Wright, Scinto Qualify for New England Track

When Cheshire senior Ashia Wright walked away from the finish line of the 55-meter final Saturday at New Haven Athletic Center, she looked discontented.

 She was unhappy with her performance, wasn't sure where she finished and felt it wasn't her best effort.

"Not too good," Wright said of how she felt going into the race. "I wasn't happy with the time (in the qualifying heat, 7.44). I had a good start (in the final) better than last time (in the Class LL meet), but I don't know."

Wright didn't win but she actually had done much better than she thought. She finished second in 7.32 seconds just .01 of a second behind Shelleyanne Lindo of McMahon-Norwalk to qualify for the New England Championships Friday, March 4. Wright defeated Lindo at the Class LL meet on Feb. 19 when Wright ran a 7.33.

"It's a scary meet (New Englands)," Wright said of what it would mean to her to make it.

Jake Scinto finished second in the high jump (6 feet, 4 inches) and third in the long jump (school-record 22-9 1/2) in the boys meet. and the Class LL Championship meet, both also at New Haven Athletic Center.

Scinto broke his own school record in the high jump at the SCCs with a 6-7. Bloomfield's Jamie Tobias won the Open high jump with a meet record 6-10 1/4.

Scinto was also a part of Cheshire's 1,600 sprint medley relay of Matt Brennan, Andrew Panther and Phil Caldwell who broke the school record with a 3:40.99 in a second-place finish to Danbury (3:39.35) Saturday.

Scinto and 55-meter hurdler Eric Zdanowski (seventh, 8.3) will also be competing in the New Englands at Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on Friday and Saturday.

The Cheshire boys finished fourth with 22 points in the team competition. Danbury won with 39 points. The girls were 16th (eight points) as Glastonbury won the meet with 65.

Wrestling

finished second at 135 pounds in the Class LL Championships at Trumbull High School Saturday to qualify for the State Open this weekend.

Tomlinson, a senior, lost to Ben Anderson of Trumbull 9-5 in the final. Tomlinson advanced to the championship match by pinning each of his three opponents in 1:54 or less on Saturday.

The Rams' Tim Homan placed fifth at 160 pounds. Cheshire (59.5 points) was 16th in the team competition. Xavier-Middletown won with 200 points.

Boys' Basketball

The Rams dropped a close game, in which they held the lead for three quarters, to Fairfield Prep 55-50 in an SCC interdivision game Friday at Fairfield University.

Senior captain Matt Bailey scored three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Cheshire (12-7) built a 28-24 halftime lead and held it through three quarters at 45-39. But Prep outscored the Rams 15-5 in the fourth behind Terry Tarpey (19 points). Bailey had a team-high 17 points.

On Tuesday, Nate Howard and Justin Zovas each scored 14 points in an 59-38 . Howard added 12 rebounds and four blocks.

Girls' Basketball

Cheshire fared better but still lost for the third time to Mercy-Middletown 39-27 on Saturday at West Haven High School in the quarterfinals of the SCC Tournament.

Freshman Missy Bailey scored 11 points and senior captain Julia Strobel added eight in an offense that was selective with its shots, head coach Sarah Mik said. The Rams (11-11) disrupted the Tigers usually accurate shooting, Mik added, but fell short.

Cheshire reached the quarterfinals with a at Cheshire High behind Strobel's 16 points and Bailey's 13. The Rams started the week with a 43-34 victory over Hand-Madison in their final regular season game Monday as Strobel had a double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds).

Boys' Hockey

Cheshire received five goals from different five players in its 5-2 non-conference victory over Hall/Southington co-op Saturday at Wesleyan Rink. Tyler Lima, Luke Vendetto, Owen Powers, John Cunningham and Will Devine each scored.

In addition, seniors Ryan Powers, Matt DuPont and Jason Bailin were honored as part of Saturday's Senior Day ceremony.

Earlier, Matt Muzyka (two goals, one assist) scored early in the third period to net the game winner in the Rams' 5-4 victory over Hand-Madison Thursday. Cheshire (10-4-2) fell 2-1 to Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe co-op on Monday.

Boys' Swimming

Cheshire (7-6) defeated Notre Dame-West Haven 98-82 Friday at the Wilbur Cross-New Haven pool.

The Rams' Greg Han won the 200-yard intermediate medley in 2:01.01 and Patrick Morley finished third (2:21.93). Han also was first in the 100 butterfly (54.06).

Matt Annenberg (202.60 points) and Tesni Phillips (142.65) finished 1-2 in 1-meter diving, while Dan Mongillo (5:09.46) and Brendan Smalec (5:10.34) were 1-2 in the 500 freestyle. Hevin Na took a first in the 100 backstroke (59.31).

Justin Go was second in the 50 free (24.32) and third in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.57), and Mongillo placed third in the 200 free (1:55.89), and Matt Richardson was third in the 100 free (53.48).

Cheshire also won the 200 medley relay (1:44.65), consisting of Na, Han, Ray Chen and Peter Broadbridge, and the 400 free relay with Na, Mongillo, Smalec and Han (3:31.76).

Earlier in the week, Cheshire won two closes meets with a 94-92 victory over Hamden on Tuesday and a 95-93 win over Branford, while dropping a decision to Fairfield Prep 133-53 Wednesday in a tri-meet.

At the tri-meet, Han won the 200 IM in 2:14.08 and the 100 breaststroke (1:09.18). Smalec was third in the 400 freestyle in 4:34.80. The Rams' 400 free relay of Na, Mongillo, Smalec and Han placed second in 3:53.02.

Cheerleading

The Cheshire High cheerleaders (67 points) finished second behind North Haven (76.5) and Foran-Milford (72.5) at the SCC Cheerleading Competition at East Haven High School on Feb. 11.

On Feb. 12, Cheshire won the high school division at the Spirit Cheer: Beast of the East at The Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.