Winners
Will Colebourn, 12, left, and older brother Jack Colebourn, 16, each won three events at the Riptides swim meet July 5 in Monson, Mass. Will won the 50 and 100 freestyle races along with the 50 backstroke. Jack won the 200 Individual Medley, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke races. Isabella Congdon, 7, also won the 50 freestyle for the Hale YMCA Riptides swim team, according to Head Coach Brian Reilly. Courtesy photo.
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PUTNAM — It’s been no secret heading into this upcoming season that the boys’ prep basketball team from Putnam Science Academy was going to look different. With Demarr Langford transferring to Brewster Academy and nine Division I players moving on to college, the Mustangs are faced with the task of finding a handful of guys to not only replace the talent that left but also to blend into the PSA system. After adding Terrell Ard Jr, Melvyn Ebonkoli and Johnnie Williams, PSA looks to be on the right track.
The Mustangs would keep the momentum going by adding D’Maurian Williams.
Williams, a 6-foot, 4-inch combo-guard from Avondale, Ariz. will escape the heat and make his way up to New England this fall to play for Putnam Science Academy as a Post-Grad following his decision to reclassify into the 2020 class.
Williams has been labeled “tough” by several scouts and “has ability to score from all 3 levels on the floor.” Williams played for Westview High School in Arizona was showcased his scoring ability becoming the all-time leading scorer with 1,519 career points and holding 6 of the top 9 single game scoring records at Westview.
It’s not only his scoring that separates Williams from the pack. Williams won 58 games over his last three seasons and averaged 21 points per game his senior year. The combo-guard wasn’t done as he entered the summer a part of the 17u Spring team, Factory Basketball. With just a 6-man rotation, Williams and his team went 23-6 and won their last 11 games in a row including the Arizona Club Basketball League Championship.
In addition to the winning record, Williams dominated the Spring circuit breaking records for most points in a game with 41 and most assists in a game with 12. Williams set the record with the 41 points in the Arizona Club Basketball Championship game in an 89-56 win over the Salt Lake Rebels. He also led the league in steals (25), assists (53), and 3-point field goal percentage shooting just under 50 percent at 47.4 percent. Williams currently holds offers from: Monmouth, Idaho State, Portland State and Montana.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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THOMPSON — Mikey Flynn is chasing his first checkered flag in Thompson’s SK Light Modified® division, and he is getting closer each time he hits the track.
The Hampden, Mass., driver is just 17-years-old, and started his racing career behind the wheel of a snowmobile before moving into auto racing. Since then, running in the open-wheel modifieds might have been his ultimate goal, but he spent his time in multiple different divisions before getting to this point.
“With Stafford (Motor Speedway) only 15 minutes away from home, I bought a Wild Kart and won a lot of races in the karting and championships. We even ran at Pomfret (Speedway), before running Legends Cars, Late Models and Sportsman Modifieds at Monadnock Speedway.”
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park teams have a chance to tune on their rides during a short break from NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action. Racing returns to the NASCAR oval July 28, where all five of the NWAAS divisions will compete, along with the second round of the Street Series for Lock City Drift on the road course outside of the frontstretch grandstands.
Flynn is one of the drivers in Thompson’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions who doesn’t have a family with a background behind the wheel. “No one in my family actually raced before me, but my mom was a race fan who went to Riverside Park Speedway and Stafford a lot,” Flynn said. “My grandparents would take her to the track every week.”
Fast-forward to where he is sitting now, all his success in multiple divisions is paying off for him this season at Thompson. Flynn sits second in Thompson’s championship standings, 47 points from the top with four top-10 finishes in the first four races of the season. His worst finish is sixth (twice), and last time on the track, Flynn was up to second, before having to take his car to the rear of the field. But charging back up through the pack and finishing sixth showed the speed under the hood.
Flynn competes in a SPAFCO chassis, a chassis builder that has been successful at Thompson’s high-banked oval for many years.
For now, Flynn has a couple of things he would like to accomplish in the final six Whelen All-American Series races of the season. He would like to capture his first win, contend for the Thompson championship, and stay in the mix in the battle for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division III national championship. While running both tracks, Flynn is currently third in the national standings, 17 points back.
“I was curious and when I looked at those standings it definitely took me by surprise,” Flynn said. “We are going to go for it. My parents are a huge help in supporting me and helping me whenever I need it, and I can’t thank my sponsors enough.”
For those fans who have been keeping a close eye on Flynn, the team is also building a modified they hope to run in the SK Modified division at Stafford, and hopefully the Sunoco Modified division at Thompson in the future.
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PUTNAM — June 10 Terrell Ard Jr announced he would be attending Putnam Science Academy for the 2019-2020 season. The 6-foot, 7-inch wing can stretch the floor and play multiple positions, something that caught the coaching staff of the Mustangs eyes.
Now Ard Jr is catching dozens of Division 1 coaches’ eyes with his play this summer for his AAU team the Georgia Canes.
Since his announcement on Twitter, Ard Jr has collected offers from: Hofstra, Mercer, Morehead State and UMass while being contacted by several high major schools including: Providence, Purdue, Ole Miss, USF, Clemson, Pittsburgh and Texas A&M all while having yet to play a game in a Mustang uniform. Along with earning Division 1 offers, Ard spent last week going on visits notably to Tennessee and Clemson early in the week, with another visit for Texas A&M planned for later in the week.
As the summer heats up so will the schedule for Terrell as he and the Canes will play in a few tournaments during July before he prepares to pack up and head to Putnam Science Academy in August. Ard joins a revamped roster for the Mustangs who bring back Post-Grads Hassan Diarra and Marty Silvera from last year’s team while adding size in stretch forward Johnnie Williams and forward Melvyn Ebonkoli with more to be named later this summer.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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