The basketball and hockey teams have climbed in the statewide polls while indoor track, wrestling, and swimming were all in action as we near the midway portion of the winter sports season.
Basketball — Notre Dame basketball won a pair of games over Sheehan and Hamden to improve to 7-0. They climbed to #4 in the GameTimeCT.com statewide poll. Senior Zach Laput keeps proving why he is one of the states top players as he had 28 points, including a big three-pointer, to lead ND. Senior Amadou Kamara broke a 61-61 tie with a huge three-point basket as ND used a strong last four minutes to beat hamden. Earlier in the week, Laput had 15 points and 15 rebounds in an 80-62 win over Sheehan. Kamara tallied a game-high 23 points to go along with six assists and six rebounds against Sheehen.
Hockey — The hockey team ascended to the top spot in the GameTimeCT.com rankings then split its weekly action. Using a two-goal third period, Notre Dame beat Greenwich, 3-1, on Wednesday, Jan.8. Juniors Ryan Ahern and Bobby Allan tallied the third-period goals. Ahern then scored both of Notre Dame’s goals against Darien on Saturday, but the Green Knights fell 5-2 suffering their first loss of the season.
Indoor Track — Senior Jared Russo and junior Max Bothwell shined at the Yale Invitational on Friday. Russo ran the 55-meter hurdles in 8.09 seconds to win his heat. His time was sixth fastest among all the competitors. Bothwell cleared 13 feet in the pole vault to place fifth among all participants. The kiddie Green Knights had top-10 finishers in eight events at the SCC Novice Meet last Thursday. Freshman Malcolm Benton took first place in the 55-meter dash in a time of 7.08 seconds.
Swimming — Senior Dylan Schwartz won the diving event, competing against his hometown friends, but the Green Knights fell to a strong Milford team 99-83 on Thursday. Schwartz won the diving by scoring 136.65 points for his six dives. His fellow diver, Hunter Stenquist placed second totaling 119.85 points. The other two Notre Dame first place finishes came from the 4×200 freestyle relay team and Sean McDermott in the 100 breaststroke.
Wrestling — Jackson Paulishen won all four of his matches to lead the Green Knight grapplers to a split of its dual matches at the East Haven Invitational on Saturday. Overall, Notre Dame placed fifth as a team. Paulishen was the only Green Knight to win all four of his matches on the day. He won twice by pin over Platt and Stratford opponents, with the other two wins coming via 3-1 decision over Waterford’s Jeremiah Hashberger and a 7-2 decision over East Haven’s Gunner Horton. Fellow senior Luis Stephenson as well as freshman Alex Labadia won three of their four matches. Earlier in the week, Notre Dame fell to Morgan, claiming only three of the 12 matches. The three Green Knights, who emerged victorious, included Ethan Weaver, Luis Stephenson, and Jackson Paulishen. All three pinned their opponents.
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