Alexandra Delaney, a 2022 RHAM graduate, is headed to play college soccer.
           
“I’m excited to announce that I have decided to further my academic and athletic career at Lasell University,” Delaney announced on social media. “I want to thank everybody who has helped me along the way. Go Lasers!”
           
Soccer has been a major part of Delaney’s life, playing for the school in the fall and club soccer in the offseason. 
           
This past spring she earned all-conference, capping a memorable four-year high school career. As a sophomore in 2020, she helped the team win a Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) title.
           
Outside of soccer, she excelled in the classroom at RHAM, taking honors and AP classes, as well as being the Treasurer of Student Council, a part of National Honor Society and the National Business Honor Society. She was also a member of DECA, Peer Helpers, and Power of Words — a club that aims to stamp out bullying.
           
The Hebron native said she’s had some incredible teachers at RHAM who she will miss and added that she is sad to be leaving her teammates and friends at the school.
           
Delaney had a variety of schools at various levels that recruited her, yet it was the Lasers of Lasell in Auburndale, Mass. that appealed to her the most. 
           
“Lasell had everything I wanted,” Delaney said about the college, which is roughly 20 minutes outside of Boston. “It has my exact major and some other majors that I might be interested in for a minor. They have a very successful soccer team so I wanted to be part of a legacy that can keep on growing.”
           
Delaney will major in criminal justice as she joins her new team, coached by Vito LaFrancesca. LaFrancesca is entering his 16th season on the sidelines, leading the Lasers to eight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) titles and eight Division III NCAA tournament appearances. 
           
“The soccer team really seems like a sisterhood,” Delaney said after doing an overnight at the school. “They were all so friendly and so comfortable with one another. I can’t wait to be a part of that.”

During the first half of her senior year at Portland High School, three-season runner Kayla LaMalfa was unsure if she wanted to compete in college. 
           
Then in April, she announced on Instagram, “So excited to announce my commitment to ECSU xc/track and field. Thank you to my family, friends and coaches for pushing me.”
           
LaMalfa said she came to the realization midway through her senior year that she had the desire to keep competing and will now make Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic her next destination. 
           
“I love doing it, so I thought why not keep doing it for the next four years,” LaMalfa said of her decision. 
           
LaMalfa added that the closeness of the track teams at PHS team and the fact that three of her Highlander teammates — Owen Delisle, Jake Thompson, and Lindsey King — all committed to ECSU made her decision easier.             
           
“I’m really excited. There is a bond between us,” LaMalfa said about the Eastern-bound four. “As a team we are always so close and this cross country season was our best one yet. The team spirit this year was amazing.”   
           
Deb Rooth, who coached LaMalfa during winter’s indoor track and field season, said that LaMalfa was the “glue that held the team together.”    
           
“She is the kind of kid that I could always depend on. I called her my communication specialist. If I needed to communicate with the kids, I would tell her and she would make sure everybody knew,” added Rooth, who added that LaMalfa was willing to run any distance that team needed. “She is one of those kids that everybody loved.”
           
This past indoor season was a highlight for LaMalfa, who set personal-bests in the 3200 meters (14:00.49) to finish 4th overall at the Shoreline Conference (SLC) championship. At Shorelines, she also placed 4th in the 1000 meters. 
           
During spring’s outdoor season, she set a personal-best mark in the 1600 meters (6:09.94).   
           
She first started to take running more seriously following the COVID-19 pandemic, which washed away her outdoor season as a sophomore.  She used quarantine to increase her running, improving her times as she coped with the stresses of the outside world.   
           
“When I run, I feel free,” said LaMalfa, who also played the clarinet in the band at PHS.  LaMalfa will study health sciences at Eastern as she joins a Warriors team under the guidance of first-year head coach David Nicholson, who was a former All-American runner at the school and a member of the ECSU hall of fame. 
           
“It will be exciting to have that different experience with the whole different team,” said LaMalfa.

Following an all-state selection this spring, college baseball was the natural next step for Bacon Academy High School’s departing do-it-all team captain Jack Novak.
           
