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Celebrating
Sophomore Christian Menounos, left, and boys’ cross-country coach Peter Lusa got together for a celebratory photo following Menounos’ 5th-place finish in the Class MM state championship race. Photo by Joe Banas.
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Seniors Honored: Volleyball seniors, from left: Ellie Nunes, Jade Desmond, Morgan Bonin, and Leila MacKinnon were honored on Senior Day prior to their match with Waterford. Photo by Jill Grant.
Woodstock Academy coach Peter Lusa had just finished giving his team their two-mile splits and was hustling back toward the finish line when he heard the announcer began to rattle off the names of finishers as they crossed the line.
“All of a sudden, I started hearing them announce the first, second, third and fourth-place finishers and then I heard,’ fifth-place from Woodstock Academy’ and I was, ‘Wait, what?’ I was still in the woods about 200 yards from the finish line.”
Centaurs’ sophomore Christian Menounos had beaten his coach to the line and also finished ahead of most of the field in the Class MM state championship meet Oct. 29.
Lusa would have been happy just to see his young runner finish in the top 12 and qualify for the State Open Nov. 4, also at Wickham Park. Instead, Menounos put together a sparkling effort to finish fifth overall in 16 minutes, 44 seconds.
Lusa wasn’t sure what Menounos was going to do prior to the meet.
Menounos had his eyes set on Brendan Fant of E. Lyme who had finished second, just two better than Menounos, in the ECC championship meet the week before.
He got his man, finishing two places ahead of the Vikings’ senior.
Menounos finished just 13 seconds behind the winner, Michael Byrnes of Wilton High School.
E. Lyme (78) finished first as a team followed by E.O. Smith, Guilford, Daniel Hand and then the Centaurs with 176.
Just to show that every runner is important in cross-country, E.O. Smith and Guilford finished in a 115-all tie so it came down to the sixth-place finisher from both teams. E.O. Smith’s came in ahead of Guilford which means the Panthers will run in the State Open championship and the Grizzlies will stay home.
Senior Vince Bastura was second across the line for the Centaurs in 15th.
The senior, after the ECC championship, had said he was battling the effects of over training.
Colton Sallum finished 30th , Charles Cagiano was 41st and Joel Koleszar 85th to account for the Centaurs top five runners.
For Menounos, it means another race is at hand. He wants to finish in the top 25 on Friday which would qualify him for the New England cross-country championship.
Centaurs girls CC finish fourth
The cross-country season just goes by too fast for veteran runners and coaches like Joe Banas.
But it ended on a good note for his Centaurs girls’ team as it finished fourth in the Class MM state championship meet.
The Centaurs finished with 179 points, just behind first-place Guilford (89), Pomperaug (107) and E. Lyme (120).
What was even better was that a freshman led them to the finish line.
Olivia Tracy finished just outside of the top-12, who qualify for the State Open, with a 16th-place finish in 21 minutes, 50 seconds.
Another returning runner, junior Julia Coyle, was just 11 seconds behind her younger teammate in 21st place.
Coyle had held the lead over Tracy until about 600 meters were left in the race when Tracy kicked by her teammate going up the “green monster” - the hill that finishes the 5K course at Wickham.
Greene, a sophomore, finished 45th. Seniors Lauren Brule in 49th and Tessa Brown in 51st completed the Centaurs top five.
Volleyball
Finish Regular Season
The volleyball team took time out prior to its match with Waterford early in the week to honor four of its own.
The annual Senior Night match saw seniors Morgan Bonin, Ellie Nunes, Jade Desmond and Leila MacKinnon receive flowers and other parting gifts from their teammates.
The Centaurs hoped for as they fell to the Lancers, 3-1.
Woodstock opened well with a 25-21 first set victory over Waterford. The Centaurs fell behind early by five points but tied the set at 15 and went ahead to stay on one of Bonin’s 10 kills on the night.
The Lancers (14-5), came back to post a 25-18 victory in the second set.
That momentum carried into the third set where Waterford prevailed, 25-22, and it was all Lancers in the fourth where they clinched the win with a 25-8 decision.
Liliana Bottone had 11 kills and three aces and Nunes added 16 digs for Woodstock.
The Centaurs finished up the season on a 50-50 note.
They lost to Conard, 3-0, but rallied for a 3-0 win over New London last week.
The up-and-down week meant the volleyball team finished with a 12-8 regular season record.
Adam Bottone was not bothered by the loss to Conard which is one of the better teams in Class LL. The Centaurs played well despite losing in straight sets, 25-13, 25-16 and 25-12.
Sophomore Mia Sorrentino had seven kills while Bonin contributed three kills and four blocks.
The Centaurs rolled past the Whalers 25-13, 25-14 and 25-22. Sophomore Sophie Gronski had 10 aces to go along with her 24 assists and six digs. Liliana Bottone added 11 kills, Bonin chalked up eight and Nunes had nine digs. Woodstock went into the ECC tournament as the fourth seed and hosted No. 5 Fitch on Monday in a league quarterfinal match. (The match ended too late for this edition).
Football
Centaurs fall to Guilford
For a moment, it looked like it was going to be a scoring bonanza. In a span of 50 seconds in the first quarter of Woodstock’s football game with Guilford, four touchdowns were scored. Unfortunately for the Centaurs, Guilford scored the next three and it was the Grizzlies who made the ride back a happy one after they ended the first-ever meeting between the two programs with a 46-29 win.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 3-3 on the season. Guilford (5-2) struck first with an 11-play drive that went 75 yards and the score was 6-0, Grizzlies.
Austin Amlaw took the ensuing kickoff up the gut for the Centaurs and went 60 yards before he was brought down on the Grizzlies 22-yard line. Woodstock quarterback Teddy Richardson (17-for-31 passing, 190 yards) went for it on first down and found one of his receivers, Brandon Nagle, and floated it in for the 22-yard score and a 7-6 Centaur lead.
In 18 seconds, Guilford returned the kickoff to their own 34 and on the first play from scrimmage it was 12-7, Grizzlies.
Woodstock junior Seamus McDermott didn’t let that lead stand for long as he returned his second kickoff in two games for a touchdown on the next play, this one on an 82-yard return.
Guilford’s O’Brien’s running helped put Guilford ahead to stay in the second quarter. He put Guilford up 20-14.
It was 26-14 at the half as Guilford’s Hilgert completed a nine-play, 53-yard drive with a 1-yard score just eight seconds before halftime.
The Grizzlies raised their advantage to 18 on their first possession of the second half.
The Centaurs did come back to make it a 10-point game when Richardson found Lucas Theriaque (5 catches, 65 yards) with a dart for a 13-yard score with 11:38 to play.
“It was nice to see Nagle’s touchdown catch and both Lucas and Carter (Saracina) so, yeah, we have kids who can make plays. We just have to balance in the run game,” coach Sean Saucier said.
The Centaurs only rushed for 43 yards in the game, led by junior David Bunning’s 14 yards. O’Brien essentially put the game away when he scored from 13 yards out with 8:41 left. Dillon Burlakoff added a 35-yard score. Woodstock got its last points when Saracina (4 catches, 86 yards) reeled in a pass, despite being interfered with, from 26 yards out with 27 seconds to play.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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