Thursday, March 1, 2007 Older Editions

AHS Roundup: Swim & dive team completes successful season

By Rick Harrison

BOYS SWIM & DIVE

Nick D'Innocenzo is a two-event state champ for the second straight year, as the Andover High sophomore sensation and junior Peter Saunders were instrumental in the Golden Warriors' boys' swim and dive team completing its most successful season with a third-place finish at the 2007 MIAA State Division 1 Championship Meet held at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool.

D'Innocenzo capped another undefeated season in individual competition, repeating his victories in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, as AHS piled up 124 points to trail only North Sectional titlist and runaway winner St. John's Prep of Danvers (267 points) and runner-up Boston College High (166) in the 28-school Division 1 field.

"We're the top public school team in the state," said AHS assistant coach Adam Moskal, pointing out that the only teams to beat the Golden Warriors were two Catholic schools that draw their student/athletes from many communities.

Acton-Boxboro, which lost a dual meet to Andover this winter but placed one position ahead of the locals at Sectionals, finished fourth with 117 points.

"Our kids stepped up and swam great," added Moskal. "We didn't know if we could beat Acton-Boxboro because they had (two) divers and we didn't have any. In that respect third place was a pleasant surprise."

Rounding out the leaders were Xaverian High of Westwood (93) and West Springfield High (87).

D'Innocenzo was one of only two double winners - the other West Springfield senior Andy Blakesley who touched first in the 100 and 200 freestyle races.

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Earlier this winter head coach Mark Taffe's Golden Warriors finished the conference dual-meet schedule at a perfect 4-0, while also winning their last seven meets to close 8-1 overall with the only loss to B.C. High.

The Andover boys are now 19-1-1 in their last 21 duals spanning two full seasons and part of a third.

Team banquet

The team banquet, celebrating a Merrimack Valley Conference championship, fourth-place North Sectional finish and third-place State Division 1 showing, will be held March 18 at North Andover Country Club.

All-State Division 1

Championship Meet

D'Innocenzo was up to his old tricks, displaying his consistency with another high school All-American time of 1:54.31 in the 200 IM that was merely 4/100ths of a second behind his winning North Sectional time of 1:54.27.

He wasn't pushed in the race, winning by more than four seconds over runner-up Sean Reams of B.C. High (1:58.63) in a group of 30 qualifiers.

D'Innocenzo, whose second Sectional title came in the 500 free, switched back to the 100 breaststroke in this meet and broke the coveted one minute mark with a winning 59.55 clocking.

That time was a personal-best and lowered his own existing school record in the event.

Once again he outclassed the rest of the field, winning by more than two seconds over second-place Paul Dyrkacz of Minnechaug Regional (1:01.79).

D'Innocenzo almost annexed a third state title - but his blistering 46.75 anchor leg in the 400 free relay gave AHS a second place in that final race of the meet.

Also on that team were junior Christian Bishop, freshman Paul Hunter and Peter Saunders (48.97 third leg), with their overall time of 3:20.35 a school record and second only to B.C. High at 3:17.12.

Saunders also contributed an individual second in the 100 butterfly, with his personal-best 53.92 a shade behind winner Sean Reams of B.C. High (52.42).

Saunders also tied for seventh in the 50 free with a 22.73 performance.

The 200 medley relay of senior Capt. Dave Espindle, junior Zach Hamer, Saunders and D'Innocenzo touched fourth in 1:42.15.

Completing a solid showing in the relays was the ninth-place 200 free quartet of senior Capt. Kevin O'Donnell, junior Peter Li, Hunter and Bishop in a season-best 1:34.70.

Bishop delivered a high school personal-best time of 4:56.05 in the 500 free for 10 points and fifth place in a 27-swimmer field.

Completing the AHS scorers were Hunter, 10th in the 100 backstroke in a personal-best 56.93, Hamer 11th in the 100 breast with a personal-best 1:04.19 and Bishop 11th in the 200 free in a personal-best 1:51.12.

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Competing well but not scoring (top 12) were Peter Li in the 50 free (23.73) and 100 free (51.63), Mike Bakies the 200 free (17th, 1:52.38) and 500 free (13th, personal-best 5:05.16), Hamer the 200 IM (2:13.83), Hunter the 100 free (19th, personal-best 50.62) and 100 backstrokers Espindle (15th, season-best 58.40) and O'Donnell (1:02.27).