“I am excited to announce my commitment to Mitchell College to further my academic and athletic career,” Novak posted on Instagram. “I would like to thank all of my coaches, family and teammates for their support and guidance.”
           
After starring on the fields in Colchester, Novak will head to the southern coast of Connecticut to play for the Mariners of Mitchell College, based in New London.
           
Novak is coming off a phenomenal spring from both the plate and the mound, leading the Bobcats in both areas. He had a team-high 34 hits and 34 RBIs — including seven home runs — and tied for a team lead with 24 runs scored. He also won eight of his ten starts from the hill, pitching five complete games, striking out 72 and allowing only 55 hits. 
           
The Bobcats won 17 of 20 regular season games, highlighted by 10 straight wins to start spring. During the 10-game streak, Novak smacked two home runs in a game against Morgan, connecting on three hits to drive in three runs and score three others. He also earned the win, striking out 10 in six innings of work.
           
Novak called his performance against Morgan his best yet, adding, “It made me feel like all that extra work I put in the off-seasons and all the weekends I skipped hanging with my friends had paid off.” 
           
Along with those special moments on the field, he said he will also miss the support he’s received from his hometown. He recalled going through a hitting slump this spring, but was able to break it thanks to the trust from his coaches and teammates.   
           
“It was great to have all that support we have here,” Novak said of the Colchester community. “My friends and teammates were always there to help me and it was one of the greatest things to get out of my head mentally and start enjoying the game.”
           
Baseball beyond high school was something that Novak knew he wanted from an early age. 
           
His athletic path to college started in tee-ball at the age of six and soon followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather, who both played baseball. It’s a sport that has consumed him from the moment he first put on a glove. 
           
“I try and always live my life around it. It’s a sport that I never get tired of,” said Novak, an avid Red Sox fan. 
           
As a sophomore in high school, Novak skipped “fall ball” and instead focused on getting stronger with an increased weight training regime. Then his spring season that year was canceled because of COVID-19, but he used that time to his advantage. 
           
“As soon as I found out my spring season was canceled I was devastated because after my freshman year we had a good team coming back and I was really looking forward to playing with them again,” recalled Novak. “I kept hitting the weight room and finding ways I could continue baseball. I did anything I could do and it really paid off my junior year.” 
           
Over the last two years, he was a regular starter and played at multiple positions around the field. That versatility will serve him well at his next stop where he will enter college as a two-way player for the Mariners of Mitchell College.   
           
The Mariners have become a Division III powerhouse, making the NCAA tournament six times and winning an equal number of New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) titles during 10 full seasons under head coach Travis Beausoleil.
           
Prior to committing, Novak showcased his skills for several schools before meeting Beausoleil and realizing that Mitchell was the place to be. 
           
“I love the way he coaches and the approach he takes,” Novak said of Beausoleil. “Overall I knew I could fit right in and that we could end up winning a lot of games.”
           
Novak, who will study health sciences, said he can’t wait to experience all that college has to offer and is willing to fill whatever role his coaches at Mitchell ask of him, adding, “I’m super excited to get on my new team and meet new people that will be in my life for a long time.” 

Madison Tessmer signs her commitment to play college softball at Bay Path University. Tessmer is surrounded by CHS head coach Angelo Morello (far left) and parents, Stehpanie and Jamie.  

Madison Tessmer graduated from Cromwell High School on June 10 and the following day won a state championship as the starting shortstop for the Panthers softball team that captured the program’s first state title.
           
Tessmer called the championship a “storybook ending”, adding, “couldn’t have done it without my family, coaches, and teammates.”
           
Following her high school curtain call, Tessmer now turns the page to her next journey of playing collegiate softball at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Mass.
           
“The school itself has a beautiful campus. I didn’t want to go somewhere too big or overwhelming and I know a few of the girls on Bay Path, so I already have a bond,” Tessmer said of her decision, “Everything about it was perfect.”
           
