Sacred Heart head track and field coach Tom Festa knew he had a good boys team coming into the spring season.
The team has plenty of talent, and it has showed in competition against fellow NVL Brass Division opponents. The Hearts beat Kennedy 90-60 during a meet Tuesday at Woodland Regional High School.
What the win did was give the Sacred heart boys the Brass Division title for the first time. Tariq Price was a triple winner for the Hearts, taking first place in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. Edward Williams had another strong day, winning the 110 and 300-meter hurdles. Joel Guzman won the 200 meters and Klajdi Cepa took first place in the discus.
Sacred Heart edged past Crosby (76-74) and Waterbury Career Academy (76-65) in their first meet of the season on April 18 at Crosby High School. The Hearts lost 88-62 to Holy Cross on May 2 at Wolcott High School, but that proved to be the lone defeat within the division.
Sacred Heart took down Wilby in a May 10 meet at Torrington, then downed Kennedy on Tuesday to wrap up the Brass Division title.
Festa expressed his excitement in a tweet on Tuesday.
“SHHS BOYS TRACK BRASS DIVISION CHAMPIONS,” Festa wrote.
Next up for Sacred Heart is the NVL championship meet on May 23. The Hearts plan on challenging for a Class S state championship, and that meet takes place on June 1 at Willow Brook Park in New Britain.
BASEBALL
Top-seeded Holy Cross outlasted No. 8 Watertown 2-1 at home Saturday in a NVL Tournament quarterfinal. Fran Phelan got the better end of the pitchers’ duel as he gave up a single run while scattering seven hits. Phelan struck out four and didn’t issue a walk. Matt Bonvicini and Tim Zupkus each drove in a run for the Crusaders, who play No. 4 Naugatuck on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Municipal Stadium in the NVL semifinal round.
Naugatuck beat No. 5 Sacred Heart 7-2 in another quarterfinal on Saturday. The Hearts trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, but a five-run outburst in that frame by the Greyhounds put the game away. Jimmy Edwards took the loss on the mound. On offense, Bryan Fernandez had a two-run double in the top of the seventh inning. Next up for Sacred Heart is the Class S state tournament.
SOFTBALL
Second-seeded Holy Cross edged out No. 7 Wolcott 1-0 in a NVL Tournament quarterfinal Saturday. Sarah Lawton surrendered a single hit in a complete-game effort. Lawton struck out 15 and didn’t allow a walk. Alexandra Lombardo drove in the game’s lone run, which was scored by Allie Brown in the fourth inning. The Crusaders play No. 3 Torrington in a NVL semifinal Monday at 4 p.m. at Naugatuck High School.
Sacred Heart, No. 8, was upended 19-1 by top-seeded Seymour in another NVL quarterfinal. Kayleigh O’Donnell drove in the lone Heart run. Next up is the Class S state tournament.
BASKETBALL
Stevenson makes his decision: Sacred Heart senior Courie Stevenson will be a Colonial.
Stevenson will play basketball at Western Connecticut State University. Stevenson announced his decision on Twitter on Wednesday.
GIRLS TENNIS
Sacred Heart reached the semifinal round of the NVL team tournament, but was defeated Wednesday by eventual league champion Watertown 5-2. The NVL individual tournament is next for the Hearts.
BOYS GOLF
Shea Zaccagnini was medalist at 3-over-par 39 on Wednesday in a 171-232 Sacred Heart win over Kaynor Tech at East Mountain. On Friday, the Hearts put up their lowest score of the season as a team in a 164-266 win over Kennedy at East Mountain. Jack Vaillancourt was medalist at 40, but he had company in the low 40s with James Gruszkas (41), Zaccagnini (41) and John Keane (42) all putting up solid numbers.
Holy Cross continued its undefeated season with wins over Woodland and Sacred Heart. The Crusaders beat the Hearts 175-182 at East Mountain on Tuesday behind a 41 from Vincent Graziano. Chris Ford had a 42, Mike Mencio 44 and Alex Ford 48.
