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Golf Tournament
Left to right: Post #13 Commander Alan R. Joslin, Brian Davis, Bruce Briere and Jon Stringer. Courtesy photos.


A record $20,000 was raised with the third edition of the Mayotte-Viens American Legion Post #13 Golf Tournament  Sept. 23 at Connecticut National Golf Club. Some 120 golfers took part.
In 2019 the American Legion national organization and Post #13 will be celebrating their 100th anniversary.  The American Legion was started in 1919 shortly after the end of World War I.  Post #13 is one of the oldest Posts in existence in the United States.
Started in 2016 to support the numerous projects for veterans, youth and education that are part of the Post’s mission, the tournament hosted some 120 golfers — the largest field in its brief three year existence. It also attracted the most number of sponsors since its onset. 
The 2018 championship foursome, Kevin Marcoux, Chad Neal, Gary Brine and Jack Cochran, all members of the Killingly High School football coaching staff, was on fire from the first tee throughout the 18-hole event.  They posted a winning score of 11 under par 60 on the par 71 CNGC scenic layout.
The group was elated over its victory and celebrated by sipping libations from the traveling Championship Trophy, which will remain in their possession until next year’s tournament.
The runner-up position went to the group of Tom Auclair, Paul Leduc, Marc Allard and Larry Ring.  They bested third-place finishers Roger Franklin, Neil Bernier, Duke Parziale and Rob Loomis.  Both foursomes finished with identical scores of 61, one stroke off the winning pace.  The finish was determined by matching scores over the final nine holes of play with the Auclair foursome shooting a 31 on the back nine.
The co-ed championship title was claimed by the foursome of Bob and Deb Darigan and Curtis and Mya Rodowicz, representing Colonial Health and Rehab of Plainfield.  They shot a 67 in the scramble format event.
“It was great to see so many golfer turn out in support of our veteran legionnaires.  Our Post has been working diligently to establish itself as a community partner in the greater Putnam area.  The success of this tournament is evidence that people recognize and appreciate the many projects we initiate and conduct every year,” said tournament chairman Ronald P. Coderre.
The closest to the pin winners were Greg Anderson on the 4th hole; Bill Neilson (7th); Marc Allard (9th); Jack Cochran (11th); and Heath Meagher (15th).
“Thanks to the many groups who played a vital role in this tournament, we have achieved the biggest financial goal in our history,” said Post Commander Alan Joslin.
 “Our tournament and major sponsors along with our numerous tee sponsors made the difference in our success.  Thanks also to golfers, volunteers and the ladies who made the baskets for our raffle,” concluded Joslin.
The tournament sponsor was bankHometown of Putnam.  The tourney attracted nine major sponsors including Gerardi Insurance Services, The G-Seven Caterers, Fluid Coating Technology, Colonial Health & Rehab of Plainfield, Weiss, Hale & Zahansky, Byrnes Agency Insurance, RPC Associates Ron and Donna Coderre, The Jeff Bond Family and Lamoureux Ford of East Brookfield, Mass.  The tourney also enjoyed a record number, 47 tee sponsors.

 

Final 1st
Fridays
is Oct. 5
PUTNAM — Double the fun during the October First Fridays on Oct. 5 as the Putnam Business Association focuses on Scandinavian culture, an important piece of “Mill Town Mosaics,” plus anticipates the biggest batch of Zombies ever to strut the runway during the Zombie Fashion Show.
The event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m.
Enjoy twice as much in one evening, with live music, a party atmosphere, costumes, performances, dance, arts, and more vendors than ever.
Family-friendly is ever the theme at the event and at all downtown businesses, galleries, shops and restaurants.  
The St. Joseph School singers kick off the event with the season’s newest First Fridays tradition, a 6 p.m. chorus of the National Anthem at the Congregational Church Stage, complete with an American Legion Post #13 color guard escort.
Arts, theater, and entertainment define First Fridays, with unique and exceptional experiences every month, and the season finishes with a flourish! Sarah Tretheway is the featured artist of the month,  and she will share her inspiration, creativity and love of the arts with you.
The Quiet Corner Fiddlers will perform and have your toes tapping.  These fiddlers have a strong connection to Scandinavian heritage and culture, so be sure to visit with them! More Scandinavian heritage can be enjoyed at the Cultural Celebration Station, hosted by The Last Green Valley with guests from the Finnish American Heritage Society (FAHS) and the Aspinock Historical Society of Putnam. Encourage young visitors to become artists at the Community Arts booth where they can create their own Viking shields.
Enter the Zombie Fashion Show. at:  www.discoverputnam.com.
The Complex Performing and Creative Arts Centre promises a “Thrilling” performance. The talented troupe will dazzle you with their costumes and choreography. You can be just feet away to witness local talent that is always thrilling!