Tessmer said Bay Path’s campus and surrounding community had a similar feel to the small-town vibe of Cromwell where she developed her softball skills for the past four year under head coach Angelo Morello. 
           
Morello called Tessmer “a coach’s dream”, adding, “she’s a perfect example of what you would want in a player. Whatever you ask from her, she did.”
           
Tessmer was a starter from day one at CHS, earning All-Shoreline Conference (SLC) all three seasons (one season canceled because of Covid).
           
During the Panthers championship run this spring, Tessmer scored 38 runs and drove in 24 more as the Panthers won 23 of 26 games.
           
Tessmer’s final high school game was a grand slam win, fitting for someone who bookended her high school seasons with literal grand slams. As a freshman, she hit a four-run dinger against Portland and duplicated that feat this spring with another bases-cleaning blast against Valley Regional on April 11.   
           
She started at right field her first two seasons before moving to shortstop this spring. Morello said as good as Tessmer was at the plate, she was even better in the field where the steady fielder made only three errors in three seasons.   
           
“I really don’t know how I am going to replace a player like her,” stated Morello, “She will be missed. She was so coachable and always had a smile on her face.”
           
Morello added, “She will do well in college because she loves the games and is always willing to put in the extra work. The coaches [at Bay Path] will love her.” 
           
Tessmer said that Bay Path softball coach Steven Smith reminds her of Morello, which influenced her decision to join the Wildcats.
           
She will study early childhood development as she joins a program that will be entering its second season playing Division I within the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).
           
Tessmer hopes her next stop is as fruitful as her previous, where she helped bring the initial softball title back to the “Home of the Champions” at CHS.  
           
“I will miss the community and how everyone is so close,” Tessmer said of Cromwell. “I will miss my coaches and friends. There has been a lot of laughs.”

On June 11, a ceremony was held at Mill Woods Park in Wethersfield to officially rename the field formerly known as the Little League Lighted Field to Ryan “Cozzy” Costello Memorial Field in memory of Ryan Costello.
           
Costello was a former baseball standout at Wethersfield High School before graduating in 2014 and playing at Central Connecticut State University. He was eventually drafted by the Seattle Mariners and spent time with the Minnesota Twins before his sudden death in November of 2019.
           
At the time of his death, Costello was 23 years old and in New Zealand preparing for the next chapter of his hardball journey in the Australian Baseball League.
           
It was later determined that Costello died from Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a disorder that causes a specific problem with the electrical system of the heart.
           
“Sadly we all die, that is just the reality of life, but Ryan’s legacy will live on far past us,” said Tammy Costello, Ryan’s mother. “This means so much to us and I am deeply moved that even though his life was cut short, he still is getting to do good things. That is the part that is the most rewarding.”

Ryan's childhood friends Willie DelMastro, Nick Quadrato, Chris Candee and JP Tarascio and others graduates from the WHS Class of 2014 came up with the idea, before Steve Kelly and WHS baseball coach Mark Bagdasarian drafted the idea and brought it to Dan Tenney, then President of Wethersfield League, who refined it and presented it to the Town Council.
           
Director of Parks and Recreation, Kathy Bagley,  and the rest of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board unanimously voted to proceed with the renaming process and then the Town Council passed the motion 9-0-0 on October, 18 2021.
           
At the council meeting, Councilor Tyler Flanigan recalled his days of playing against Ryan while the two grew up playing against each other through little league, high school, and travel ball. Flanigan remembered Ryan being a tremendous player on the field and a really good person off of it. 
           
Matt Hacker, the President of the Wethersfield Little League, then set up June’s ceremony to make it official. The renaming was attended by family, friends, and those around the local baseball community. 
           
Tammy Costello said her family was “deeply moved and overjoyed” about the honor, adding, “This community means so much to us. They are standing beside us and not letting Ryan just be a casualty and instead be an example and live on through his efforts.” 
           
Following Ryan’s death, the Costello family started the RC13 Foundation, which raises awareness for Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW). They want to let people know that WPW is a serious condition that can be diagnosed with a simple Electrocardiogram, better known as an EKG.
           
