Swimming
Wilton YMCA Wahoos Finish Fourth Overall; Men’s Team Captures 2nd Place at 2016 YMCA National Championships
Twenty-two local athletes scored big for the Wilton YMCA Wahoos Swim Team at the biggest stage in YMCA swimming–the 2016 Short Course YMCA National Championships, held April 4-9 in Greensboro, NC. The Wahoos Men’s Team, comprised of 13 athletes, scored 311 points to finish in 2nd place. The Women’s Team scored 125 points to finish in 12th place. Overall, the Wahoos finished in fourth place among YMCA swim teams nationwide. More than 1,400 swimmers from across the U.S. participated in the prestigious meet.
Swimmers Ky-Lee Perry of Norwalk and Hugo Sykes of Weston both captured gold medals in the 50Y Freestyle event. Perry also won gold in the 100Y Freestyle event and will be headed to Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska in late June. Perry has Olympic qualifying times in both the 50M and 100M Freestyle events and will compete for a spot on Team USA heading to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August.
Another outstanding performance in Greensboro came from Wilton High School junior Robby Giller who scored points in all four of his individual races. Local athletes participating in the meet included Wilton’s Will Suchy, Natalie Larsen, Jake Kealy, Emma Kauffeld, Emma Holmquist, Robby Giller, and Katrina Trentos; Weston’s Sykes, Siera Daly, and Kiersten Daly; Norwalk’s Perry and Dakota Meyer; Darien’s Erik Ryan and James Mostofi; Ridgefield’s Lexo Walker, Jack Lynch, and Kevin Santoro; Luca DiCapua of Pound Ridge; Alex Ignatov and Catherine Buroker, both from Trumbull; Wesley Fales of New Canaan; and Noah Mascoll-Gomes of Astoria, Queens. The team is coached by Wilton Y Wahoos head coach Randy Erlenbach.
Wilton Teen Holds Top National Spot in Age Group for 50M Butterfly
The 2015-16 season has been a good one for Wilton Y Wahoo swimmer Rory Hess. He currently holds the fastest time in the nation for the YMCA 12-and-under boys in the 50M butterfly. He has also notched the 13th fastest time for 12-and-under boys 200M butterfly, according to USA Swimming rankings.
Hess’ achievements this season also include setting five Wahoo team records and becoming the highest Wahoo point-scorer at the Connecticut Age Group Championships.
Baseball
Wilton Foursome Leads Stamford Fury to 12U Baseball Tournament Championship
The Stamford Fury 12U baseball team, including long-time Wilton friends and Little League teammates Everett Andersen, Anthony Passaniti, Sam Strazza and Ryan van Heyst, brought home the championship of the Diamonds for Mom 12U 50/70 baseball tournament held this past weekend at Sportsplex in North Branford, CT.
The Fury was just 1-1 in the preliminary round on Saturday, including a dominant pitching performance by van Heyst in the victory, giving the team a difficult path against higher seeded teams to the final. However, the Fury were up to the task, spanking the Middlebury Mud Dogs 10-2 and avenging a first round defeat in dominating fashion, 13-4 over the CT Blue Jays, setting up the finale versus the Mystic Clippers.
The Wilton boys collectively had a terrific weekend, batting a combined .442 with 11 RBI while saving their best for the title game. Andersen got the Fury on the scoreboard against Mystic with an RBI single in the first, and in the fourth Strazza’s RBI single and Passaniti’s two RBI double broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Fury the lead for good.
Starting pitcher Andersen limited the Clippers to two runs through five innings, fanning seven while walking none, with help from van Heyst who anchored the defense at shortstop. After the first two runners in the sixth reached on errors, Passaniti came out of the bullpen to shut the door and preserve the 6-4 victory.
Soccer
Girls U10 Blue Fight Fierce for Mother’s Day 6-6 Tie with Darien
The GU-10 Blue Team was ready to take on Darien from the first blow of the whistle. Despite Darien’s repeated attempts to score, Wilton’s goalie Jane Hughes was a force to be reckoned with, and her line of defense—including Morgan Breaker, Ashleigh Masterson and Siena McDermott—were solid in blocking their opposing team’s numerous attempts at goal.
Wilton saw an opportunity to take the lead when Brooke Aleksiejczyk kicked a perfectly placed ball in Addison Pattillo’s line. Pattillo wasted no time charging the net and scoring the first goal. Wilton’s attempts to score continued and the perseverance shown by Lindsay Morin and Josie Goldman paid off with Wilton’s second and third goals finishing the first half 3-1.
Darien came back ready to fight and quickly scored. Alexa Furst, Molly Kaeyer and Fiona Gibbons, covered a lot of ground and their solid passing and fast footwork was met with tough resistance. Darien was determined. Now tied at 3-3, the back and forth goals by each team made for an exciting match. Isabel Barbieri, Grace O’Connor and Masterson worked solidly as a team with perfect assists enabling Masterson to score the fourth and Barbieri the last two goals.
The game ended in a 6-6 tie, but as the girls presented their mothers with beautiful roses for Mother’s Day, there was abundant pride by the coach and the parents in the solid performance displayed by the team.