This is shaping up to be a great year on the slopes for both Newburyport ski teams.
Last Wednesday, the girls opened up their North Shore Ski League season with a match against perennial power North Andover, and nearly pulled off a stunner in what ended up being an impressive 1-point loss, 68-67. But even despite the setback, it was still an excellent day — and start to the ski season — for a handful of athletes.
First and foremost, sophomore Phoebe Whitcomb placed first overall for the entire meet, beating out 90 other skiers down the Ski Bradford hill with a blazing time of 20.11. She was followed by exciting freshman Evie Tague in 7th overall (20.74), and last year’s Daily News Skiing MVP, Grace Chandler, was 10th (20.92). Rounding out the scorers for the Clippers were sophomore Elsie DeGrano (20.98) and freshman Emily Chandler (21.54).
Newburyport had five of the top-6 racers in the match, but North Andover won with its depth of having finishers 7-15.
Then a day later, the boys took to the slopes.
And Newburyport started its season off with a resounding victory, racing past the North Andover boys, 79-56. The Clippers had two top-10 finishers out of the 97 competitors on the day, with returning Daily News All-Star Thijs Tague placing 5th (20.23), and incoming freshman Beckett Rathbone taking 7th (20.52). Junior Reed Tracy was the third Clipper to cross the finish line (20.77), and Tyler Chorebanian (22.04) and Henry Thurston (23.12) rounded out the team’s top-5 for the day.
TRITON GIRLS SWIM TO THIRD STRAIGHT CAL TITLE
Another year, another CAL Kinney title for the Triton co-op girls swim team.
And if you’re keeping track, that’s now three in a row.
The Vikings were able to race to their third straight league championship on Thursday night, earning a 60-34 victory over Lynnfield to finish up their regular season a perfect 5-0 in CAL competition. It’s a team that looks very much ready for the postseason meets ahead, as even during its match a few days ago, multiple athletes were posting season-best times.
Perhaps most impressive has been Leah Smullin, who over Triton’s last two meets has dropped a combined 37 seconds in her 500 freestyle time to get down to 7:08. You then had Giuliana Cogliani post her season-best time in the 200 IM (2:28.56), Liz Dynok do the same in the 100 butterfly (1:16.43), Alice Anderson perform her best in the 200 free (1:47.78) and Abby McIntyre do the same in the 100 breaststroke (1:23.70).
The boys, meanwhile, had an equally strong day.
Triton wasn’t able to pick up a win, falling to Lynnfield, 53-41, to finish up 4-1 in CAL play, but it similarly posted a handful of personal-record times. Arguably top among them for the Vikings was Declan Hyer, who blasted out a 7-second best in the 200 free (2:10.86) and also turned in a sub 1-minute split in the 400 relay (58.54).
The Vikings then saw Jonah Brien drop three seconds in the 100 free (1:03.06), Jacob Hoffman post his personal best in the 50 free (23.23), and both Clay Erickson and Miles Zuercher do the same in the 100 back.
TRITON WRESTLING SWEEPS HOME QUAD-MEET
The Triton wrestling team took care of defending its own mats during Saturday’s home quad-meet.
Thanks to a handful of strong performances, the Vikings were able to sweep the quad and improve to 14-1 on the season, beating North Middlesex 48-23, Lynn Tech 18-0 and Pelham (N.H.) 39-33.
“It was a good day today,” said Triton coach Shawn McElligott. “Especially against Pelham, as they’ll do well in the New Hampshire state meet.”
Accoring to the coach, the key to the Pelham match was actually the Vikings who fell in their bouts, but were able to avoid getting pinned. Each team won seven matches, but thanks to athletes like Aiden Quinn, Nolan Merrill, Jordan Ortiz and Austin Scolamiero staying off their backs, the Vikings were able to pull out the narrow victory.
Senior captain Lucas Bistany had a strong day for Triton, going 3-0 with three pins between 144 and 150. Alex Sabino won two matches via pin at 132, and Nikolas Rigol (106), Ben Imlach (120) and Brian Quam (138) each won two matches as well.
AMESBURY SKATES TO BIG WIN OVER BEVERLY
It appears the Amesbury hockey team is settling into a groove.
After a victory over Rockport earlier last week, the Redhawks made it two in a row on Satuday with a win over visiting Beverly, 7-2. Matt Venturi lit the lamp three times for the winners, and Bodie Marcotte had a goal with three assists.
The Redhawks (4-5-0) also got goals from Jack Welch, Joey Duggan and Maddox LeBlanc, and both Duggan and Ben Richard had two assists.
DeVIVO NETS 3, NEWBURYPORT BLANKS ESSEX TECH
All told, it’s been a successful first year in the Cape Ann League for the Essex Tech hockey team.
But Newburyport has gotten the better of it twice now.
Saturday evening, the Clippers earned their second win over the Hawks of the 2023-24 season, blanking the visitors, 4-0. Senior Jackson DeVivo gave the Clippers (7-3-1) all of the offense they would need with three goals, and Owen Kreuz was behind the final tally.
Damien Lamb posted his third shutout of the season for Newburyport, which will host Rockport on Wednesday at 5 p.m.