St. Christopher’s girls win two CYO titles

St. Christopher’s Mite (fifth-sixth grade) girls basketball team won two tournaments last weekend to claim both the Nashua Deanery and State CYO championships.

In the Deanery tourney, St. Chris’ defeated St. Mark’s of Londonderry in the quarterfinals, and Immaculate Conception in the semifinal game.

In the championship contest, the St. Chris’ squad defeated St. Elizabeth Seton of Bedford 32-21. Point guard Marie Laplante scored 10 points in the effort, while post-player Victoria D’Anthony poured in nine. Emma Williams also handled point guard duties, adding three points, as did power forward Jo Coffey. Swingman Lauren Dubois, forwards Meredith Hall and Adaeze Okorie added two points apiece.

In the CYO state tourney, St. Chris followed their semifinal win over Immaculate Conception with a 28-13 victory over Parish of the Resurrection in the state championship game. Dubois was tough at both ends of the floor, leading all scorers with nine points. Laplante, Wiliams, D’Anthony and Izzy Piercy chipped in four points apiece. Jessica Zalzal added tough defense and rebounding, while Hall (two points) and Okorie (one) added to the scoring effort. Jackie O’Connell, Isabelle Gosselin and Carina Davidson completed St. Chris’ roster for the two-championship season.

WRESTLING

Three Nashuans place at New England girls meet

The city of Nashua became the nerve center of girls’ and women’s wrestling in New England last weekend as Nashua Catholic Junior High School hosted the New England Girls Wrestling championships. Sanctioned by the United States Girls Wrestling Association, over 100 girls from the six New England states, as well as New Jersey and New York, competed in four divisions: elementary school, middle school, high school and open (all ages).

Kirsten Hammond and Olivia Toth, who normally wrestle against boys on the Nashua Boys and Girls Club’s Elm St. Middle School team, competed in the middle school division. Toth placed first in the 145-pound weight class, and was then bumped up to the high school division. Hammond lost only one match, placing second at 75. Angelica Levesque, who wrestled on the Nashua High School South varsity squad this season at 125, placed second in the 130-pound weight class in the high school division.

BGCGN travels to Plymouth

Members of the BGCGN wrestling team traveled to Plymouth High School last weekend to compete in the Plymouth Invitational Youth Wrestling Tournament.

In the seventh-eighth grade division, Brandon Levesque and Evan Manning, both of Hudson, placed second at 112 and 140, respectively. In the fifth-sixth grade division, Brian Toupin was the runner up at 99. In the third-fourth grade division, Colin O’Connor was the 55-pound champion. Zach Rioux was the runner-up in the 60-pound class of the first-second grade division. Ethan Michaud also competed on the BGCGN squad.

SKIING

Lyndeborough’s Humphreys named to State Team Ski Team

Crotched Mountain Junior Race Team member Ashley Humphreys of Lyndeborough was named to the J5 New Hampshire State Ski Team (ages 9-10) by placing in the top 10 at the Buddy Werner League State Championships ski race held at Gunstock Mountain Resort last weekend.

In the slalom event on Saturday, Humphreys let her skies run close to the gates and executed clean, smooth lines to come in fifth place on her first run and sixth on her second run to clinch sixth overall. On Sunday, with high winds and pelting sleet and rainy conditions she placed 16th overall in the J5 Girls giant slalom race. After calculating the best two finishes for the meet Humphreys placed ninth overall for the two-day event, earning a spot on the New Hampshire State Team. Humphreys wore bib No. 11, her lucky number.

With over 360 young racers ages 9-12 competing for teams from across the state the competition was very competitive. The Crotched Mountain Junior Race Team sent 13 athletes to the state championships.

Sunday’s weather conditions consisted of torrential rain, sleet and high winds that closed the lift that serviced the race courses so the athletes and their coaches had to hike to the start of the course which made for some rather challenging racing conditions but all in all the soggy racers kept a positive attitude and gave it their best effort.

Amherst 11-year-old Anna Farrow had a successful meet, placing 21st in the J4 Girls (ages 11-12) race by earning 14th in the slalom and 23rd in the giant slalom while fellow 11-year-old teammate Rhiannon Allison of Mont Vernon also skied well. Allison placed 37th overall after a strong 24th place finish in the slalom. Alana Barretto, also 11 from Amherst, placed 79th and Maura Rapposelli, 11 from Peterborough, placed 87th.

In the J5 Boys race Eli Tamok (10 from Francestown) had an impressive meet to earn 14th place in the slalom and 16th in the giant slalom for 20th place overall. Luke Martin (10 from Hollis) came in 54th after a strong 38th place finish in the GS, Bryce Laurendeau (10 from Bedford) placed 73rd and Aidan Alusic-Bingham (9 from Antrim) placed 90th.

Finishing up the J5 Girls competition was Nashua 10-year-old Erika Wentz in 71st.

Local J4 Boys competing for Crotched Mountain Junior Race Team are R.J. Humphreys (11 from Lyndeborough), who had two impressive slalom runs on Saturday for 50th place and 76th overall after the GS runs. Cameron Robertson (12 from Mont Vernon) came in 104th and Collin Titus (12 from Mont Vernon) placed 105th.