New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Mohegan Sun to host New England title meet
The New England high school golf championship meet will be held at the Mohegan Sun Golf in Baltic on Nov. 1.
An agreement was finalized last week, according to Donn Friedmann, executive director of the Council of New England Secondary Schools Principals’ Association.
The championship was held at Bretwood GC in Keene, New Hampshire for 24 years during the spring. It wasn’t held in either 2020 or this past spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(Bretwood) was quite nice to us. The council voted two years ago to move (the championship) to the fall this year,” Friedmann said.
Friedmann said they took in many suggestions to move the championship further south in New England to avoid frost delays — or worse weather-wise — and daylight issues.
Friedmann also said it was a suggestion from Glenn Lungarini, the executive director of the CIAC, to take a look at the Mohegan Sun GC. The Sun hosts the CIAC boys and girls basketball state championship games annually.
“They were able to meet our needs,” Friedmann said about the Mohegan Sun GC. “It was refreshing to have Phil (Krick Jr., the vicepresident and general manager of the Mohegan Sun GC) say, ‘Anything we can do to promote junior golf.’ It’s something they wanted to do and all of the pieces fell into place.”
Friedmann said the agreement with the Mohegan is just this year, but he hopes things go well enough to continue the partnership. The top 12 boys and girls from each of the six New England states are eligible. Not all play golf in the fall. The Connecticut girls still play in the spring.
Only 51 state boys teams moved from the spring to the fall. Those are the only teams eligible to participate. Connecticut will send the top three finishers in both the Division I and II state championship meets on Oct. 18, plus the next six best golfers, to the New England meet.
FCIAC, SWC SWITCH CHAMPIONSHIP SITES
The FCIAC is moving its league championship meet from the Black Course at Fairchild Wheeler GC to Silver Spring CC in Ridgefield on Oct. 14.
New Canaan will be looking to defend its team title while Wilton’s Alex Elia looks to duplicate what he did last month: winning a title. Elia, a senior, captured the 52nd Borck Junior Tournament at Silver Spring.
The SWC championship meet moves from Great River GC to the Black Course at Fairchild Wheeler GC. That meet will be held on Oct. 12. Pomperaug will be looking for its third straight title. “We are very excited about the opportunity for our golfers to play there,” SWC co-commissioner Mark Berkowitz said.
CHAPPA TOURNAMENT RETURNS
Staples golf coach Peter Caligiure confirmed that the Chappa Invitational will be held at Longshore GC in Westport on Oct. 7.
Caligiure, who replaced Tom Owen as coach this season, said all of the FCIAC programs are bringing at least one team of two — it’s a best-ball of two format — and some are bringing more than one. Pomperaug, Glastonbury and Masuk are also competing.
The Chappa had been normally held on a Thursday in late May each year, but needed to move to the fall, if possible, to coincide with Staples moving its golf season to the fall.
“It was a small struggle to get this done but we are happy it’s going to happen,” Caligiure said.