GHS Sports Roundup

Guardians Field Hockey Splits Two

GHS field hockey split the first two games of the season, losing to Hall 2-1 (OT) to open the season before rebounding with a 10-0 shutout of Hamden last Saturday.

In the opener, Glastonbury’s junior forward Alicia Choquette scored two minutes into the game off an assist from senior midfielder Kaitlyn Welsh. Hall tied the score up later in the quarter on a goal from Ellie Goldstein off a pass from Bridget McGann. The game went into a ten minute 7-v-7 sudden victory overtime period, and two and a half minutes into overtime Goldstein redirected a ball into the corner of the net off a shot from the top of the circle by McGann for the win. 

In the shutout of Hamden, Welsh scored three goals, all in the first half, while Choquette and sophomore attacker Allyson Collette each added a pair of goals. Senior forward Molly Harding, senior Grace Boehning and junior midfielder MiKayla Balatbat each notched a goal for GHS in the win. Several GHS players recorded assists on the day, including Harding, Choquette, Balatbat, as well as senior forward Christina Guanci and sophomore midfielder Avery Olschefskie.  Senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parent and the GHS defense only surrendered 1 penalty corner in the game and prevented Hamden from getting off any shots to preserve the first victory of the season.  
 
GHS Boys Golf Moves to 2-0, Competes at Remy Cup
 
Glastonbury boys golf defeated Hall (150-166) at Rockledge Golf Course in West Hartford on September 8. The Guardians were led by senior co-captain Connor Goode posting a (-1) 35 on a very windy day. Connor managed to hit six greens in regulation and convert three of them into birdies even though the wind was making scoring extremely difficult. Senior co-captain Charlie Goode posted a 37 and senior Nick DiNino shot a steady 38. Sophomore Gavin Kvadus rounded out the scoring, securing the team’s second win this fall.

Head coach Tom Zelek said, “I knew scores would be a little higher than what I normally expect to have here, but the guys did a great job of managing their game and keeping the ball down out of the wind as much as possible. This team has a lot of competitive golf experience, and it shows whenever we play a challenging course or play under challenging conditions.”

On September 11 - Goode, Dolan, DiNino, and Morgan Peterson competed in the Remy Cup at the Hartford Golf Club Course in West Hartford.  
The Remy Cup is like the Ryder Cup in professional golf but features Team CT PGA Juniors competing against Team New England PGA Juniors. The teams are composed of 12 players each (8 boys and 4 girls) and Glastonbury filled four of those spots. The Cup finished in a tie.
 
Coach Zelek stated that he was proud of how the GHS golfers represented both Connecticut and Glastonbury. 
 
Deep Dive with GHS Swimming and Diving

Contributed by Steve Hoyt

​The Glastonbury High School Girls Swimming and Diving Team had a very strange 2020 season as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on nearly every facet of life. The team was fortunate to have a season as they swam five virtual dual meets against teams in this region and had a final virtual meet that was termed a “Post Season Experience”. The Guardians easily went 5-0 in those dual meets and had a fantastic final meet with lots of personal best times and records.
 
You need to go back to the 2019 season to look at what things looked like during a normal season. That 2019 season produced a 11-1 dual meet record with the only loss coming at the hands of the Class LL and State Open Champions from Cheshire High School. That year the Guardians won the CCC Championship Meet, finished 4th in Class LL and 6th at the State Open. The 2020 team would have likely had an even more impressive finish in the State Meets had they occurred as that team was incredibly strong and arguably one of the strongest ever.
 
The Guardians have been the clear and undisputed top team in the Hartford area for many years. They have dominated the CCC Conference by winning their division for 18 straight years. Their dual meet record in those CCC Divisional meets since 2003 is an incredible 82-0. They have also won the CCC Championship Meet every year since its inception in 2010.
 
