sports,” Tata said. “It will be tough losing (Jacob) Lizotte and Wally (Ryan Wallace) on our defense, Henry (Wotton) and Lucas (Theriaque) in the midfield and Jared (Neilsen) up top. Those were key pieces but we have guys who are ready to slide in whether it was those who were swing players on the varsity team, straight up JV guys or maybe a new kid comes in and surprises us. We’re not going to worry about it until next year.”
The biggest thing Tata will be looking for next spring is a bit more lacrosse IQ.
“We need to get smarter about the game than anything else. You can always train to be bigger, faster, stronger, but we have to worry about our game IQ as much as our bodies,” Tata said. “If I’m looking at the depth chart, there will be more seniors next year. Those guys have to step up and learn the game a bit more because we’re right there.”
Boys’ Volleyball
The biggest problem for the Woodstock boys’ volleyball team next season?
Find some tall players. Skills can be taught. Telling student-athletes they have to grow may be a little more difficult.
The Centaurs will be losing the height of seniors Aiden Finch, Cade Jones, T.J. Osborne and Hunter Larson.
“Those guys are all tall,” coach Adam Bottone said. “They can put up a decent block, it didn’t always go down, but that was a technique thing. Their timing was good. I think that will be the hardest thing to do- replace that height.”
Bottone will have some time to think about it and troll the hallways of Woodstock trying to find some tall folks as the season came to an end.
The 11th-seeded Centaurs lost a first-round Class M state tournament match to No. 6 Newtown, 3-0.
The Nighthawks had an abundance of what the Centaurs will be looking for next season.
Bottone said he was talking to the first-year head coach for Newtown, Jeremy Doski, and he had a problem that the Centaurs wouldn’t mind having especially next season.
The Nighthawks returned an abundance of hitters this season, all of them middles, meaning they could feature a lot of tall bodies.
“He had to convert some middle hitters to outside and right-side hitters,” Bottone said, sounding a little jealous.
Newtown was dominant through most of the match, winning the first two 25-16 and 25-9, before the Centaurs made it a little difficult in the third set where they battled but fell short, 26-24.
“They made a lot of mistakes, but we made more. They understood the game a little better than our guys do. They were a little more consistent with their receive, their blocking was a little more productive because they were angling down and in and we weren’t. But you look at that last set, they made a lot of errors but our passing was much better, we were able to terminate the ball more and our serving was more effective. It all circles back to consistency and understanding the flow,” Bottone said.
Osborne had three kills, Owen Budd added three blocks and Christian Hart had 10 digs.
Woodstock finished 10-12.
“I just keep going back to our goal was to make the state tournament, we did that. I feel like we had the opportunity to get more wins and play better and in some matches, we played really well and in others, we didn’t. It was a bit of a struggle for me because I saw the potential that was there but we seemed to come up short quite a bit. Overall though, I am happy. We started four freshmen and were competitive with teams that have been around for a while,” Bottone said.
One thing he does admit is that the seniors the team is losing will impact the program, not only because of the loss of their height, but their talent.
One of the guiding hands behind the establishment of the program, Finch made his one year worth it as he led the team with 163 kills, was second with 134 service points, 119 digs and 42 aces and was third with 12 blocks.
Fortunately, Brayden Bottone will return and the freshman had some pretty good numbers, too, with a team-best 49 aces and 146 service points plus 113 digs and 102 kills.
To be even better, Adam Bottone, who also coaches girls’ volleyball, said he feels a little bit like a broken  record.
“It really comes down to serving and receiving,” Adam Bottone said. “We have to be more productive at passing the ball when the other team is serving. We have to be more effective with our serve and after, it comes down to understanding the flow of the game and making good decisions.”
The coach said he doesn’t feel like numbers will be a problem next season for his program as he loses eight out of 19.
“As long as everyone else comes back, I don’t think replacing eight people is that awful. I think it’s manageable,” he said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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