This October the foundation will host the 3rd annual golf tournament in honor of Ryan and annually the foundation gives out two scholarships — benefitting one baseball and one softball player at Wethersfield High School.
           
Earlier this year there was a large “RC13” memorial plaque that was put up under the press box at Esposito Field at WHS to honor the former Eagles’ slugger.
           
This November will mark three years since Ryan’s passing and the amount of positive change and impact that his memory has had on the community has been overwhelming to Tammy and her family.  
           
“It is hard to put into words how it feels,” she said. “He gets to continue making positive change and to me that is all any of us want in the end.”
           
​Visit therc13foundation.org for more information about Ryan and the foundation.

GHS girls' lacrosse coach Kris Cofiell was named a USA Lacrosse Coach of the Year. Cofiell is pictured at the awards banquet with all-state players Bridget Clarke (left) and Avery Olschefskie.

Kris Cofiell, the longtime head coach of the girls’ lacrosse team at Glastonbury High School, was named the USA Lacrosse Connecticut Coach of the Year following another successful spring season.   
           
USA Lacrosse is the governing body for the sport in the United States and annually honors a coach in each state based on the continuous success of the program and the amount the coach gives back to the sport.
           
“I have been very blessed in my tenure and this one is very special,” Cofiell said of the award. “It was cool to get. I dedicate a lot of time to things that are beyond my own team in lacrosse, so it’s a nice feeling.”
           
Since taking over the girls’ lacrosse program at GHS in 2001, Cofiell’s teams have been incredibly consistent. The program has won 15 conference titles, including going undefeated in league play for 13 straight years. 
           
Her overall record is 274-98-6 with a pair of trips to the Class L championship game in 2011 and 2014. 
           
Along with her latest national recognition, she has also been honored as the lacrosse coach of the year locally four times and was named by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CTHSCA) as the Coach of the Year in 2015.
           
Cofiell is an alumni of GHS, having played field hockey, basketball, and softball at the school prior to graduating in 1985. 
           
Following her three-sport high school stint, she continued to play field hockey at Springfield College before injuries cut her college career short.
           
The injuries ended her playing days, but opened the door to her coaching career. Upon graduating Springfield, she was an assistant field hockey coach at Wesleyan University before coaching the field hockey program at Windsor High School in the early 1990s.
           
She eventually found her way back to Glastonbury where she took over an upstart lacrosse program at GHS.
           
Cofiell said the translation from coaching field hockey to lacrosse was surprisingly seamless. 
           
“Lacrosse was a growing sport and it’s an amazing sport to coach,” said Cofiell. “There are so many facets to the game. It’s such a complex game and I love it.”
           
She added that in her over two decades coaching the sport, the number of athletes and high school programs have grown “exponentially” as the sport has blossomed across the state.
           
“One thing I will always continue to love about lacrosse, and I hope that it maintains this, is it absolutely encourages the playing of other sports,” added Cofiell, who is also an assistant field hockey coach at GHS. “I can take a kid that knows basketball and teach them lacrosse pretty quickly. You can move and learn from one sport to the other.”
           
In her 20 years on the sidelines (one season canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic), the team has qualified for the state tournament 19 times or 95% of the time.
           
For her latest national achievement, Cofiell was recognized at the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) girls’ lacrosse all-state banquet on June 21. 
           
Cofiell said that GHS athletic director Trish Witkin was in attendance as she received her award. She also enjoyed the surprises on the faces of her three all-state players – Christina Guanci, Avery Olschefskie, and Bridget Clarke — when they found out that their coach was being honored at the ceremony.  
           
“It was cool because the players didn’t know before the banquet,” said Cofiell, who gave a speech at the ceremony. “It was nice to get the support from athletics. It made it that much more special.” 

Recent Glastonbury High School graduate Kayden Hinchey will play lacrosse at Lynchburg University in Virginia. Hinchey is pictured with his parents, Scott and Tina, and sister, Kelsey.

Following consecutive all-conference lacrosse selections, Kayden Hinchey will make the voyage to Virginia.
           