INDOOR TRACK

The Andover High girls were fifth in a field of 48 teams at the 2007 All-State Championship Indoor Track & Field Meet held at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Roxbury, scoring 18 points to trail only co-champs New Bedford and Lincoln-Sudbury (30 points), Newton South (26) and Stoneham (25).

Sophomore Colleen Shannon had a big meet for the locals, finishing third in the 1000 meters and helping the 4x400 relay to a team-best second place.

This fifth for the team followed a fifth place the previous week in a 26-school field at the State Division 1 Meet, where Andover rolled up 38 points.

New England

Championship Meet

This meet is tomorrow night (Friday) at the Lewis Center, and eligible to compete for Andover are Colleen Shannon, Rachel Fox, Christina Muccio, Chris McConnell and the girls 4x200 and 4x400 relays.

MIAA All-State

Championship Meet

Andover girls

The top finish came from the 4x400 relay foursome of Vanessa Singleton, Kayley Pettoruto, Colleen Shannon and anchor Rachel Fox, whose second-place time of 4:03.69 broke their school record of 4:03.74 set the previous weekand and was a split-second behind winning team Stoneham (4:02.95).

Shannon chalked up six points with a third in the 1000 meters, her 3:02.36 trailing only the Lincoln-Sudbury duo of junior Molly Binder (3:01.39) and sophomore Jessica Griffen (3:01.92).

Shannon led for most of the race and came up just short after a strong finishing kick.

Senior Rachel Fox took sixth in the 600 meters, the two-time State Division 1 champ crossing in 1:37.61 while winner Meg Looney of Bishop Feehan posted a 1:34.84 time.

Junior Christina Muccio was sixth in the 55-meter dash (7.53) finals, after also placing sixth (7.49) in the prelims.

The 4x200 sprint relay of Muccio, Melissa Knapp, Bizzy DiTroia and junior Jess Forster placed fifth in 1:47.67.

Forster also finished 11th in the high jump (5'1") and 20th in the 55-meter hurdles prelims (9.49).

Andover boys

Freshman flash Chris McConnell was fourth in the 55-meter dash with a blistering 6.61 time.

Senior Capt. Peter Shaw was 13th in the two-mile (9:54.94).

McConnell's four points put Andover in a five-way tie for 26th place among 42 teams.

Lexington won the All-State boys title handily with 46.5 points.

BOYS ICE HOCKEY

The Andover High boys varsity hockey team was seeded No. 3 in a 17-school field, and opens play in the 2007 MIAA Division 2 North Tournament tonight (Thursday) at 8:15 p.m. at the Chelmsford Forum in Billerica against a familiar opponent.

The Golden Warriors (15-5-1) battle Merrimack Valley/Dual County League Division 2 rival and No. 14 seed Haverhill (10-8-2) in a first-round game of the single-elimination tourney.

The teams played twice during the regular season, Haverhill winning the opener 5-4 on Jan. 6 at Haverhill before the Golden Warriors earned a 3-0 triumph in the rematch Feb. 7 at the Valley Forum.

The winner of tonight's game advances to Sunday's quarterfinal round, battling the survivor of tonight's opener between No. 6 North Andover (12-4-4) and league rival/No. 11 seed Tewksbury (11-6-3).

The site and time of Sunday quarterfinals was unknown at presstime.

The North semifinals and championship game are March 7 and 10 respectively at the Chelmsford Forum.

Seeded ahead of AHS are No. 1 Revere High (15-3-2) and No. 2 Masconomet Regional of Topsfield (14-3-3).

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In the regular season finale, AHS registered a 4-1 victory over Merrimack Valley/Dual County League rival Tewksbury.

The game was highlighted by Tucker Mullin's 100th career point and his school record-tying 51st point of the season.

The Golden Warriors also finished second in the four-team Martha's Vineyard Invitational Tournament recently, playing two strong games on the island.

The locals beat the host team 4-1 in the tourney semifinals, before coming back 20 hours later to drop a tough 3-1 decision to perennial power Franklin High in the championship game.

In other action, AHS handled Division 1 Chelmsford, 4-1, in a league crossover.

Those results boosted Andover to 15-5-1 overall, including 9-1 in league play as Merrimack Valley/Dual County League Division 2 champions.