Glastonbury graduated eight seniors and it always seems impossible to replace the amount of talent and leadership. The graduates were Caroline Cermignani, Brooke Keeney, Marley Milne, Katarina Dominguez, Hannah Kim, Juliana Mastroianni, Paige Cox and Gaby Salsgiver (diver). Cermignani was the most decorated graduate as she appears on the Glastonbury Swimming and Diving Record Board in three spots. Caroline was part of the 200 freestyle relay Pool and School Records, along with teammates Riley Kudlac, Annika Paluska and Avery Kudlac. She is also part of the 400 freestyle relay Pool Record along with those same teammates. She also appears on the Top Ten List 4 times. 3 times in relays and 1 time in an individual event as she leaves as the 9th fastest 200 freestyler in GHS history. Keeney also appears on the Top Ten List as she graduates as the 5th fastest 500 freestyler in GHS history. All of the seniors were big contributors and they will be sorely missed.
 
The team this year includes 40 athletes, and they are split fairly evenly amongst the four grades with 9 seniors, 11 juniors, 11 sophomores and 9 new freshmen. The senior class is led by Rachel Davis, Norell Paluska and diver Alana Mondschein. Davis appears on the Top Ten List twice as she is currently the 2nd fastest 200 individual medley swimmer and the 3rd fastest 100 yard breaststroker. Paluska appears on the Top Ten List 5 times. Those 5 events are the 200 medley relay, the 200 individual medley, the 500 freestyle, the 200 freestyle relay and the 100 breaststroke. Alana currently has the 9th highest 6-dive score in school history. The captains for this season are Davis, Riley Lord and Vivian Nguyen.
 
The junior class is led by Avery Kudlac, Riley Kudlac and Brooke Sowka. Avery Kudlac is on the Top Ten List an astounding 9 times and even more amazingly holds 10 records. Those 10 records are for the 200 freestyle Pool and School Records, the 50 freestyle Pool and School Records, the 100 butterfly School Record, the 100 freestyle Pool and School Records, the 200 freestyle relay Pool and School Records and the 400 freestyle relay Pool Record. Sister Riley Kudlac is also on the Top Ten List an astounding 9 times and has 3 records as well.  Those records are for the 200 freestyle relay Pool and School Records and the 400 freestyle relay Pool Record. Brooke appears on the Top Ten List 6 times.
 
The sophomore class is led by Annika Paluska and diver Jade Casey. Paluska appears on the Top Ten List 6 times and has 3 records in the same relays as Riley. Casey is currently the 4th highest scorer in school history for 6-dives and also has the 7th highest score for 11-dives.
 
The eager new freshmen are Lucy Boisoneau, Tali Horesco, Hannah Kaufman, Natalie Koziol, Paeton Romero, Teaghan Tarczali, Francesca Gionfriddo (diver), Eloise Mulready (diver) and Julia Pistorius (diver). Francesca is already looking impressive on the diving board and is one to watch.
 
The season officially starts with a dual meet against Hall High School at Cornerstone Pool in West Hartford on Friday, 9/17. Hall, along with Wethersfield and Middletown, are on the schedule as CCC cross over meets. These cross over meets are set up where if you place 1st on your CCC Division, you have meets against the other 1st place teams in the 3 other CCC Divisions. 2nd place has meets against the other 2nd place teams – and so on. By virtue of winning their CCC Division, the Guardians will face off against those other Divisional winners. Also on the schedule are the other teams in our CCC Division. They are Manchester, South Windsor, E.O. Smith/Tolland, East Hartford and East Catholic. The Guardians currently have only a single non-CCC outside meet and that is against perennial power Amity High School. Glastonbury will also participate in the West Hartford Invite where several teams will compete in a meet with events that are unlike the standard events in a dual meet. The season ends with several Championship Meets – the CCC Championship, the Class LL Championship and the State Open Championship.
 
The highly experienced coaching staff mostly returns this season. Head Coach Suzie Hoyt is a nationally recognized coach and is starting her 19th season with the girls team to go along with 31 seasons with the boys team. Her record with the girls team is 167-28-2 and when combined with the boys record of 341-64-0 she has an overall combined record of 508-92-2. Her 500th win quietly went unrecognized since it was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Head Diving Coach Shelley Farrar returns for her 5th season with the girls along with 25 seasons with the boys team. Farrar has taken countless beginner and experienced divers to the post season tournaments. Stevie Hoyt returns for only a few weeks as the Assistant Coach since he will be leaving the team as he has accepted an Assistant Coach position at Trinity College as part of the NESCAC Division.