It was another busy week for the winter sports teams. Basketball stayed unbeaten with two impressive wins, hockey had an undefeated week, wrestling finished sixth at Eagle Classic, indoor track ran well at the SCC Coaches Invitational, and swimmers got back in the pool after a long layoff.
Basketball — Connor Raines scored 32 points as the basketball team moved to 11-0 on the season beating Hamden 80-68 on Friday. It was a win-win night for the Green Knights as they raised well over $3,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in its annual charity game.
Raines scored 15 points in the decisive fourth quarter as the game was tied 45-45 after the third quarter. The Green Knights started the week with a tidy 64-49 win over Hillhouse. Notre Dame shook off a slow start falling behind 13-5 before going on a 16-0 run to take control of game. Raines had 18 to lead the Green Knights while Jaiden Kimbro and Zach Laput contributed 16 and 15 points respectively.
Wrestling — The wrestling team had a successful week winning a dual meet over New haven and then finishing sixth at the Eagle Classic over the weekend. Rob Long captured the 285-pound division championship at the Eagle Classic. Alex Barbour also reached the finals, winning his semifinal matchup by decision.
He would end up finishing second in the 182-pound division. Notre Dame had other strong performances from Christian Fillion, third in the 138-pound division; Jeff Bracale, fourth in the 113-pound division; Gianni Liguori, fifth in the 145-pound division; and Porter Schexnayder, fifth in the 106-pound division. Schexnayder also received an award for the fastest pin (26 seconds). In the New Haven dual meet, Alex Barbour won two matches as the Green Knights stayed undefeated in SCC dual matches beating the New Haven coop team 60-18. Luis Stephenson, Gianni Liguori, Jackson Paulishen, and Kevin Sevigny all won against New Haven.
Indoor Track — Carlos Aurora’s third-place finish in the 55-meter dash helped the Notre Dame indoor track team to a 24th-place showing at the SCC Coaches Invitational on Saturday, January 19 at the New Haven Athletic Center. Aurora ran in a time of 6.79 seconds. The Green Knights also got points from Johan Klein-Robbenhaar in the shot put. He finished seventh with a throw of 44-06.25, easily outdistancing his seed throw of 41-06. Other top 20 finishers for Coach Xavier’s squad were Jason Sawicki and Jared Russo in the 55-meter hurdles. Sawicki ran 14th in a time of 8.59 while Russo placed 20th in 8.73 seconds. Max Bothwell cleared 11-feet in the pole vault to finish 18th.
Hockey — The Notre Dame hockey team rebounded from a tough week with a win and tie against Xavier and Bishop Fenwick from Massachusetts. John D’Errico scored with 50 seconds left in overtime to lift Notre Dame to a 2-1 win over Xavier in a game played at the Wesleyan Ice Rink on Jan. 16.
It was the third overtime win on the year for Head Coach Larry Vieira’s squad having beaten Fairfield Prep and Hamden already in extra time. Ian Hayden forced overtime with a late third-period score. This past Saturday, the Green Knights traveled to Massachusetts and skated to a 3-3 tie with Bishop Fenwick. Mike Card scored twice including the tying goal with 8:54 left in game.
Swimming — The Notre Dame swim team got four wins from Bill Hinckley but fell to the Branford/Guilford coop team, 86-80, in an SCC Meet Jan. 17 at the Walsh Intermediate School! Notre Dame won five of the 12 events but it was the depth of the Branford/Guilford team that proved to be the difference. The Green Knights won the opening event when Hinckley, Jonathan Farricielli, Sean McDermott, and Alex Ozonoff finished first in a time of 1:50.30 in the 200-yard medley relay. Hinckley then continued Notre Dame’s winning ways capturing the 50 and 100 freestyle midway through the meet. He won the 50 in 24.29 and 100 in 52.65. He then teamed with Farricielli, Gavin Kanlong, and Malachi Blatchley to win the 400 freestyle relay in the last event of the meet.
You can get all the latest athletic news, scores, and more by following @NDWHAthletics on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Periscope while frieNDing the @NDWHAthletics Facebook group.