Stonington's Rhys Hammond captures New England title in 1,000-meter race
Senior breaks own mark and moves up to No. 3 in the national rankings
Boston — Stonington's Rhys Hammond captured the boys' 1,000-meter race at the New England indoor track and field championships on Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.
Hammond, a senior, finished in two minutes, 28.12 seconds, edging Shane Grant of Walpole (Mass), who was second in 2:28.38. It was a personal best, broke his own school record and improved his national ranking to third.
The Bears' Chase Flynn added a 14th in the 600 in 1:25.49.
Two other Eastern Connecticut Conference athletes joined Hammond by earning All-New England honors as Windham's Enrique Lopez Garcia finished sixth in the boys' 55 hurdles (7.64) and Bacon Academy's Natalie Rolon-Issa placed sixth in the girls' shot put (39 feet, 8.75 inches).
Norwich Free Academy's Paige Martin, the State Open pole vault champion, did not compete. Pole vault is not part of the New England competition.
Women's basketball
• Abby Stone of Old Lyme scored 29 points and had 13 rebounds, leading Avery Point to a 74-59 win over Bunker Hill Community College in the NJCAA Region 21 tournament semifinals.
The Pointers play at No. 2 Massasoit in the final on Sunday at noon. Rebekah Sanders of Quaker Hill had 13 points and 18 rebounds, Sarah Wisniewski scored 10, Preston's Carsen Keith had nine points and 10 rebounds and Stone had eight assists and five steals for the Pointers (19-8).
Men's basketball
• Calvin Cheek's 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left helped top-seeded New England College overcome a 16-point deficit with 10:04 to play and beat No. 2 Mitchell College 92-90 in the championship game of the New England Collegiate Conference tournament. NEC (21-6) earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament.
Hasani Williams had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Mariners, who finish 12-15, while Matt Finke had 19 points and made all five 3-point attempts. Both are seniors. Leonard Williams added 14 points and six assists for Mitchell while New London's Jalen Benson finished with 12 points and Malik Chase had 10.
• Community College of Rhode Island pulled away late for a 74-62 win over Avery Point in the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 21 tournament. CCRI scored 10 of the game's last 12 points. Cyrus Sprague had 14 points, Waterford's Trevor Yeomans scored 13 and Tyler Zegray had 13 points and six rebounds for the Pointers (16-14).
College wrestling
• Coast Guard Academy advanced five wrestlers into Sunday's semifinals at the NCAA Division III Northeast
Regional tournament in Providence. Phillip Rogers (165 pounds), AJ Aeberli (174), Paul Detwiler (184), Jon Wagner (194) and Patrick Irwin (heavyweight) won two matches apiece on the opening day as the Bears sit in third place in the team standings.
The top three finishers in each weight class will qualify for the national tournament.
A pair of freshmen, Caden Mareno (133) and Montville's Noah Caskey (141) are still alive in the consolation bracket and need three wins apiece on Sunday to place third. Caskey was 2-1, his lone loss coming to third-seeded Max Temple of Castleton in overtime, 3-1.
Men's hockey
• Top seed and 12th ranked Williams beat No. 8 Connecticut College 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament. Matt Creamer and Colin Stevens scored goals and
Anthony Quatieri and Paul Capozzi had assists for Conn, which ends the season at 11-12-2.
Women's lacrosse
• Clara Bisson had four goals, three assists and seven draw controls as Conn College opened its season with a 17-9 win over Coast Guard. Kelly Wolin also scored four goals for the Camels while Emily Yorns and Hannah Lombard added three goals apiece. Maddie Rizzuto had three goals and one assist for the Bears (21) while Etta Davis and Haley Howard each scored twice.
Men's lacrosse
• Jade Shields have five goals and an assist as Mitchell defeated Mass. College of Liberal Art 18-6. Ethan LePain added four goals and two assists for the Mariners (1-2) while James Giovanniello and Tyler McManus scored three goals apiece.
• Cross Ferrara scored six goals as top-ranked Salisbury defeated
Coast Guard 22-8. Freshman Caleb Holdridge of Waterford scored three goals for the Bears (2-2) while Riley McNulty and Will Iorio added two goals apiece. Salisbury is 4-0.
• Jack Rutter and Sean Smith scored five goals apiece as Conn College opened it season with an 18-12 victory over Roger Williams. Rutter added three assists while Toby Almeida was 24-for-30 on faceoffs and goalie Colin Smith made 10 saves.
Men's indoor track
• Coast Guard senior Ben Zarlago broke his own school record and won the weight throw (63 feet, 1.25 inches) at the New England Division III Championships at Springfield, Mass. Junior Josiah Davis added a win in the 800-meter race for the Bears (1:53.58), who finished eighth with 39 points. Matt Kerst added a sixth in the 600 (1:23.19).
Women's indoor track
• Coast Guard finished eighth in the New England Division III Championships at Middlebury with 38 points behind junior Maeve Roach, who won the 600-meter final in 1:36.61, a school record. Freshman Michelle Kwafo also broke two school records, placing second in the 60 (7.82) and fourth in the 60 hurdles (9.10). Senior Adora Lawrence added a third in the 400 (58.19), Leilani Salang was seventh in the weight throw (50 feet, 6.75 inches) and CGA finished eighth in two relays — the 4x400 team of Anna Beck, Kevilyn Frazier, Lawrence, and Hannah Jamison (4:06.21) and the 4x800 team of Taylor Winters, Alexandra Murphy, Roach and Olivia Suski(9:57.63). Coast Guard's 4x200-meter relay team broke the school record Friday as Kwafo, Beck, Frazier and Lawrence place fourth in 1:45.54.
College softball
• Mitchell opened its season by splitting a pair of games in Clermont, Fla. The Mariners beat Cabrini 6-5 before losing to Franklin 8-0. Kacee Hirst's two-run single in the seventh gave Mitchell a walk-off win in the first game for coach Erin Miller, the former Waterford standout. Hirst was also the winning pitcher against Cabrini.