GOOD Morning Wilton features Wilton High School sports photos taken by Gretchen McMahon Photography, who shot all images unless otherwise noted. The WHS Athletic Department has provided results and updates, including write-ups from coaches, teams and boosters. Scores and results are also compiled from CIAC and FCIAC when available. Additional materials of interest can be submitted to GMW for consideration submitted via email.
The following report contains updates from May 6-12).
Message from the Athletic Director
Hello Warrior Nation!
We have one full week to go in the regular season and every spring sport has qualified for the CIAC tournament. As this week progresses we will see who qualifies for the FCIAC tournament. Stay tuned for that information.
First, I would like to acknowledge our boys tennis coach, Chris Damone. Chris was recognized last week by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association, as the 2021 Tennis Coach of the year. He has a total career record of 270-124. He has two state runner-up finishes in Class L, one while at Ridgefield in 2001 and last year for Wilton in 2021.
He was named USPTA/New England Coach of the Year in 1997 and was named the Coach of the Year for the FCIAC in 2021. Coach Damone has been an exemplary coach for Wilton since 2010, it shows in his demeanor and dedication to our athletes. Congratulations Coach Damone!
On Tuesday, May 10 we had our annual Senior Athletic Awards Night, where our booster clubs and other organizations presented many of our senior athletes with awards and scholarships. Here is the recap of our award winners:
AWARDS:
FCIAC “Life Teammate Award” — Class Act Committee
- Isabel DiNanno (11)
- Quin Silva (10)
CIAC Scholar-Athletes
- Amelia Hughes
- Elijah Ackerman
T.J. Pramer Memorial Scholarship Award
- Benjamin Calabrese
Lacrosse Association Outstanding Athletes
- Amelia Hughes
- Grant Masterson
- Jake Sommer
Fairfield County Women’s Tennis League
- Olivia Newfield
Girls’ Tennis Association Award
- Anne Caldwell
Boys’ Tennis Association Award
- Samuel Gioffre
- Dylan Koziol
Field Hockey Achievement Award
- Katheryn Stein
Volleyball Boosters Awards
- Ruth Briglin
- Cecilia Aversano
- Gillian Lipsky
Swimming and Diving Outstanding Senior Athlete
- Carolyn Hendricks
- Vishnu Duriseti
Basketball Boosters’ Club Award — Bowman Cup
- Catherine Dinneen
- Kevin Hyzy
- Parker Woodring
Gymnastics Booster Club Award
- Alexandra Breakey
- Kaylie Berghaus
Ski Team Scholarship Award
- Sophia Polito
- Elijah Ackerman
Bill Terry Memorial Softball Award
- Brooke Bohac
WBSA Booster Awards
- WBSA Scholar-Athlete — Christopher McCann
- Bill Terry Scholarship — Christopher Calderone
- Andrew Dunn Scholarship — David Cox
Sam Hingston Wrestling Award
- Quinton Kiss
Wilton Soccer Achievement Award
- Abigail Kyle
- Christian Furst
Track Association Scholar-Athletes
- Malcolm McCormick
- Garrett Moe
- Druhv Rokkam
- Sydney Reuter
PFC. Nicholas A. Madaras Memorial Scholarship
- Abigail Kyle
- Christian Furst
- Andrew Zizzadoro
Arthur J. Wall, Jr Scholarship
- Isabella Anjeklovic
- Elijah Ackerman
Melissa Nickel Award
- Catherine Adams
Lt. John G. Corr Memorial Scholarship
- Grant Masterson
We would also like to recognize the following four-year athletes for achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or higher and being deemed Wilton Scholar-Athletes:
Elijah Ackerman
Catherine Adams
Faizaan Ali
Isabella Andjelkovic
Cecilia Aversano
Kaylie Berghaus
Finnegan Bergin
Alexandrea Breakey
Anne Caldwell
Meghan Chapey
Elizabeth Coffey
Michael Colbert
Aislynn Conway
Halley Costello
Sohan Damle
Catherine Dineen
Jack Dodman
Abigail Dolan
Julia Elmasry
Sophie Essig
Erynn Floyd
Alexandra Giller
Alexandra Gillespie
Samuel Gioffre
Edwin Gregory
Megan Hanny
Amelia Hughes
Rubin Jha
Emily Johnson
Abigail Kyle
Mogan Lebek
Ryan Leung
Gillian Lipsky
Leah Martins
Christopher McCann
Malcolm McCormick
Garrett Moe
Abigail Morris
Emily Mrakovcic
Olivia Newfield
Sophia Polito
Rhea Raghavan
Ria Raniwala
Jacob Sommer
Michael Soojian
Gwynn Sullivan
Katherine Umphred
Faith Wang
Sean Wiseman
Go Warriors!
Message from the Athletic Department
Important dates to remember:
June 2, 6 p.m.: Incoming Freshman Sports Night — Please note the date change. In the WHS Field House.
Baseball
Wilton 15, Harding 2: Wilton scored six runs in the first inning and cruised to a 15-2 win. Will Forgione got the win, striking out eight in a complete game. Max Jarvie had two hits for Wilton. Phil Avalone had an RBI for the Warriors. Wilton raised its record to 8-6.
