GHS Sports News & Notes

Golf Wins Two More, Competes at Tourney

GHS boys golf defeated New Britain (147-254) and won a quad match verse Newington, Wethersfield, and Avon last week.
 
Last Tuesday, the Guardians defeated the Golden Hurricane at Stanley Golf Course in New Britain on a cool breezy day. Senior co-captain Charlie Dolan led all scorers with a (-3) 33, using brilliant iron play to hit seven out of nine greens in regulation, which provided him with a flawless scorecard that listed six pars and three birdies. Sophomore Gavin Kvadus finished at (+1) 37 which, which was facilitated by incredibly hitting all nine greens in regulation. Senior Nick DiNino followed closely behind by hitting all seven fairways, posting a 38. Rounding out the scoring for the Guardians was senior co-captain Connor Goode with seven pars on his scorecard. Head coach Tom Zelek said, “The team is certainly performing at a high level no matter where we play and with only one more home match and our end of season tournaments coming up we are in top form.” 
 
On Wednesday, the Guardians came away with three wins on a day that featured excellent weather at Wethersfield Country Club. Glastonbury posted a total team score of 146, Newington 168, Avon 170 and Wethersfield 171. Goode led all scorers with a (-2) 33, hitting seven greens in regulation leading to an unblemished scorecard with seven pars and a pair of birdies. Dolan followed closely behind with a 36, including three birdies. Rounding out the scoring was sophomore Gavin Kvadus, posting a 38, and senior Nick Anderson with a 39. Zelek added, “The boys golf team continues to take advantage of the excellent weather and course conditions. Their fine play has led to our conference record totaling 9 wins and no losses and our overall record to 12 wins to no losses.”

The following day, the team competed at the 52nd annual CHAPPA Invitational Two-Man tournament, held at Longshore Golf course in Westport. This tournament has been held since 1970 and is named after longtime Staples golf coach Mike Chappa. Goode and Dolan combined to shoot an impressive 66, earning them a tie for third place in the event out of the thirty teams competing. The event is “Best Ball” event Glastonbury has competed in since it’s inception until ten years ago when a new two man tournament was started closer to home and has been held at Blackledge golf course in Hebron. Glastonbury also brought another team consisting of DiNino and Kvadus, who finished at 73 to finish in 8th place. 

“The guys all did remarkably well considering they have never played this course and tied the team from Staples who use Longshore as it’s home course. It was an extremely long day as we started at 7:00 am and didn’t get back to Glastonbury until after 7:30 pm,” said Zelek, “I couldn’t be happier with the amount of commitment the boys showed as only two other teams from the CIAC made the trip to Westport. Many teams will not travel this far and spend all day as we did to compete in this tournament. It is very prestigious as most any Connecticut player who has played at the professional (PGA) level has participated in this tournament. The guys never once complained and their excellent scores after enduring such a trip show how dedicated they are to Glastonbury golf.”

Boys XC Wins Tri-Meet

Following the GHS cross country team’s stellar second-place performance at the Winding Trails Invitational on September 25th, the Guardians traveled back to the Winding Trails course on September 28th for their third tri-meet of the season against Northwest Catholic and Farmington. Running through wet and muddy conditions, Glastonbury came out on top against both schools: 15-50 against Northwest Catholic and 17-45 against Farmington. Leading from the front, Glastonbury’s first five runners overall placed first, second, third, fifth, and sixth. Junior Harrison Krause confidently led the Guardians, finishing in 17:44. Close behind him was Kevin Graziosi in 17:53 and Dominic Pena in 17:58. Rounding out Glastonbury’s scoring runners were Troy Giaccone (18:08) and Cameron Colletti (18:22), immediately followed by Cody Stone (18:22) in a photo finish. Jackson Stone (18:57), Ben Yalof (19:18), Evan Don Francisco (22:13), and Dylan Vincellette (22:35) had very notable performances as they all improved their times on the Winding Trails course from just three days prior. The Glastonbury boys are currently 3-3 this season and will look to improve their times at the Harry Geraghty Invitational on October 1st in South Windsor. The team’s final regular-season meet and senior night will be hosted on October 12th at JB Williams Park against Simsbury. 

Field Hockey Blanks Avon and Enfield

GHS field hockey had a perfect week, shutting out Avon (4-0) and Monday and Enfield (6-0) on Friday.

In the road win over Avon, senior captains Molly Harding and Christina Guanci each scored a pair of goals, while fellow senior Hannah David added two assists.

Against Enfield, Harding added two more goals and Guanci, Allie Lips, Addison Infante, and Kaitlyn Welsh each found the back of the net.

