Preview - Boys' Tennis
Centaurs return
experienced
It was a little difficult for Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis coach Siana Green at the start of last season.
She had players out for the team but how much they had played the sport prior was a bit of a concern.
Fortunately for Green, that is not the case this spring.
“Every new player I have has some experience with tennis,” Green said. “Some of my doubles teams last year were picking up a racquet for the first time or had a played maybe a little bit in elementary school.”
It makes it a bit easier to overcome the losses of three singles players in Owen Rigney, Cang Nguyen and Ethan Staples.
The Centaurs will have an ECC Div. II All-Star back to lead the singles group. Senior Tyler Chamberlin returns to the fold.
Chamberlin was just hoping to be the Centaurs No. 1 singles as he was locked in a battle for that spot with senior teammate Adriano Peniche.
It was an internal battle that he did prevail in.
The Centaurs finished 5-9 overall and were 3-3 in the ECC.
Peniche will be at second singles with Ryan Chabot moving up from doubles to third singles and Ashley Abrams will be the No. 4 singles player.
“The biggest concern, right now, is just getting doubles ready." Green said.
Owen Murdock, Carlos Rodriguez Camacho, Heath White, Cayden Worth, Daniel Jameson, Leo Larkin and Stevie Wilmot are competing for doubles playing time.
Larkin, now a senior, was one of the newbies a year ago.
The reason Larkin came out as a junior was Chamberlin who told him the tennis team needed players.
“I said, ‘Why not?’” and just joined up and it was super-fun,” Larkin said.
It is easier in one regard to learn the sport at Woodstock.
The team doesn’t have to worry about battling the elements like most high school teams must do in the early spring because it does get to play indoors at Pomfret School.
However, the team did get to go outside a couple of times early this season and that could also help.
“We got a chance to play out in the wind a little bit which tends to be our weak point when we start playing matches. We are so pampered from being indoors that we don’t get used to the wind and temperature,” Green said.
It’s the fourth year for the Centaurs at Pomfret School and if the Centaurs ever do get courts of their own, it may be hard to say good-bye to.
She and new girls’ head coach Dena Cocozza O’Hara know each other well, in fact, Green learned tennis from O’Hara.
The Centaurs just missed out on the state tournament a year ago but Green has a bigger goal she would like to accomplish.
“I really want to get that (ECC Div. II) title. We haven’t done that well against Ledyard and now that Montville is in the division, too, and we’ve struggled with them but we haven’t had a big talent drop. My third doubles could play first doubles. I have three people who could play fourth singles and those are good problems to have,” Green said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
caption:
Tyler Chamberlin, left and senior Leo Larkin. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.
Legal Notice
Town of Putnam
Public Hearing
April 16, 2025
7:00 PM
The Putnam Board of Finance will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Putnam Middle School Auditorium, 35 Wicker Street, Putnam, CT.
The purpose of said hearing will be to receive public comments on the proposed FY 2025/2026 General Government Budget, including bonded indebtedness, EMS Budget, School SRO & SSO Budget, Library Budget, Board of Education Budget, and 5 Year Capital Improvement Plan.
April 3, 2025
April 10, 2025
Town of Putnam
Legal Notice
The Town of Putnam Planning & Zoning Commission will hold a meeting on April 16, 2025, at 7:00 P.M. in the Municipal Complex located at 200 School Street, Putnam, CT. A public hearing will be held on each of the following:
Docket #2025-01 112 Old Road LLC request for a zone change from residential to industrial. Property located at 112 Old Road, Town Assessor’s Map 45, Lot 39. Zoned Residential.
Docket # 2025-02 Ryan Sullivan request for a home occupation permit to operate a business for the sale of farm produce products. Property located at 727 Providence Pike, Town Assessor’s Map 29, Lot 67, Zoned AG-2.
Patricia Hedenberg, Chairman
April 3, 2025
April 10, 2025
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When a Boxcar is a 'Teacher'
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The gift of learning and history went full circle — and it all revolved around favorite daughter, author Gertrude Chandler Warner.
