West Hartford High School Sports Round-Up

This week’s scores from Conard and Hall high school varsity competition, Oct. 8 – Oct. 14, 2014, plus Oct. 15 cross country meets.

Compiled by Ronni Newton

Hall boys take second place in the Wickham Invitational. From left: Ben Gross, Grant O’Connor, John Cassidy, Max Aronow, Ari Klau, Devon Aldave, and Jonathan Kaback. Photo credit: Walk Aldave

It seems as if fall sports just began, but in sports other than football, teams are down to the last week or two of regular-season competition.

Cross country has already headed into the championship part of its season, but the Hall boys had one last invitational to challenge the team before this week’s CCC meet. In the highly competitive Wickham Invitational, the Hall boys took home a second place trophy. Thanks to Hall parent Walt Aldave for providing the following details: Hall was led by Ari Klau who won the race in 15:58 and Grant O’Connor who finished 9th in a time of16:40. Devon Aldave was Hall’s third runner finishing in 16th place in a time of 17:09, followed by Jonathan Kaback in 21st (17:11), Ben Gross in 25th (17:16), John Cassidy in 46th (17:54), and Max Aronow in 56th (18:03).  Staples HS came in first with 66 pts and Hall came in 2nd with 72 points.

Ari Klau won the CCC championship meet on Oct. 15. Photo credit: Linda Geisler

The CCC Cross Country Championships were held on Wednesday, and would ordinarily be covered in next week’s round-up, but we’re going to provide that news while it’s fresh.

On a steamy non-Octoberlike afternoon, the Hall boys cross country team won the championships, led by top runner Ari Klau who took first place in 15:44.39. The Conard boys took 5th place, with Alec Ferguson-Hull as their top runner in 17:27.29.

Hall head cross country coach Tom Butterfield is having the fantastic final season he predicted to top off an extraordinary coaching career. He will retire at the end of this season, and assistant coach Jeff Billing will take over the program. To learn more about Butterfield’s career, read this story by Colin McDonough of the Hartford Courant.

In the girls CCC meet, Conard took third place and won the CCC West division. Gwen Geisler was the first Chieftain finisher in 7th place with a time of 20:25. Hall finished in 10th place, and Libby Salzman-Fisk was the Warriors’ top finisher in 14th place (21:01).

Gwen Geisler of Conard finshed in 7th place in the CCC championships. Photo credit: Libby Geisler

Hall’s football team remains undefeated, but will travel to Southington to meet the also-undefeated Blue Knights, currently the no. 1 team in the state. Game time is 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17. The 2-2 Conard Chieftains host Manchester Friday night at 7 p.m.

The Hall boys soccer team will finish the regular season with all away games, and held senior night before the team’s last home game on Oct. 9, following by a resounding 7-0 victory over Newington. We say “regular season” because at 10-2-1 with just three games left, the Hall boys will certainly see some post-season competition on their home turf.

Hall head boys soccer coach Zeke Seguro (left) with captains Chris Murphy, Jake Bauman, and Jack Mones on senior night. Photo credit: Kris Monnes

The Conard boys soccer team lost to Farmington 0-1 on Tuesday, but it was a game that many think Conard should have tied or could have won. A goal on a direct kick by Farmington with less than 5 minutes of play remaining gave Farmington the lead, but not without a bit of controversy about whether or not Farmington needed to wait for a second whistle (they didn’t wait, and Conard wasn’t prepared) before taking the kick. Heading into a tough stretch of regular season games to close out the season, Conard coach Adam Linker doesn’t want to focus on that goal but instead wants to keep the team energized about playing at the highest possible level. “It’s a tough loss for us in that we had our opportunities to put them away and we didn’t capitalize on our chances,” he said. “I am unbelievably proud of this group – it’s one of the best groups of guys I’ve ever coached,” he said.

Scores for other sports are listed below. If you have details and/or photos from future contests, please forward them to Ronni Newton at [email protected].

Conard field hockey:

Oct. 9 vs. Windsor, won 4-0

Oct. 14 vs. Simsbury, lost 0-2

Hall field hockey:

Oct. 9 vs. Maloney, won 6-0

Oct. 10 vs. E.O. Smith, won 1-0

Oct. 14 vs. Glastonbury, lost 0-2

Conard boys soccer:

Oct. 8 vs. New Britain, won 1-0

Oct. 10 vs. Northwest Catholic, won 3-1

Oct. 14 vs. Farmington, lost 0-1

Hall boys soccer:

Oct. 8 vs. Simsbury, lost 1-3

Oct. 9 vs. Newington, won 7-0

Oct. 14 vs. Southington, won 5-2

Conard girls soccer:

Oct. 8 vs. New Britain, won 4-1

Oct. 10 vs. Northwest Catholic, lost 1-6

Hall girls soccer:

Oct. 8 vs. Simsbury, lost 0-1

Oct. 10 vs. Newington, won 7-2

Conard girls swimming and diving:

Oct. 10 vs. Newington, won 91-87

Hall girls swimming and diving:

Oct. 10 vs. Southington, won 93-82

Conard football:

Oct. 10 vs. Simsbury, won 20-14. 

Hall football:

Oct. 10 vs. East Hartford, won 49-41. 

Conard girls volleyball:

Oct. 8 vs. Northwest Catholic, won 3-2

Oct. 10 vs. Farmington, lost 0-3

Oct. 14 vs. East Hartford, won 3-2

Hall girls volleyball:

Oct. 8 vs. Newington, won 3-0

Oct. 10 vs. Southington, lost 0-3