The 15 wins are the most during the regular season in at least three decades. Last year the Golden Warrior skaters won 13 regular-season games for the fifth time since 1989 - and 14 counting the tournament.

AHS carried an 8-1 mark in its last nine games into the tournament, with each of the last three victories by the identical 4-1 score. Andover has now won or shared four league titles in boys hockey, and third-year coach Mario Martiniello has stretched his personal won-lost-tied record to 36-20-7.

All-Conference

Mullin Player of Year

The 2007 Merrimack Valley/Dual County League All-Conference teams were announced last weekend between periods of the league's annual All-Star tripleheader at the Chelmsford Forum against opponents from the Greater Boston League and Commonwealth Athletic Conference.

Tucker Mullin was named the MV/DCL Division 2 Player of the Year.

Andover teammates joining Mullin on the All-Conference squad are junior forward John Hyslip, senior defenseman Dan Godefroi and senior goaltender Dan Abreu.

Mullin and Godefroi are repeat honorees while Abreu made the MV/DCL 2 All-Star squad last winter.

Zeroing in

oThe six shutouts this season - including three in a row from Feb. 3-10 - are believed to be team records.

oNo. 1 goaltender Dan Abreu posted four straight shutouts before surrendering a goal to Chelmsford, which is also believed to be an individual AHS mark. Since transferring back to AHS from Malden Catholic last year, Abreu has posted 10 solo and one shared shutout.

oThrough the first 21 games the locals had outscored the opposition by a healthy 70-32 margin for a stingy 1.52 goals-against average.

oAHS has yielded only 11 goals in its last 12 games (0.92 ave.).

oAndover, which has not been shut out this winter, is 5-3 in eight games decided by one goal.

Scoring leaders

Tucker Mullin led the way after 21 games with 27 goals, 24 assists for 51 points.

Colin Brennan at 13-18-31 and John Hyslip 12-19-31 were next, and rounding out the leaders are Dan Godefroi 1-16-17, P.J. Paonessa 6-7-13 and Riki Retelle 1-12-13.

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In four years, although being used sparingly on the varsity as a freshman, Mullin has now scored 47 goals and passed out 53 assists for 100 career points.

He is the first AHS boys hockey player to score 20 goals and 50 points in a season since 1994-95 when Chris Cullen set school records for goals and total points with 29-22-51.

Cullen, who holds virtually every AHS scoring record for boys hockey, also had 19 goals, 24 assists for 43 points in 1995-96, 27-13-40 in 1993-94 and 22-14-36 in 1992-93.

Cullen's career totals were an impressive 97 goals, 73 assists for 170 points.

Andover 4

Tewksbury 1

The Golden Warriors improved their tournament seeding by turning back MV/DCL runner-up Tewksbury (5-2-3 league) for the second time this season.

In this home-ice victory, achieved at the Valley Forum in Lawrence, the locals traded first-period goals with TMHS before adding one goal in the second period and two more insurance tallies in the third.

"This was an important win, coming off our first loss in almost a month (to Franklin)," said coach Martiniello. "It was good to see our guys bounce back against a strong team and make it eight of the last nine heading into the (MIAA) tourney.

"The game didn't have the same drama it would have if first place was still on the line - but we were playing for a better seed and this win might get us in the top 5.

"We came out hard and gave a solid effort throughout the game - which is just the way we wanted to end the (regular) season," said Martiniello.

Junior forward Matt Perry gave AHS, which blanked Tewksbury 3-0 earlier this winter, a 1-0 lead with a goal at 9:58 of the first period assisted by junior defenseman Kevin Drew and sophomore forward Cam Smith.

The Redmen (10-6-3 overall) tied it at 13:20 on a power play goal by top scorer John Cahalane after AHS was slapped with a four-minute major penalty for boarding.

Colin Brennan put the champs ahead to stay with a power play connection at 9:30 of the middle stanza, setups to John Hyslip and Dan Godefroi.

Chalking up the third-period insurance goals were senior forward P.J. Paonessa, unassisted at 1:32, and Tucker Mullin into an empty net with 63 seconds left in the game for career point No. 100.

Godefroi and Riki Retelle assisted on the final marker which came shortly after Tewksbury pulled its goalie Bill Stuart for an extra skater.

All Conference netminder Dan Abreu was credited with 35 saves as TMHS finished with a slim 36-34 shooting edge.