More than 100 third graders packed the Putnam Elementary School Library April 1 as the Aspinock Historical Society presented a set of Warner’s Boxcar Children books in a special boxcar holder.
Pat Hedenberg, boxcar museum director, presented the special gift saying the students can now borrow and read all the Boxcar Children adventures “and then you can write your own adventures.”
In the near future, the third graders will be taking their annual adventure (um, trip) to the Putnam library, the Aspinock Historical Society and the boxcar museum. They’ll be learning about Warner and the times she lived in through programs, crafts and games.
Aspinock Historical Society President John Miller told the students: “Here’s what I want you to remember. History teaches us about the past, so we can understand the present — and build.”
Putnam Municipal Historian Bill Pearsall asked the students if they knew how old Warner was when she wrote her first book. Nine. He challenged them to sit down and start writing.
Three residents who had Miss Warner as their third grade teacher, Gerry Tetreault, Sandra Ames and Ilene Bourgue, were on hand for the presentation. Ames, holding up an apple, talked about Warner having an apple sitting on her desk for the longest time. Finally the students asked why she didn’t eat the apple and she said there would be a lesson in the apple. A few days later she told students there was a star in the apple. “How could that be?,” Ames said. Warner finally cut through the circumference of the apple and the seed layout resembles a star. Ames passed around the “star” apple. Modern students learned something new — now Warner is “extending her teaching through a new group of children.”
For his part, Mayor Barney Seney urged the students to remember history and read, read, read. “The more you read, the more you know and you can explain yourself,” he said.
Following all the speeches and presentations the students had presentations of their own. STEM teacher Cassondra LaVallee said they created their own versions of the boxcar and Warner’s world — thoroughly and in great detail. The students scattered to their creations and proudly answered questions from the guests.
LaVallee said back in August the United Arts team was thinking about ways to incorporate play and project-based learning and build relationships with the local community. Librarian Kathy Dunton helped think of the project — they came up learning about Warner and creating projects that represented her world. The project included engineering and design processes. Bill and Terri Pearsall came to talk about Warner and the students went on a bus tour. LaVallee said she knew after that the project needed to be expanded. “I wanted students to understand that places change over time and give them an opportunity to create an important part of Putnam’s history.” Students went around in teams and discussed how they might recreate these places, she said.
Each team worked through the design process. Once a final design was chosen, they had to order materials necessary to complete their design and explored safety, for example hot glue guns and some cutting tools.
For the most part, LaVallee said, this was the first three-dimensional structure some students had created. She said sometimes the STEM room looked like a natural disaster had swept through but all the students helped clean up. They discussed what worked and what didn’t. “All of this work has brought us here today.”
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caption, page 1: Some 115 Putnam Elementary School third graders were immersed in Warner history, gifts and projects. Expanded photo array Wed. night on our FB page. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.
captions, page 4
clockwise from top left:
Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children Museum Director Pat Hedenberg shows the students the gift, a set of Boxcar books with a boxcar holder.
Mayor Barney Seney speaks to the third graders.
Sandra Ames, who was a student of Miss Warner's, tells the students Warner's story about the "star in the apple."
The students' models were on display.
Roundup
Prep soccer team nabs Jefferson Cup
The Woodstock Academy Prep soccer teams had to travel a little bit to accomplish it but the Centaurs made the voyage to Richmond, Vir., worth it.
The U-19 group of Centaurs won the championship bracket of the Jefferson Cup with three consecutive wins in the championship bracket recently.
“The Jefferson Cup has been around for over 40 years. It has a great reputation in terms of level of play and competitiveness of teams. It’s also a huge draw from around the country,” said coach Owen Finberg.
How large? How about 600 teams in the boys showcase weekend which is comprised of four levels, U-15, U-16, U-17 and U-19.
“It’s a really good selection of teams to play. A lot of college coaches are there and it’s the premiere tournament of its kind on the East Coast,” Finberg said.
