Spring wrapup
Hard-hitting Falcons
quiet in quarterfinal loss
AVON, June 10 -- In their first two tournament games, the Avon High baseball team was able to hit the ball well. The Falcons had nine hits in a 7-0 win over Maloney-Meriden and eight hits in a 5-0 victory over Woodstock Academy in the second round.
But in the Class L quarterfinals, Darien’s Devin Burke shutdown No. 2 Avon with a 5-0 victory. Burke lost a bid for a no-hitter in the seventh inning when Andrew Livingstone led off the inning with a single.
But that was it for the Falcons offense. Burke struckout 14 Avon batters and walked just one to lead Darien (18-7). Avon hurlers’ David Lavoie (5 innings) and Tyler Grouton combined to give up 11 hits. Burke also tripled while Darien C James Patton had a triple and single. Matt Anderson had a pair of two-out RBI while Chris Bruno was 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored and three stolen bases.
Livingstone was 2-for-4 with a triple in a 7-0 opening round win over Maloney. In a 5-0 second round win over Woodstock Academy, Grouton scattered four hits and fanned eight. He didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings.
BOYS GOLF: Avon finished eighth in Division II with a 317 at Tallwood Country Club in Hebron. Keegan Johnson led the way with a 75 for the Falcons.
GIRLS LACROSSE: Darien snapped Avon’s 14-game winning streak with a dominating 22-10 victory in a Division I quarterfinal match on the high school football field in Avon. Darien (14-2) is the three-time defending Division I champion and hasn’t lost to a team in Connecticut yet this season. The Blue Wave went onto to the Division I title.
All-State forward J.J. Gower had 53 goals and 34 assists for the Falcons while midfielder Lindsay Horbatuck had 42 goals and 27 assists. Gower was the NCCC offensive player of the year while Horbatuck was the NCCC defensive player of the year.
BOYS LACROSSE: Avon won the NCCC Tournament championship with a 13-8 victory over Suffield at Buckingham Field. The Falcons led 8-5 at halftime but earned the championship with a strong second half performance. Junior Joe Gruttaduria had five goals while Connor Maniatty and Chris Carlson had three goals each. Goalie Michael Munoz had 14 saves in the victory.
Playing just two days after the win over Suffield, No. 6 Avon managed just five goals in a 17-5 loss to No. 11 Fairfield Ludlowe in the second round of the CIAC Class M tournament. Maniatty, Matt Jarvis, Gruttaduria, Ian Mack and Ryan Coyle had goals for the Falcons.
Manniatty led the team with 60 points (41 goals, 19 assists) while Terrence Olsen led the team with 39 assists and 21 goals for 60 points.
BOYS TENNIS: Avon’s Jeremy Nowak was 2-1 in singles at the Class M boys tournament while teammate Alex Dahlem was 1-1 in singles. Nowak lost just one game in his first two matches before being eliminated by No. 4 Benjamin Berkowitz of Fairfield Warde, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round. In doubles, Avon’s Aaron Neopold and Zach Weiss were 2-1 before being eliminated in the third round by No. 5 Mike Platt and Joe Mauriello of Branford, 6-4, 6-2. ... Avon finished the year at 10-4.
CREW: In just its second season, the Avon High crew team finished ninth in the Connecticut Public School Rowing Association championships at Lake Waramaug in Washington, Conn., earlier this month. Avon’s No. 3 girls eight boat was in second place until they slowed when an oar became stuck in the water and finished in fifth place in 6:30.3.
SOFTBALL: The return of varsity softball at Avon (3-17, 3-10 NCCC) after an absence of one year was a success with three victories and many competitive ballgames. Steve Swanson’s Falcons dropped four 1-run ballgames and a two-run decision to Northwest Catholic.
Girls tennis
Avon doubles team
earn All-State honors
NEW HAVEN, June 6 – Two players from the NCCC champion Avon girls tennis team earned All-State honors at the recent CIAC State Open tournament at Yale University. Juniors Nicole Berns and Kate Burdick earned All-State honors by advancing to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by the eventual Open champions from Weston.
Berns and Burdick, Avon’s No. 1 doubles team, had another outstanding year for the Falcons, going undefeated (20-0) for the second straight year. They’ve lost just one regular season match (41-1) in three years and have been named All-NCCC all three seasons.
The duo helped Avon post its second straight undefeated season (20-0) and win its second straight NCCC championship. Avon was upset by Branford, 4-3, in the first round of the Class M tournament but two doubles teams and two singles players qualified for the State Open.