Andover 4

Chelmsford 1

After playing MV/DCL Division 1 opponents Billerica and Central Catholic (16-2-2 record) tough in earlier 3-2 losses this season, the Division 2 league champion Golden Warriors stepped up a level for the third time and came away with an impressive victory at the Valley Forum in Lawrence.

Once again the trio of Tucker Mullin, John Hyslip and Colin Brennan was at the center of the offense.

Mullin figured in all the scoring with one goal and three assists.

Hyslip chipped in one goal and two assists, Brennan had one of each and senior defenseman Dan Godefroi pumped in his first goal.

Andover outshot Chelmsford, 37-25, and although his shutout streak was halted at four games and more than 200 minutes goaltender Dan Abreu finished with 24 saves to backbone another victory.

AHS won this game in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie with three straight goals by Brennan at 0:25, Hyslip 6:12 and Mullin 11:01.

Godefroi notched the game's first goal just 14 seconds into the middle period, and the Lions' Steve Jalbert tied it while also halting Abreu's lengthy streak of shutout minutes with a goal at 3:12.

"We'd like to climb up to Division 1 in the league next year - and I think this victory over Division 1 Chelmsford and the close losses to Central and Billerica shows we can play with those guys," said coach Martiniello.

"It's not a pipe dream to play Division 1. There is a lot of good talent moving up through the Andover youth system - and if we can keep those kids in town and playing at Andover High we'll compete."

GIRLS GYMNASTICS

The Andover High girls gymnastics team placed sixth in a 12-school field at the 2007 MIAA North Sectional Championship Meet held at the Beverly High Field House.

The Lady Warriors had finished with a 139.4000 dual-meet scoring average this winter to take the No. 6 seed for the meet.

League champions and other specified teams with the highest average scores per dual meet were invited.

First-year coach Kristen Vadala's squad missed qualifying for the State Meet by a mere 0.275 points after recording a 137.950 score at Beverly.

Finishing ahead of the locals were champ Masconomet Regional (145.725), reigning state champ Chelmsford (144.375), Danvers (141.000), Hamilton-Wenham (138.225) and North Andover (138.125).

Only the top four teams advance to tomorrow night's (Friday) All-State Meet at Shrewsbury High.

Also in the 12-school Sectional field were Acton-Boxboro, Gloucester, Reading, Salem, Winthrop and Newton South.

The top seed in the South Sectional is multi-time state champ Barnstable (145.4325).

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Prior to Sectionals the Lady Warriors wrapped up another very successful Merrimack Valley Conference season by placing second in the annual MVC Championship Meet at Dracut Junior High.

The solid showing followed a 7-1 dual-meet campaign, including 6-1 in league competitionto place runner-up to undefeated Chelmsford which handed AHS its only loss on Jan. 22.

Andover is now 71-4 in dual meets since Feb. 4, 1999, as well as 133-9 in its last 142 and 154-17 in the last 171.

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Leading the locals into battle at Sectionals were freshman all-around Jenn Quirnbach, Kristen Coneeny (floor, vault), Becky Robichaud (balance beam), Stephanie Marble (uneven bars) and Renee Coiro (floor).

AHS has consistently qualified for the Sectionals and All-State meets over the past 20 years - participating in the former 16 times and the latter seven times while winning the state title in 2000.

Last year the Lady Warriors were 7th in the North Sectionals, and in 2005 they were 2nd in the North and 5th All-State.

State Individual Meet

The State Individual Championship Meet was held at Beverly High with two separate competitions in the afternoon for each of the four individual events (uneven bars, balance beam, vault, floor exercise) and the evening for the all-around.

At a meeting of the selection committee at MIAA headquarters in Milford to determine - by scoring averages - which individuals and teams qualify for the meet there were several Andover standouts who made the grade.

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Lady Warriors' newcomer Jenn Quirnbach competed in the all-around where she was seeded 40th with a 35.125 average score.

Individually, Kristen Coneeny was seeded 12th (9.05 ave.) and Carly Verrette 33rd (8.7) in the vault.

Stephanie Marble was the No. 9 seed on the uneven bars (8.925).

Becky Robichaud was seeded 12th on balance beam (8.9375).

Competing in floor exercise for AHS were 9th-seed Carly Verrette (9.15), 11th-seed Becky Robichaud (9.125), No. 33 Kristen Coneeny (9.0625) and No. 36 Renee Coiro (9.05).