Owns cross
country record
Linsey Arends hasn’t been at the high school cross-country game too long.
The Woodstock Academy freshman already owns a course record.
Arends finished first at Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme Sept. 27. 
“I was very happy. I felt very good, thought I did well for my team and maybe next year, I can break it again,” Arends said.
Arends finished in 20 minutes, 19 seconds to break the mark previously held by a former Woodstock Academy runner, Sylvia Lawrence.
Close behind Arends was Stella DiPippo who finished in 20:38.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, the 1-2 finish was not enough.
The girls lost a close battle Eastern Connecticut Conference defending champions, East Lyme, 25-30.
It was the score that coach Joe Banas expected.
Banas asked his two top runners to go out slower than normal to try and bait the East Lyme pack into starting faster than it wanted to.
It didn’t make much of a difference.
“I had crunched the numbers from a previous race and I had it 25-30. But I figured if I didn’t do anything at all, the result was going to be obvious. I don’t like handing over a victory. We tried to push them out a little faster than they wanted but their five were solid,” Banas said.
Banas was especially impressed by the effort of East Lyme’s No. 5 runner, Brianna am Ende. She was holding her side through much of the race, battling a cramp, and never gave in.
“She gutted it out. If she had dropped out, we would have won 27-31, so I went up to her in front of (East Lyme) Coach (Mike) Flynn and told her how much I admired her effort,” Banas said.
The Rocky Neck course is one of the more scenic in the ECC.
It’s run along the shores of Long Island Sound.
“It was a really beautiful course,” Arends said. “Running by the ocean and on the boardwalk, it was the best.”
Although Arends found running in sand to be a bit on the interesting side.
“Very tough. You don’t know what kind of stride to take. You’re always sinking in. It was actually a relief to get back on the pavement to finish the race,” she said.
Shannon D’Alessandro and Iris Bazinet finished ninth and 10th and Emily McClure 14th as the Centaurs (4-1, 0-1 ECC Division I) downed Lyman Memorial, 20-39, and Waterford, 16-47, in the quad meet.
Boys take 1
The Centaurs boys had to face not one, but two defending state champion teams Sept. 27 at Rocky Neck.
Woodstock Academy beat one of those, Lyman Memorial, 24-34, but lost to the other, East Lyme, 16-40 and also fell to Waterford, 24-35, in the quad-meet.
Sophomore Ethan Aspiras, as he has all season, led the Centaurs (2-3, 0-1) with an eighth-place finish in 18:03.
Not too far behind was senior Kenneth Birlin who was just 25 seconds behind his teammate.
“I’m getting closer,” Birlin said. “I think I’m improving faster than he is so I’m hoping to get up there with him in the next couple of meets.”
That is not a bad thing.
Internal competition is important to a team and individuals in cross-country.
“I think it is. It’s always been what has motivated me since freshman year,” Birlin said.
The Centaurs also reached another important goal.
The top four runners all finished under 19 minutes.
It’s the first time that has happened in a number of years according to coach Peter Lusa.
Christian Mink finished in 18:47 with teammate Hamilton Barnes three seconds behind him as the two placed 12th and 13th.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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