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Housy teams wrap up eventful winter season

FALLS VILLAGE —The 2021-22 winter sports season at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) saw the return of a regular season including state tournaments and, at the very end, a return to mask-optional play.

The ski team had all races at Mohawk Mountain, which is their home mountain. While the team was small with only five racers, HVRHS had the number one racer in the league with Greg Meindl and the best female racer in the league with Melody Matsudaira. Rounding out the team were three first year racers, all who showed great promise.

Due to COVID-related issues, the swim team swam all their meets away.  Despite this the team had nine swimmers qualify for the Berkshire League championship.  The relay team of Lola Moerschell, Mia Bayer, Caitlin Sorrell and Zoe Gillete finished third in the girls 200-yard Medley Relay and in the 4x50-meter freestyle relay. Mia Bayer went on to win bronze in the girls 100-yard breaststroke. This year, the league held Splish, a female-only meet held the week before the league championship. Zoe Gillete took third place in the 100-yard butterfly. Mia Bayer finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle.

The ice hockey team practiced and held home games at the Stockdale Rink at South Kent School. The team was led this year by senior captain Colin (Zim) McAuliffe, Sam Hoyt and Landon Good. Sophomore Cole Mollica led the team in scoring. McAuliffe, Hoyt and Mollica were named to the Nutmeg League All-Conference team. McAuliffe was also awarded the Hobey Baker Award. The team won the coveted Berkshire Cup for the 15th year in a row over rival Shepaug with 6-2 and 5-4 wins. The team, ranked No. 16, faced the No.1 team Edwin O. Smith High School/Tolland High School in the first round of the Division III State Tournament. The team played hard but ended up losing the game.  The team is coached by Dean Diamond and Chris Bellanca.

Under new coach Kurt Johnson and with a roster dominated by seniors for much of the season, the boys basketball team progressed from playing a few good minutes at a time to developing a reputation for playing hard, and finished with a handful of close games. This ultimately resulted with the first win in over two years in a game played at Gilbert.  The team was led by seniors Russell Sears with 10 points per game, Harry Schopp with 7 points and 10 rebounds per game, Austin Bayer with 7 points and 5 rebounds per game, Ethan Fenn with 6 points and 5 rebounds per game, and Xan Hedheli with 8 points and 6 rebounds per game. At one point in the season (due to various reasons) the varsity team was down to only four players from the initial roster of 16 and had to rely on our junior varsity players Jesse Bonhotel, Sam Marcus, Jacob Marcus and Aiden Miller to step up and fill gaps.

The girls basketball team finished the season with a 14-5 regular season record and 2-1 in tournament play. HVRHS was ranked No. 6 in the state tournament (Class S) and advanced to the quarterfinals.  The team saw some big wins during the season, including an overtime win at home against Northwestern and a win at home against Windsor Locks in the second round of the state tournament.

Senior Captain Sydney Segalla became a member of the 1,000 point club, finishing the season with 1,183 points.  Senior Captain Tori Dodge finished with a season high of 29 3-point shots, and coach Steven Dodge won his 100th game at home on Senior Night.

Anne MacNeil is the Region One athletic director. She oversees high school and middle school sports.

Anne MacNeil

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