Wilton 10, Fairfield Ludlowe 6: Chris Calderone had three hits to lead the Warriors. Paddy Killeen and Adam Daversa had two hits for Wilton. Tim Martin got the victory pitching 5-1/3 innings. Cole Silvia got the save in relief. Wilton raised its record to 9-6.
Wilton 4, Greenwich 3: Jarvie pitched a complete game striking out five. Mike Fischetti and Calderone had triples for Wilton. Hayden Klyver scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh for the Warriors. Wilton raised its record to 10-6.
Softball
Wilton 5, Ridgefield 3 (8 innings): Jenna Soltis had two RBIs in the top of the 7th inning to tie the game, and Sadie Klyver drove in the game-winning runs with a 2-RBI triple in extra innings. Klyver also had 11 strikeouts as the winning pitcher for the Warriors.
Wilton 12, Westhill 1: Brooke Bohacs hit a 2-out grand slam in the second inning to lead the Warriors’ offense. Kat Costanzo and Avery Samai each scored three runs, and Ally Van Heyst had three stolen bases on the day. Sadie Klyver had 13 strikeouts in the win, passing 100 total strikeouts for the season.
Ludlowe 14, Wilton 0: Brooke Bohacs threw out two runners on attempted steals for the Warriors’ defense.
Boys Lacrosse
The boys varsity lacrosse team added three more victories to its record this past week.
On Saturday, May 7, the Warriors battled New Canaan and some wet weather at Dunning Stadium and came away with a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory 6-4. Sean Wiseman tied the score with 5-1/2 minutes remaining in the game with a nifty move around his man. Charlie Rath had the game-winner less than two minutes later on a low-angle shot from the right wing and Matthew Giller scored on a rebound to give the Warriors a two-goal cushion with two minutes remaining. Rath had three of the six Wilton goals. Michael Wall also tallied a goal. However, it was the strong Warrior defense led by close defender Jake Sommer and goalie Colin Lenskold that kept New Canaan’s offense in check and the score close until the Wilton offense could capitalize on its scoring chances at the end to close out the game.
On Tuesday, May 10, Wilton beat John Jay High School, a regular out-of-state opponent, 13-6. Charlie “Chuck” Johnson and Rath each had four goals to pace the Warrior offense.
Thursday evening, May 12, the Warriors extended their winning streak with a 15-1 victory over Fairfield Warde. Again, it was “Chuck” Johnson with the hot offensive hand, leading the way with 6 goals and 2 assists.
The JV boys lacrosse team lost to New Canaan 6-9. Spotting the Rams five goals in the first quarter, the Warriors were able to play tough in the second half but the deficit was too great to overcome.
The JV team beat John Jay 11-1. Playing with the same intensity as the second half of the New Canaan game, the Warriors never allowed John Jay to get into the game.
In what turned out to be a very sloppy game battling the heat, the JV team beat the Warde Mustangs 9-5.
Girls Lacrosse
The WHS girls varsity lacrosse team went undefeated this week in its four contests.
On Saturday, May 7, the Warriors took the trek to Cheshire to meet the Rams and came away with a 15-7 victory. Next, the Warriors faced Stamford where they bested the Knights 17-1. On Wednesday, May 11, the squad hosted Greenwich Academy for a scrimmage and played to an impressive 10-4 win against a very talented Gator team. Finally, the Warriors celebrated their 13 Seniors on Thursday, May 12, facing Fairfield Warde. All the Seniors shined and made a ton of memories coming through with an 18-6 win. The girls face St. Joe’s on Tuesday, May 17 at 6 p.m. at Lilly Field before starting the FCIAC Tournament next week.
This week JV came out undefeated. On Saturday, May 7, in an away game against Cheshire, the JV Warriors came out with a big 10-2 win. This was the first game their team successfully ran a zone defense. On Tuesday, May 10, the JV and freshmen came together to take on the Stamford Knights and came out with an amazing 10-1 win. On Wednesday, May 11, JV had a rematch against Greenwich Academy and tied 6-6. After an amazing long-fought game, GA got two last-minute goals to tie the game.
Boys Tennis
Warriors dropped a close one to Greenwich 3-4 on a sunny Monday, May 9. There was lots of great tennis and great battles. A great day of FCIAC tennis with close matches on every court. With the loss, Warriors fall to 10-3.
- #1 singles senior captain Dylan Koziol lost 4-6, 4-6 in a high-level match. Spectators saw some amazing groundstrokes and tremendous serves from both players.
- #2 Akhil Vallabhajosula came out swinging winning 6-3, 6-3. A great all-around game today with lots of winners, playing some great tennis of late.
- #3 Jackson Carbonier started off slow but prevailed in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. He showed great mental toughness battling back and figuring out his opponent.
- #4 Owen Dyer lost 5-7, 2-6 in a two-hour match; lots of long points that showed both players all court games.
