GAME TIME - The best of the spring student-athletes on display

By Pete Connell

The doors have closed, the grad parties are over, the plaques and citations are probably already collecting some dust. But, a collection of Valley Breeze & Observer high school athletes garnered a bunch of post-season laurels and they merit one more mention on these pages.

They achieved the coveted status of All State and/or All Division in their respective sports as chosen by the media who recorded their deeds and, more meaningfully, the men and women who coached against them and recognized that they were a cut above.

A first for this observer in nearly 20 years on the sidelines was the selection of two North County student-athletes for the Outdoor Track All-State first team in the same event. If you were at Brown Stadium on Saturday, June 6 you could have planted yourself near the west end zone and watched two remarkable championship-winning performances in the javelin throw.

Smithfield senior Colleen Brague captured the gold medal by launching the long spear to a distance of 127' 4" and helping her Sentinels team to a sixth place finish. Colleen was second in the event in her freshman year and third the next two seasons before garnering first-team honors this year.

Ponaganset junior Nick Keeling, one of the most versatile track and field athletes in recent Chieftain annals and an all-state football player, won the javelin in the boys meet with a toss of 192' 9", ten feet better than the second place finisher, then moved on to the track and placed in both the 200 and 100m races. He is the lone representative from Breeze country to gain All State first or second team honors.

Smithfield's girls competed in Class C and several Sentinels were all-C first team picks - runners Katie Meinertz, Michelle Krol and Rachel Valerio and the 4X100 relay team of Valerio, Krol, Erica Ricci and Kim Ezeama and thrower Brague, pole vaulter Kim Piccoli and jumpers Erin Flood, Ezeama and Krol. Ponaganset Chieftains Cassandra Graham (300 hurdles) and Catherine Dominick (high jump) were chosen on the Class C third team.

A pair of local tennis players were cited for their strong play at first singles throughout the spring and listed on the All-State second team roster. Scituate's Bobby Dorr hails from a family of strong tennis bloodlines; his mom, Andrea (Voikos) Dorr played professionally and is a member of the New England Tennis Hall of Fame and formerly coached the game at SHS. Colby Fugere, a Smithfield junior, is accustomed to whacking both tennis balls and pucks back at opponents; he was the leading the scorer on the Sentinels' Division II state champion hockey team last winter. He along with teammate Anthony Lamborghini and Dorr are Division II-North first team singles picks and SHS' Joe Rubiano and Ben Kuhar were doubles partners on the first team.

Ponaganset competed in II-South for some strange reason and Coach Russ Steere received from steady tennis from Chris Holzinger and son, Andy, who landed on the division first team, Vin Lepore (second team) and the doubles tandem of Ryan Aldous and James Beard.

Tennis sportsmanship awards were presented to David Yan (Ponaganset), Austin Round (Scituate) and Steve Phillips (Smithfield).

Lacrosse, the rapidly growing high school spring sport, burst on the scene at Scituate last season where the girls won the Division III state championship. Katherine "Rocco" Corsi, a junior on that title team, was a Division III first team pick this year and teammate Kate Lozinski was a third team choice.

Ponaganset, Scituate and Smithfield enjoyed good seasons on the links despite the inclement spring weather. PHS competed in the Northern division where three Chieftains consistently turned in solid performances. Mason Freeman, George Bissell and Tyler DeWaele were chosen for the first and second all-division rosters. Smithfield and Scituate (West division) were led by all-class golfers Scott Grzych (Smithfield) and Spartan John Dias.

Scituate didn't match their successful 2008 volleyball season, winning seven of 16 D-II North matches. The best on the floor for the Spartans was Zach Caron who was named to the all-division first team.

The Spartans had a near-perfect season on the softball diamond and unseated Tolman as champions of Division III. Just about all of them contributed to the title run. Kristen Audet, Shannon Audet and Meghan Noury gained all-division first team honors, Kailyn Audet and Victoria Ramos are on the second team and Emma Hackett was a third team choice. Norm Ramos was honored as the Coach of the Year in III, his first year at the helm.

Smithfield was seeded second in the Division II-North post-season but absorbed disappointing back-to-back losses early while Ponaganset battled for a playoff berth right up to the final game. Sentinels Ashlee Martin and Reanna Votta and Chieftain pitcher Courtney Piccirillo are all-D-II-North first team choices, PHS' Kaitlin Lennon made the second team and the third all-division roster includes Katie Reall and Corinn Pimental of Smithfield and Nicole Ricci of Ponaganset.

Two Smithfield seniors had solid seasons for the Sentinel baseball program and are among the 13 lads named to the All-State second team. Infielder Joe Landi and pitcher John Kashmanian were also tabbed the Most Outstanding Player in I-North (Landi) and the circuit's MVP (Kashmanian). Both have continued to display their talents in American Legion Senior Baseball. Three other Sentinels captured berths on the I-North first and second teams - catcher Eric Laroche, first baseman Brandon Beauchemin and second baseman Ian Brissette.

The Division II-North first and second teams as chosen by the coaches included Scituate's Jake Tillman, Jeff Winchell and Brendan Cabral and Ponaganset Chieftains Larry Colaluca, Matt Sprague, Adam Babcock and Derek Rogala. Colaluca was also a Brian Fell Award nominee.

Congratulations and thanks to all of them for a great spring.