“Extremely proud and excited to announce my commitment to further my academic and athletic career at the University of Lynchburg,” Hinchey announced on Instagram. “Special thank you to my family, especially my dad who has coached me since I picked up a stick. Also a huge thank you to my pops who has pushed me to be my best every day.”
           
Hinchey, who graduated from Glastonbury High School last month, said he went through an exhaustive search last summer as he talked to several colleges and showcased his skills for prospective schools.   
           
Ultimately it was Lynchburg that piqued his interest the most. 
           
“When I got to Lynchburg I got this really good feeling that I was at home,” recalled Hinchey. “The coaching staff and everyone at the school were very welcoming and very accommodating. I felt like it was a very good situation.”
           
Lacrosse has been a major part of his entire life. Several of his family members have played the sport, including his father and longtime coach Scott Hinchey, who played at the University of Massachusetts before taking over the boys’ program at GHS.
           
Kayden said that ever since he could remember he had a stick in his hands, and began playing competitively at the age of five. 
           
The years of skill development and tutelage from his father have led to the point where he became the team’s ultimate weapon, leading the team in points scored over the last two seasons. He was equally good setting up his teammates as he was at putting the ball in the back of the net.
           
“As a kid, I would always go to the high school practices and games because my dad was the coach,” recalled Kayden. “I think that paid off in the long run because of how I view the game. I feel like I have a good view of the field, as a coach would.”
           
His father, who has coached him since youth lacrosse, called his son “a coach on the field, who understands the game.”
           
“His biggest asset is his unselfishness,” Scott added. “He always makes the best lacrosse play.”
           
Those traits will serve him well with his new college team, who are coming off an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) championship, the team’s second straight conference crown and ninth title overall. 
           
Kayden said the team’s success was one of the reasons that he decided to make Virginia his home base for the next four years, saying the school was the “total package.”
           
Having grown up in Glastonbury and around family his entire life, he said he will struggle with being so far away. Along with lacrosse being a family affair, the Hincheys also enjoy fishing and Kayden said he used fishing trips with his father and grandfather to unwind. 
           
This spring yielded championship results for the father-son duo, who ended their final season together with a conference championship as the Guardians beat Simsbury on 12-4 to win the Central Connecticut Conference-Central title in May
           
Kayden called the triumph over rival Simsbury as the crowning achievement, adding, “It was a great accomplishment and such a great memory with the boys. This season was really awesome; we had a lot of fun”
           
He’ll study business and finance at Lynchburg as he joins his Hornets’ program led by Steve Koudelke, who has coached the program for 25 years.
           
With Kayden leaving the nest, Scott said it will be an odd feeling not coaching his son for the first time in many years, but added, “I’ll enjoy it. He’s going to a program where he’ll get some good coaching. I’m happy for him.”

Recent Glastonbury High School graduate Catherine Zak served as the No. 1 single player on the tennis team for the past two years. She will now take her strong serve and powerful forehand to Nazareth College to play four more years. 
           
Zak said Nazareth was one of the first colleges she visited during the recruitment process during her junior year and made her commitment official after going back for a more formal visit the winter of her senior year. 
           
“I like being up in that area. It’s a beautiful campus and the opportunities there are great,” Zak said of the private college in Rochester, NY.
           
Collegiate tennis has been a 13 year journey for Zak, who first started playing at the age of five. She tried her hand at a variety of sports — including gymnastics, basketball, and soccer — before finding comfort on the tennis courts. 
           
Zak said the sport was something that she “had to grow into”, adding, “When you’re younger you want to have fun with it and as you get older you start to get more competitive.”
           
After playing the sport continuously for over a decade, Zak found herself feeling a little “burnt out” during her junior year in high school before rediscovering her passion for the game as a senior.
           
“I had been playing [tennis] so long it has taken up a lot of my life, but I appreciate that now” recalled Zak, who was energized this past spring thanks to a close bond with her teammates. 
           
“We were more of a family and more connected this year,” added Zak, “I will miss seeing the faces I got to see daily in school. I will really miss the tennis team.”
           