Teams are not allowed to choose what bracket they will play in.
The programs are placed based on their competitiveness and previous experience at the Jefferson Cup.
“I’ve been fortunate to have won it before and our team has performed well so the U-19 was in the championship bracket this year after winning their bracket last year. Our U-17 team was probably under-seeded a bit but with their performance, they should move up next year,” Finberg said. “You have to hope for the best. There are a lot of good brackets and being in the championship one is ideal but there is good competition throughout the tournament.”
The Centaurs finished 3-0 with a 3-1 win over Charlotte SA in their final match of the tournament.
Woodstock finished tied atop the bracket with 27 out of a possible 30 points.
“Finishing at the top of the top bracket in the top age group is an awesome achievement for our guys,” Finberg said.
Nicolae Velicico had a goal and two assists while Jonathan Moumboko and Daion Swan-Desilva added tallies.
The Centaurs had to rally for the clinching win as they trailed 1-0 at the break.
It wasn’t easy in the opener either.
The Centaurs found themselves locked up in a 1-1 tie against NVA ECNL in their opener on March 28.
But Tommy Broderick, who scored the first goal, slammed the door on the Centaurs’ opponents with two unanswered goals for the hat trick.
Jasper Cox assisted on one of the goals and Romeo Corino on another.
Cox got one of the tallies for the Centaurs March 29, when Woodstock blanked the NCFC Youth, 2-0.
Xahvi DeRoza assisted on Cox’s goal while Swan-Desilva added the other goal off an assist from Velicico.
“Whenever you are transporting 45 people across six states over four days, plus travel to and from the hotel and we played at different field locations on Friday and Saturday, the whole staff did a great job of just putting the guys in the best position to win. There are a lot of moving parts and a very busy weekend. Everything went well and we even had good weather,” Finberg said.
The U-17 team made it look easy in its final contest as it downed Next Level Soccer SE, 16-0. Penrose Ayeyei scored five times in the win for the Centaurs who finished second in their bracket with 29 out of a possible 30 points.
The Centaurs outscored their opponents 24-2 in the three-match tournament and recorded a pair of shutouts.
That included a 5-2 victory over the Virginia Reign in the opener on Friday. Giovanni Farina scored two of the goals while Obama Ngarambe, Derek Rodriguez (1 assist) and Fabian Crespo had the others. Oscar Pearman had two assists in the win and Hae Sung Kim aided in a goal as well.
The Centaurs delivered a shutout on Saturday when they downed Penn Fusion, 4-0.
Nico Ochoa, Ngarambe , Richard Sarpong and Jaehee Kim scored the goals.
“It was the highlight of the spring, the showpiece event for us. We’ve played a lot of good teams through the winter. The Best of the East was a big-time event but it was just a couple of games amongst the snow piles in Philadelphia. That was competitive and good exposure but the Jefferson Cup was a big-time tournament and has the attention of the national media,” Finberg said.
The remainder of the spring features a couple of matches before a Memorial Day weekend tournament in Boston.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The weather wasn’t so nice but the results were as the first Saturday of the spring season got off to a wet start.
The girls’ lacrosse team opened with a win on the road as it escaped from Killingly with a 10-8 victory. Junior Kaylee Saucier put the ball into the net seven times for the Centaurs while Clara Dowdle added two goals and assisted on five others. Junior Baylee Rosinski had the other goal in the win.
The boys’ volleyball team also had a short trip to make for its opener as it posted a 3-1 win over the Clippers in Putnam. Brayden Bottone had 11 kills and 10 points for the Centaurs while Owen Budd added eight kills, Christian Hart had 12 digs and Weston Mission had 21 assists.
And the boys’ lacrosse team prevailed easily over Norwich Tech, 19-2. Dylan Phillips led the Centaurs attack with five goals and an assist while Patrick Griswold added three goals and helped on two others. Corey Lafond, Keegan Covello, Camden Marshall and Xander Miller all had two goals apiece in the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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