PUTNAM — The 39th Annual Day Kimball Hospital (DKH) Centreville Bank Golf Classic raised more than $128,000. Net proceeds will benefit DKH’s efforts in enhancing critical patient care initiatives. More than 125 other local and regional businesses and organizations, as well as individual community members and families, participated in sponsoring the event to support the provision of healthcare in Northeast Connecticut.
This is the eighth consecutive year that Centreville Bank has partnered with Day Kimball Hospital as the title sponsor, contributing $25,000 toward Day Kimball Hospital initiatives over this calendar year. Other major sponsors for the event included Gold Sponsors Ensemble Health Partners, Garfunkel Wild, P.C., Linemaster Switch Corp., The Wagner Law Group, and WIN Waste Innovations; and Silver Sponsors Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., B & M Excavating Company, LLC, Colonial Health & Rehab Center of Plainfield, LLC, Downes Construction Co., LLC, NES Health, Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting, Putnam Plastics Corporation, Reid & Riege, P.C., and Weiss, Hale & Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors.
Winners included:
1st Place (53) - Roger Noll, Sean Vigue, Scott Vose, Pat Kozelka
2nd Place (54) - Brendan Meehan, Jared Meehan, Michael Meehan, Michael Angeloff
3rd Place (56) *tiebreaker - Cameron Cormier, Adam Abram, Pete Cunha, AJ Siekerski
Middle of the Pack (66) - Lauren Marotta, Stewart Leroux, Paul Bigelow, Rob Croston
Closest to Pin #4 - Pat Kozelka (8 feet 11 inches)
Closest to Pin #7 - Cameron Cormier and Dan Gilbert (5 feet 11 inches)
Closest to Pin #9 - Greg Harubin (18 inches)
Closest to Pin #11 - Jared Meehan (7 feet 8 inches)
Closest to Pin #15 - Tyler Pratt (4 feet)
Tournament highlights included an air-cannon ball shoot, a mid-day presentation and salute by the American Legion L’Homme Burdick Post 21 Danielson Color Guard escorted by the Manchester Pipe Band, and a special performance of the National Anthem by Kathryn Bargnesi, Regional Director of Business Development for Villa Maria Nursing & Rehabilitation.
Since its inception 39 years ago, the golf tournament has raised more than $2,443,000 to support continued access to high-quality medical care close to home in Northeast Connecticut by helping to fund technologies, facilities, and care initiatives at the independent, non-profit community hospital.
“Centreville Bank is truly a proud partner of community events like Day Kimball Hospital’s Golf Classic,” said Harold M. Horvat, president, CEO, and chairman of the board. “Partnerships like this one make communities grow and thrive. Together, we have turned a golf tournament into improvements to the hospital’s cardiac and surgical care services.”
“Strong community partnerships, like the one we have with Centreville Bank, are essential for DKH to make an impact in our community,” said Kyle Kramer, chief executive officer, Day Kimball Health. “The unwavering support of each and every sponsor, golfer, and volunteer involved with this tournament helps to ensure that we can continue to make a difference in the lives of those we serve by providing access to high-quality medical care close to home in Northeast Connecticut.”
“We couldn’t be more grateful and quite frankly, humbled by the level of support that we have received from our DKH family of community members, organizations, and business partners who have helped to raise the level of this important fundraiser for the hospital to new highs,” said Kristen Willis, director of development, Day Kimball Health. “The level of participation and excitement at this event was palatable and a testament to how much our community values Day Kimball and is willing to invest in its future.”

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Mustang Mile kicks off season
The Drive for Five is officially underway.
After workouts and open gyms for the last six weeks, Putnam Science Academy’s boys’ prep basketball team – chasing its fifth national title and third in a row – officially started its season recently.
It all began with the unofficial start of the new season, as the team ran the 11th installment of the annual Mustang Mile at 6:30 then played softball in the afternoon in lieu of being on the court.
Derrick Morris was the winner, finishing in five minutes, 24 seconds. Boubacar Diatta was second at 5:35, followed by Amadou Doumbia in 5:43. Fallou Gueye (5:46) finished fourth, and Justin Johnson and Abubacarr Camara (5:53) rounded out the Top 5.
Everyone must finish in 6:15 or run it again until they do.
“It’s a tradition that we’ve been doing for a while now and it’s great way to kick off the season,” coach Tom Espinosa said. “I don’t know if the kids love running a mile at 6:30 in the morning, but they have a lot of fun going out there to play softball.”
Sotirios Nafpliotis holds the Mustang Mile record of 5:14, set in 2022.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy


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Bernardo Vieira was doing what Bernardo Vieira does.
“He is a true striker,” PSA Prep soccer coach Ryan Dunnigan said. “He is always hunting the ball and trying to get on the end of things, chasing down every ball, positioning himself so that he can get onto the end of crosses.”
That was the case last Wednesday as Vieira, a senior from Brazil, came off the bench in the second half and within minutes put away a cross from teammate Renan Mafra to give PSA a two-goal lead in a game they would eventually defeat Hoosac 3-0.
“I saw Renan with the ball, and I know he can always find you on the pitch,” Vieira said, “so I made a move into the second post expecting that he would see me, and it worked.”
It was just Vieira’s second game back since suffering a broken wrist about a month ago in a game in Philadelphia. He played roughly 25 minutes in the first half of a 1-0 loss to South Kent the game before, but none in the second half as he was rounding himself back into game shape.
“He’s had a good mentality going forward since getting injured,” Dunnigan said. “He’s been patient, he’s been at everything, being responsible and still staying involved in team activities and events. And he hasn’t pushed me to get him on the field. He’s been waiting and understanding that he was going to need to take time to get back hit fitness and the reps and rhythm of the game.”
It may have looked that way to Dunnigan, but Vieira smiled and said it wasn’t that easy at all.
Sitting and watching was difficult for him, particularly as he watched his teammates struggle to finish scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity.
“It is hard to be patient,” he said. “You see you can do things the right way but you’re not doing them because either you’re not confident enough or things just aren’t going well.
“For me, I have always been a confident guy. I believe in God and know that I have a purpose here. Things weren’t going as I thought they were going to, I decided I would work hard and do better and rely on my trust in God that something good was coming.”
Dunnigan noticed a bit of a change in the week or so prior to the Hoosac game, seeing that Vieira seemed more motivated to prove that he was back and deserving of more minutes.
“Not starting is not easy for anyone but to then have an impact off the bench and earn minutes, to prove that he has a good mentality and has the right approach, he’s done that,” Dunnigan said. “He’s had a better work ethic since the start of the year and has grown over time. I think this goal, hopefully, will give him more confidence going forward in training and games.”
Marcos Chantada scored early in the first half against Hoosac to get PSA off to a fast start, then benefitted from an old goal late to sandwich Vieira’s tally.
“We’re very pleased,” said Lachie Quate, who played well along the back. “The tactics were different, we knew playing on our home pitch that we’d have to change things up, so being able to press and put pressure on the other team really played to our advantage. The ball will bounce if you try to slip it past them so we looked to go longer at times and not take as many risks, and it paid off.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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