GHS head coach Sharon Murphy has had a front row seat of Zak’s development, saying her confidence has grown tremendously over the past four years thanks to her year-round commitment to the game.
           
“When she stepped out on the court she had a mission, and her mission was to win,” added Murphy. “She is the type of person that likes to figure it out herself. She knows what she has to do in her head to win.”
           
Murphy recalled that Zak sustained an injury to her right hand as a freshman and learned to serve and play with her left hand, an impressive feat in a sport where athletes rely heavily on their dominant hands 
           
Following this past season, Murphy named Zak as the team’s Hartwell Award winner — an annual award given to the athlete with the greatest contribution to their team, taking into account performance, leadership, sportsmanship and dedication. Murphy added that Zaks’ improvement on handling the mental side of the sport is what will allow her to succeed in college.
           
Zak said she struggled with the mental part of tennis for years before discovering a simple solution. 
           
“I learned to not care about anyone’s approval. Whether I win or not, I just care about if I think I did well or if I had fun,” stated Zak.
           
Tennis was just one of the many reasons that Zak is looking forward to her new venture.
           
She will study biology, leaning towards a focus on either neuroscience or environmental studies in the field. 
           
Zak added she is “very interested in human biology” and is excited that Nazareth has a cadaver lab.
           
The ultimate goal for Zak is to research and find better treatments for people struggling with mental illness. 
           
Along with a packed school and tennis schedule, Zak is also ready to set a more independent schedule at Nazareth. 
           
​“I had trouble advocating for myself when I was younger and now recently I have become more independent and do things on my own,” added Zak. “I’m excited to be able to structure my own time.” 

Ben Weers, a 2022 graduate at RHAM High School, will tackle college football.
           
“I am truly excited to announce that I am 100% committed to continue my athletic and academic journey at Norwich University. Go Cadets,” Weers posted on Instagram. 
           
This past fall, Weers starred at wide receiver and outside linebacker for a Raptors team that won five games, the program’s most wins since 2018.
           
Standing 6’2” with track and field experience, Weers’ ability to outrun and outjump his opponents allowed him to average 20 yards per reception. He starred as a two-way player for RHAM, also making an impact on the defensive end as an enforcer against the run and reliable coverage linebacker against the pass.   
           
He said having a full season and getting extensive playing time this past fall was a nice way to cap his high school football career after his junior year wiped away by the Covid-19 cancellation.  
           
“It was a great feeling. We had one of the better seasons in RHAM history” added Weers. “It felt great to win and felt great to have the school behind us.”
           
Weers chose Norwich University, a private military academy in Vermont, because of his desire to continue playing football and his familiarity with the area.
           
His grandparents reside in Vermont and over the years he would visit the area to ski and bike during the winter and summer months.
           
The school also allows him to spread his wings outside the state of Connecticut.    
           
“The one thing about Norwich, since it’s a military school, is it’s a widespread school with kids from around the country,” stated Weers. “It’s not just kids from the area like a lot of other schools around here, so I get to meet all different types of people.”
           
In Northfield, located in the heart of The Green Mountain State, Weers will join a Cadets team this fall that is looking to bounce back after a 2-8 season. Mark Murnyack is entering his 12th season as a head coach, rebuilding a program that is aiming to capture a conference title for the first time since 2015. 
           
After moving to Hebron from Rockville in the 7th grade, Weers began to take athletics seriously. Along with his dedication on the gridiron, he ran sprints and threw for the school’s track and field team in the spring and would play basketball for the town throughout the year. 
           
He said he will miss his football brothers the most, adding, “We had a great coaching staff and we were all really close with them. There are a lot of things that I left on the field and there are a lot of things that I could have done more of, but I’ll just keep pushing myself.”
           
Weers said he will use that mindset as motivation at the next level.
               
“I want to see how I compare. I’ve set goals and I’m looking forward to just seeing how far I can take myself,” he added. “I want to get bigger, stronger, faster, and push myself to the limit.”