Goalie Kaitlyn Parent and the Guardians stout defense stymied both Avon and Enfield’s attack as GHS improved to 6-1-1-1 with the wins.   

Swim & Dive Continue to Roll

The Glastonbury High School Girls’ Swimming and Diving Team defeated Manchester 89-79 in a home dual meet last Tuesday afternoon at GHS. The Guardians cruised to yet another victory by winning 9 of the 11 events and moved their season record to a perfect 5-0 and 18-1 all-time against the newly named Red Hawks. GHS was led by Belle Christensen and Riley Kudlac who each had 3 wins each. The double winners were Avery Kudlac, Annika Paluska, Norell Paluska and Riley Lord. The single winners were Vivian Nguyen, Lauren Lord, Rachel Davis, Evie Christensen and Emily Booth. Manchester got one win each from Carolyn Miner and Chayse Mercer (diving).

The meet started with a 1-2 sweep in the 200 medley relay by GHS. The relay team of Belle Christensen, Riley Kudlac, Avery Kudlac and Vivian Nguyen easily placed 1st while the relay team of Lucy Boisoneau, Julianne Lui, Rachel Davis and Sophie Redfern placed 2nd. The Guardians were off to a perfect 12-2 start and the meet would never get any closer.
The 200 freestyle was a 1-2-3 sweep by the Guardians. Annika Paluska was 1st, Evie Christensen was 2nd and Margo Zhang was 3rd. Annika qualified for the Class LL Meet with her excellent time. The 200 individual medley was another 1-2-3 sweep. Riley Kudlac was 1st, Heather Newandee was 2nd and Lucy Boisoneau was 3rd.

Manchester got a win in the 50 freestyle as Carolyn Miner sprinted to victory. GHS would place 2-3-4. Emily Booth was 2nd, Madelynn Booth was 3rd and Sophie Redfern was 4th. The score entering the diving event was 47-13 in favor of GHS. Diving was the highlight of the meet for Manchester as they swept the event by going 1-2-3. Chayse Mercer got the victory, Mairyn Melesko was 2nd and Nicole Donovan was 3rd. Addison Fastiggi placed 4th and Julia Pistorius placed 5th for GHS to make the score 50-26 entering the 2nd half of the meet.

GHS went back to work and swept the 100 butterfly by going 1-2-3. Belle Christensen was 1st, Lola Branson was 2nd and Hannah Kaufman was 3rd. Riley Kudlac qualified for the Class LL Meet in an exhibition heat of the 100 butterfly. The 100 freestyle was the same 1-2-3 sweep by GHS. Norell Paluska was 1st, Brooke Sowka was 2nd and Vivian Nguyen was 3rd. Norell qualified for the Class LL Meet with her impressive time.

The long distance 500 freestyle would be the clinching event as GHS once again place 1-2-3 to sweep the event. Lauren Lord was 1st, Paeton Romero was 2nd and Elizabeth Evans was 3rd. The meet score was now 89-32 and the Red Hawks could no longer catch up. The Guardians would swim the last 4 events exhibition.

The 200 freestyle sprint relay saw GHS touch 1-2. The relay team of Belle Christensen, Riley Lord, Norell Paluska and Annika Paluska touched 1st while the relay team of Julianne Lui, Sophie Redfern, Heather Newandee and Katie Papa touched 2nd. The 100 backstroke was probably the most exciting race of the afternoon as 3 swimmers battled it out. Avery Kudlac, Rachel Davis from Glastonbury and Carolyn Miner from Manchester gave the fans an incredible race. 1st to 3rd was separated by a little over a half a second. When the dust settled, it was Rachel Davis who got the victory over Avery Kudlac and Carolyn Miner was just behind in 3rd place. Rachel qualified for the Class LL Meet with her great time.

The 100 breaststroke would see GHS touch 1-2-3 once again. Riley Lord was 1st, Julianne Lui was 2nd and Katie Papa was 3rd. The 400 freestyle relay was also a sweep with the Guardians touching 1-2. The relay team of Evie Christensen, Avery Kudlac, Riley Kudlac and Emily Booth touched 1st while the relay team of Brooke Sowka, Paeton Romero, Rachel Davis and Katie Papa touched 2nd. The finals score came to 89-79.

The Guardians participated in the West Hartford Invitational last week and although there were no team scores kept, the swimmers turned in some impressive times. The most noteworthy performance for GHS came from Rachel Davis who improved on her 3rd fastest time in school history in the 100 breaststroke.

The upcoming schedule has GHS taking on E.O. Smith/Tolland at the Mansfield Community Center Pool on Friday, October 15th at 3:45 PM. There is also another away meet against East Hartford at East Hartford High School on Tuesday, October 19th also at 3:45 PM. Contributed by Steve Hoyt.