What A Year In Newtown Sports! — A Look Back At 2009

By Andy Hutchison

Another year is in the books, plenty of great achievements are in the sports books and — once again — record-setting performances and championship runs highlighted the local sports scene. Among the best moments calendar year 2009 in Newtown were the seventh grade youth football team’s run to the National Championships and Newtown High’s spring season hat-trick of sorts (three teams won conference championships).

From youth-level achievements on up through adult sport success, athletes of a variety of ages celebrated victory in a variety of forms — including tournament triumphs, national recognition and team honors — on the fields, courts, tracks and ice surfaces during the past 12 months. Here’s a look back at some of the many moments that made 2009 a year to remember for Newtown athletes.

 

Championship Hat-Trick

Newtown High athletics scored a proverbial hat-trick in the spring when three teams won South-West Conference championships. The baseball, and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams all celebrated victories in their pinnacle conference games in late May and early June.

The baseball team upset Notre Dame-Fairfield to cap an improbable run to the top after barely qualifying for the postseason. The boys’ lacrosse team shocked New Fairfield, handing defending champion Rebels their first loss in 40-plus games, and the girls’ lacrosse team retained their hold on conference bragging rights with consecutive championship No. 5.

MVP, MVP

All tournament-winning sports teams have an athlete designated most valuable player but perhaps the most fitting MVP of calendar year 2009 was Kyle Kromberg, of the NHS baseball team. Kromberg, in an April 28 game at Bethel, suffered a scary injury when a collision resulted in a concussion, broken nose and a seizure, prompting the game to be halted and postponed.

Kromberg not only returned to the lineup to help the Nighthawks win the SWC title, he led the way and earned the tournament’s top honors — and the conference tourney took place at the same field, no less.

No-No

En route to the conference crown, Newtown pitchers RJ Roman and Charlie LoBosco combined on a no-hitter in Newtown’s semifinal round win over New Fairfield. Ironically, the pitchers and their teammates, so caught up in the importance of the game, which was filled with errors and walks, did not realize that it was a no-hitter until word got around the bench after the game.

National Success

Newtown’s seventh grade football team won state and New England championships to earn a trip to the American Youth Football National Championships in Florida this past December. Although the Nighthawks saw their four-year undefeated run come to an end in the title game, it was another season to remember for this group that has torn through the competition since the players were fourth-graders.

Jan Brown, Trish McCusker and Kathy Blewett, Newtowners on the O’Neils Senior Moments women’s softball team, helped the team to a memorable moment when the women earned a silver medal at the National Senior Games in August.

Scoring Overseas

Newtown High alum Marcus Tracy, in 2009, was named collegiate soccer’s top player for his play at Wake Forest in 2008 when he received the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy. Tracy went on to start his professional soccer career and netted his first professional goal for Danish League team Aalborg in a 3-2 win over Midtylland on March 23.

More Individual   And Team Honors

Middle School student Erik Street was selected as the Nutmeg Games Male Athlete Of The Year after leading his baseball team into the medal round of the games.

Dani Gaiser won two gold medals and a silver in figure skating events at the Nutmeg State Games.

Newtown High golfer Abbey Doski, who played with the boys all spring since the school does not have a girls’ team, won the South-West Conference girls’ golf championship.

NHS track team member Rachel Taback was first in the discus throw in both the Class L state championships and State Open.

Trap shooter Nicholas Fatse represented Connecticut in the National Junior Olympics in Colorado this past summer.

Molly Begg, 11, won the 14-and-under age group at the Philadelphia Half Marathon on November 22. Begg also won the 7th Annual Shamrock 2-Mile Run in Bristol in March, leading a field of 226.

Over The Top wrestlers Sean Arnold, Anthony Falbo, Edward Lovely and Forrest Speed all won championships at the USA Wrestling State Championships in March.

Andrew Golankiewicz, a Fairfield Prep swimmer from Newtown, qualified for the Speedo Junior National Championships.

Matthew Sabia was selected by the New York Rangers’ Pee Wee Hockey Club and by the International Selects Program’s East Coast Selects Team.

Four Newtown hockey players, David Landau, Josh Branchflower, Tyler Hanley and Cooper Gold, helped the Brewster Bulldogs win gold at the Can Am Challenge Cup tourney in Lake Placid, N.Y., in March.

The Mid Fairfield Connecticut Stars’ U14 Tier II team won the Connecticut Hockey Conference State Championship and the Wonderland Wizards’ Bantam A Tier II hockey team also won a state title. Both teams are made up of players from local towns, including Newtown.

The Newtown Hawks U10 softball team and the town’s 9-year-old baseball team were among the many youth squads to roll through the competition in postseason tourneys. Both of these teams reached New England Regional tourneys.

Newtown’s U15 Senior Blue boys’ lacrosse team won the SWC and CONNY championships in June.

Newtown High’s varsity color guard team was crowned SWC champions, New England Indoor Guard Champions in the Scholastic National A Division, and earned its sixth straight Musical Arts Conference championship.

In Print/New Stadiums/ Championships

Local authors Dr Dana Brand and Kyle Lyddy wrote books last year. Brand wrote The Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair in the Life of a Mets Fan. For the record, the delight for many Mets fans in 2009 was when the Mets opened their new ballpark, Citi Field. The despair continued when the Mets’ New York shadow-casters, the Yankees, defeated the Mets’ hated division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, to win the World Series at the new-in-2009 Yankee Stadium.

Lyddy, a 2009 University of Connecticut graduate and four-year manager for the school’s men’s basketball team, self-published From My Seat, which details the behind-the-scenes happenings of the Huskies and their run to the Final Four a year ago.

School Records

Several Newtown High records were broken in 2009. In the swimming pool, Luke Fiore broke NHS marks in the 200-yard freestyle and 100 free events and was part of the school’s record-breaking 200 free relay team, along with Tony Fragoso, Abben Hung and Chris Parker.

Track team members Kevin Bonacci, Lauren Sudbey and Lauren Pettinelli all set school records. Bonacci tied the NHS high jump record and broke the long jump mark, Sudbey broke her own pole vault record and Pettinelli set a new standards in the 300 meters and 55 hurdles.

Long Time Coming

Newtown High’s boys’ tennis team defeated Joel Barlow for the first time in a decade. The win, back on April 8, came in convincing fashion — 6-1.

Bethel High School’s gymnasium was named in honor of Newtown resident and longtime Bethel athletic director William Swanson in April.

There, no doubt, were many more accomplishments in the world of Newtown sports last year. And 2010 promises to be another exciting year of game and tournament wins, unlikely triumphs, top-notch individual performances and team celebrations. Enjoy what’s to come in the new year of Newtown sports!