- #1 doubles senior captain Sam Gioffre and Junior Alex Reyes played some sensational tennis winning 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. Reyes served extremely well setting up Gioffre who was all over the net putting away ball after ball.
- #2 doubles Nicolai Naydenov and Jonathan Yerrall lost in a close match 6-7 (0), 4-6. From point one, it was a dogfight. Lots of exciting net play and tremendous defense kept the Warriors close.
- #3 doubles Harry Becraft and Peter Reyes lost 6-7 (6), 4-6 in another close match. Some good serving from both players and solid netplay.
In a rematch of last year’s Class L final, Wilton fell to Darien 3-4. The team is playing some of its best tennis of late, peaking at just the right time for the postseason.
- #1 singles Koziol was worn down losing 1-6, 3-6. His opponent was too consistent.
- #2 singles Carbonier lost 0-6, 0-6; lots of close games, just didn’t capitalize on opportunities.
- #3 singles Dyer battled before falling 4-6,1-6; some good baseline battles.
- #4 singles Alex Reyes played some solid tennis winning 6-3, 6-2. Using a variety of shots, he was too much for his opponent.
- #1 doubles Gioffre and Vallabhajosula lost 4-6, 2-6; some exciting points, with both teams fighting for the net
- #2 doubles Naydenov and Yerrall took care of business winning 6-2, 6-2 with great defense and stellar serves.
- #3 doubles Becraft and Peter Reyes played some of their best tennis yet, winning 6-4, 6-2; constantly moving at the net caused problems for their opponents.
Warriors sweep St Joseph 7-0. After two losses in a row, the Warriors got back on track. The team improved to 11-4.
- #1-4 singles Koziol, Vallabhajosula, Rubin Jha and Lajos Csery didn’t drop a game, all winning 6-0, 6-0
- #1 doubles Gioffre and Alex Reyes also won 6-0, 6-0
- #2 doubles Naydenov and Yerrall rolled 6-1, 6-2
- #3 doubles Pamir Canan and Saaransh Khanderwal took out their opponents 6-1, 6-0
Girls Tennis
Varsity girls tennis had a busy week this week with three complete matches.
- On Monday, May 9, Wilton beat Greenwich 5-2.
- On Tuesday, May 10, they took on the Blue Wave of Darien. Darien got the win 1-6.
- On Wednesday, May 11, the Warriors traveled to Bridgeport Central to take the win 7-0.
- The Warriors traveled to St. Joe’s and walked away with a close win 4-3.
Girls Golf
Overall Record: 8-3
FCIAC Record: 5-1
This Week’s Record: 2-0 (2-0 FCIAC)
State Rank: 10th (Division I)
A new statistic has been added to this week’s newsletter-state rank. The Warriors’ two wins, especially their season-best 172 on Tuesday, May 10, propelled Wilton past Newtown to take over the 10th spot in Division 1. There are four matches remaining for the Warriors in the regular season — four opportunities to not only improve their record, but to lower their team average. Doing so will not only help them maintain their top 10 ranking but also give them the opportunity to continue to climb the rankings — the CIAC ranking system uses the 10 best scores to calculate the team average, which in Wilton’s case, the five worst rounds will be ‘thrown away’ and not calculated in their average. Further details on the two matches from this past week are below:
Monday, May 9: Win vs. St. Joe’s (187-211, +24 strokes, FCIAC): The worst wind conditions of the season did not hinder the Warriors from keeping their FCIAC win streak rolling. Senior captain Samhita Kakarlapudi, freshman Saanvi Kakarlapudi, junior Ella Christ, junior Keerthi Vijay and sophomore Maddie Levi ground around Silvermine with winds gusting up to 28 mph during the match. Saanvi Kakarlapudi was the medalist on the day, shooting a 40.
Tuesday, May 10: Win vs. Fairfield Warde (172-207, + 35 strokes, FCIAC): Spring finally arrived on Tuesday, and it was no coincidence that the Warriors submitted their best team score of the season, 172, beating their previous best by six strokes (scored against Danbury). All of the Warriors made major contributions in order to help the team score their best collective round of the season — Samhita Kakarlapudi, Saanvi Kakarlapudi, Christ, Vijay, Levi and junior Olivia Mannino. It should be noted that Vijay scored a new personal best (41) and was the medalist (co-medalist with Samhita Kakarlapudi) for the first time in her career.
Boys/Girls Track & Field
The Wilton track teams closed out their long home meet stretch last week with meets against Fairfield Warde and Darien. Results of the Darien meet were not final as of press time, but versus Warde, the girls prevailed 92-53 while the boys lost a heartbreaker, 72-73.
Individual winners for the girls were Lia Lombardi (800 and 1,600), Emily Mrakovcic (400 and 3,200), Caroline Luce (discus), Amelia Fleming (javelin), Leah Martins (long and triple jump), and Vivien Latt (pole vault).
Boys winners included Ryan Johnson (long and high jump), Garret Moe (triple jump), Todd Woodring (discus and javelin, the latter in a 20-foot-plus personal best), Andy Campbell (110 hurdles), Malcolm McCormick (800), and Michael Colbert (200).