BOYS BASKETBALL

The Andover High boys varsity basketball team wrapped up an interesting season with a 71-59 loss to host Salem in an MIAA Division 1 North Tournament first-round game earlier this week.

The setback left head coach Dave Fazio's crew at 14-8 overall, including 8-5 in Division 1 of the Merrimack Valley Conference.

Although the locals were only 2-5 in their last seven games, a strong argument can be made that they overachieved this winter with only one starter back from an 18-win team.

"I really think our kids deserve a lot of credit for the way they finished off the regular season," said Fazio. "We hit a rough patch against four very good teams (Central Catholic, Lowell, B.C. High, Lawrence).

"Instead of packing it in after that - we came back to win our own tournament (Warrior Classic) and beat a very good Boston Latin team (17-5 record) in the championship game (45-44).

"That showed a lot of character."

The locals also displayed a relentless work ethic throughout the season that kept them competitive.

Nine times defense-oriented AHS held an opponent to 46 or fewer points.

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Fazio closes out his 18th season with an overall won-lost record of 289-120. He is a virtual lock to record milestone victory No. 300 next season.

AHS last dropped its tourney opener in 2003 when Lawrence posted a 71-63 win over an AHS crew that entered the game with an 18-4 record.

Three seniors

Seven of the 10 players who saw the majority of the action this season are underclassmen.

The locals will miss all three graduating seniors, however, led by guard, captain and top scorer Ian Dempsey who averaged close to 18 points per game.

Other Blue and Gold hoopsters who closed out their careers against Salem are rugged 6'2" forward Gordon DuBois and guard Jason Perry.

MIAA Division 1 North Tournament

Salem 71

Andover 59

The Golden Warriors, seeded No. 11 in this first-rounder at No. 6 Salem (now 16-5), fell behind 41-27 at the half and then traded hoops with the Witches after the break.

Three players reached double figures for the Golden Warriors, fittingly led by season-high scorer Ian Dempsey with 18 points.

Junior forward Peter White, who came on strong over the final three weeks, contributed 16 points and junior forward Tristian Shannon had 12.

Junior forward Zach Burdeau also tossed in seven points, while senior guard Jason Perry and Capt. Gordon DuBois netted three each to complete the scoring.

Nick Linear pumped through a game-high 24 to power the Salem attack.

A 15-8 scoring edge at the free throw line was instrumental for the Witches.

GIRLS ICE HOCKEY

The Andover High girls varsity hockey team (14-3-3) was seeded No. 9 in a 19-team State Division 1 Tournament field, and the locals opened play in the single-elimination tourney after Townsman presstime last night (Wednesday) on the road against No. 8 seed Woburn (15-4-1) at O'Brien Rink in Woburn.

The winner of last night's first-round game has the unenviable task of playing top seed St. Mary's of Lynn (20-1-1) this Saturday in a quarterfinal.

The site and time of Saturday's game was undetermined at presstime.

Andover played in the Division 2 Tournament five straight years before being bounced up this season, reaching the State semifinals three straight times where the Lady Warriors suffered three one-goal losses to Wellesley, St. Mary's and Reading (double overtime).

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AHS closed out the regular season with a pair of non-league ties against formidable opponents, battling Canton to a 1-1 standoff and undefeated tourney No. 2 seed Boston Latin to a 3-3 draw.

Prior to that the locals rode a pair of two-goal efforts by senior forward and Capt. Alison Burns and junior Asst. Capt. Trish Martin to a convincing 6-0 non-league romp over host Lincoln-Sudbury at the Valley Sports Arena in West Concord.

Sophomore goaltender Rachel Bergan made it 2-for-2, pitching her second shutout in her second varsity start.

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The Lady Warriors, who qualified for the MIAA State Tournament for the sixth straight season, held opponents scoreless for 153 consecutive minutes during one four-game stretch last month and outscored its first 20 opponents by a healthy 65-25 margin with six shutouts.

Scoring leaders

Sarah Oteri is on top of the pack with 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points after 20 games.

Becky Cairns has revved it up to 14 goals and 15 assists, followed by Heather Paonessa at 9-12-21, Nicole Giroux 4-14-18, Laura Drew 6-8-14 and Alison Burns 4-10-14.

Burns is on the brink of a major milestone with 97 career points.