Berns and Burdick were the only Avon players to earn victories at the State Open. Seeded seventh, they easily beat Chelsea Crehan and Molly Perkins of Valley Regional, 9-3, followed by a 8-2 victory over Shaw Childs and Riley Brigham from Shepaug Valley.
Berns and Burdick battled hard to advance to the quarterfinals with a victory in a three-hour match played under the hot sun. After dropping the first set to No. 10 Mallory Will and Liz Matis of Fairfield Ludlow,, 3-6, they tied the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. Will and Matis took a 4-2 lead in the third set but Berns and Burdick refused to wilt, winning four straight matches to earn a 6-4 victory.
In the quarterfinals, No. 2 Marie Gargiulo and Lindsey Gersh of Weston, the eventual State Open champions, eliminated Berns and Burdick, 6-2, 6-2.
In singles, Kate Biffinger’s late comeback wasn’t enough in a 9-7 loss to Maloney’s Kelsey Lorusso. Teammate Liza Blank was seeded 12th but dropped a first round match to Greenwich’s Jessica Ertel, 8-3. Avon’s Christine and Laura Parsons were beaten in their opening round doubles match by Anne Mallin and Layne Rissolo of Fairfield Ludlowe, 8-3.
Track and field
Records fall in final weeks for Falcons
NEW BRITAIN, June 3 – Several records fell in the final weeks of the Avon High track season. Junior Titi Vanriel snapped her own school record in the 400 meters for the third straight meet with a stellar time of 59.19 seconds at the State Open championships at Willow Brook Park, good enough for 14th place.
A week earlier, Vanriel finished second in the 400 meters at the Class MM championship meet by just 0.10 second with a time of 58.38. Berlin’s Nikki Kureczka won the race in 58.48, just a second ahead of Vanriel, who leaned at the finish line to nip Darien’s Amanda Koslo by 0.03 of a second for the silver medal.
Avon had five other athletes competing at the State Open. A week after setting a new school record finishing second in Class MM in the 3,200 meters, Claire Smith took 11th at the Open with a time of 11:24.38. Avon’s 3,200 meter relay team (4x800) of Kalli Veldman, Vanriel, Claire Smith and Emily Kelly finished 16th in 9:55.81.
On the boys side, John Drago finished 24th in the 3,200 meters in 10:06.53 while teammate Bob Carver was 22nd in the javelin with a throw of 152 feet.
Drago and Smith set new school records at the Class MM championship meet in the 3,200 meters. With her time of 11:13.91, Smith cut 13 seconds off her personal best time in the 3,200 this season set a week earlier at the NCCC championships. She also topped the school record time of 11:22.0 that she ran a year ago at the Class M meet.
Even with her record time, Smith finished second to Darien’s Caroline McDonough, who won her second straight Class MM championship with a meet record time of 10:54.33. McDonough also won the 1,600 meter race – an impressive performance for an athlete who missed the FCIAC championships a week earlier with an illness.
Drago set a school record for the second time in a week. He broke his own school record in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:58.48 and a second-place finish at the NCCC championship meet. At the Class MM meet, he topped that time by a whopping 16 seconds with a time of 9:42.44, good enough for third place in a very competitive race won by New Fairfield’s John Raneri in 9:23.66.
At the Class MM meet, the Avon High girls turned in their best finish since 2003 by finishing 14th with 21 points. The boys finished 16th with 13 points.
Vanriel was 10th in the long jump with a leap of 16-2 feet, just an inch shy of the school record set in 1998 by Alicia Farrell.
Vanriel was also part of the 3,200 meter relay team (Kalli Veldman, Smith, Vanriel, Emily Kelly) that made up six places in the final three legs to finish fifth (10:03.99).
Kelly finished 11th in the 800 meters with a season-best time of 2:23.61, less than 0.30 of second away from qualifying for the State Open. In high jump, Alyssa Burton and Brianna Noonan finished eighth and ninth, respectively, with jumps of 4 feet, 10 inches.
On the boys side, Brandon Burciaga was eighth in the shot put with a season-best throw of 44 feet and a quarter inch. He also was seventh in the javelin with a throw of 149 feet. Carver took fifth in the javelin with a season-best throw of 154 feet, eight inches.
The Avon High girls (12-2, 11-2 NCCC) were third in the NCCC championship meet while the Avon boys (10-4, 9-4 NCCC) were sixth in the NCCC meet.
