The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Portland’s Stennett wins Division III title
Portland’s Luke Stennett fired a 3-under-par 68 at Stanley GC in New Britain to win the Division III championship by eight strokes on Stanley Golf Course in New Britain.
Portland repeated as Division III team champions. The Highlanders finished with a 313 total and won by 17 strokes over East Catholic. Portland won by 15 last year.
Stennett, a junior, shared medalist laurels last year. He was the medalist as a freshman in the 2021 Division IV championship meet — a meet Portland won by eight strokes.
Stennett won the Shoreline Championship at Stanley GC on May 25. He is a two-time GameTimeCT all-state selection.
Shoreline Conference schools North Branford and Cromwell placed third (334) and fourth (337) respectively. Coventry was fifth at 340.
East Catholic’s Shane Luca was second with a 76, followed by Jack Wise from Cromwell and Jack O’Brien from North Branford both with 77. Portland’s Quinn Lapinski and St. Paul’s Matt Downes were tied for fifth with a 78.
Division II
RHAM-Hebron boys golf coach Spencer Molkenthin said senior Holden Sullivan came to him in the 17th fairway of Tuesday’s CIAC Division II state championship meet and told him he would birdie the final two holes of his round.
“And he proceed to make back-to-back birdies,” Molkenthin said.
The closing birdies enabled Sullivan to shoot an even-par round of 72 at Fairview Farm Golf Course in Harwinton and win the event by three strokes.
“I’ve been very confident recently,” Sullivan said. “I’ve been playing well and I carried the momentum forward. I knew I had a chance today and probably the best golfer there (defending
champion Bradley Sawka from Ellington) had a rougher start. And I had a really good finish. I’m really happy.”
Hand’s Kasimir Lesnik and Tolland’s Max Baldwin tied for second with 3-over-par 75s, three strokes behind Sullivan, Lesnik’s round helped Hand win the team championship crown with a 306 total. That was 12 strokes better than Killingly at 318. RHAM, which won the Division II title last year, placed third at 319. It was Hand’s fifth state championship overall — all in Division II.
RHAM won the CCC tournament last week. Sullivan finished third.
On Tuesday, Molkenthin said Sullivan knew he trailed by 2 shots with five holes to play. Sullivan chipped in for birdie on 14, then parred 15 and 16 before the final two birdies. He also birdied the sixth hole.
“The conditions today were probably even tougher than you would see it on average. The greens were rolling tough,” Molkenthin said. “You were playing from 15-20 feet all day if you hit the green. His score of 72 speaks volumes.”
Molkenthin said Sullivan will be attending UConn in the fall and “not playing golf. He might try to walk onto the club team. He wants to concentrate on academics.”
UConn happens to be the alma mater of Sullivan’s mom, Jennifer Rizzotti, the standout point guard for the UConn women’s basketball team , helping bring the Huskies their first national championship in 1995. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and is now the president of the Connecticut Sun.
Sawka, who won the Division II championship by six strokes last year, tied for fourth this year with a 76, along with Hand’s Reece Scott and Jonathan Dolph and Killingly’s Logan Gagnon. Sawka triple-bogeyed the first hole, but did birdie three of his last four holes.
DIVISION II
(at Fairview Farm GC)
Team results: 1. Daniel Hand 306 2. Killingly 318 3. RHAM 319 4. Tolland 320 5. Stonington 342 6. Ellington 327 7. Branford 342 8. Suffield 353 9. Watertown 362 10. Norwich Tech 370 11. Bacon Academy 375 12. Foran 378 13. Sheehan 379 T14. Lyman Hall 384 T14. Jonathan Law 384 16. Seymour 395 17. Plainville 398
Individual results: 1. Holden Sullivan, RHAM 72 T2. Kasimir Lesnik, Daniel Hand 75 T2. Max Baldwin, Tolland 75 T4. Bradley Sawka, Ellington 76 T4. Jonathan Dolph, Daniel Hand 76 T4. Logan Gagnon, Killingly 76 T4. Reece Scott, Daniel Hand 76 T8. Keegan LaLonde, Branford 77 T8. Drew Dellipoali, Sheehan 77 10. James O’Connor, Ellington 78 T11. Kyle Beaudry, Daniel Hand 79 T11. Cam Seiffert, Killingly 79 T11. Jaden Archuleta, Jonathan Law 79 T11. Conner Rabbitt, RHAM 79 T15. Aidan Houghton, Tolland 80 T15. Leif Lindeland, Suffield 80 T17. Sophia Cunningham, Tolland 81 T17. Ethan Lackner, Killingly 81 T19. Ethan Torres, Stonington 82 T19. Harrison Giambattista, Killingly 82 T19. Tyler Yacawych, Seymour 82 T19. Cameron O’Connor, Stonington 82.
DIVISION III
(at Stanley GC)
Team results: 1. Portland 313 2. East Catholic 330
3. North Branford 334 4. Cromwell 337 T5. Coventry 340 T5. Canton 340 7. Holy Cross 346 8. Wheeler 350 9. Somers 351 10. Haddam-Killingworth 355
11. East Granby 357 12. Old Saybrook 363 13. Valley Regional 365 14. St. Paul Catholic 373 15. Hale Ray 375 16. East Hampton 379 17. Coginchaug 387. Individual results: 1. Luke Stennett, Portland 68
2. Shane Luca, East Catholic 76 T3. Jack Wise, Cromwell 77 T3. Jack O’Brien, North Branford 77 T5. Quinn Lapinski, Portland 78 T5. Matthew Downes, St. Paul Catholic 78 T7. Dylan Kukulka, Somers 79 T7. Tyler Signor, Wheeler 79 T7. Dillon Rozich, Cromwell 79 T10. Drew McGarrity, Holy Cross 80 T10. Joseph LaMalfa, Portland 80 12. Ryan Willey, East Windsor 81 T13. Drew Girardi, North Branford 82 T13. Robert Cappella, North Branford 82 T13. Cameron Heath, Coventry 82 T13. Albert Turman Jr, Coginchaug 82 T17. Max Slayton, Cromwell 83 T17. Artie Hayes, Canton 83 T19. Ben Vertucci, Coventry 84 T19. Adam Eskin, East Catholic 84 T19. Landon Neves, Coventry 84 T19. Jonah Hurley, Canton 84 T19. Noah Carlson, East Catholic 84.