By Doug La Rocque
Once again the two Taconic Valley schools have merged to field a competitive girls swim team, while the boys lack enough participants but have still put forth some strong individual efforts. [private]The girls posted a 47-46 home victory last Friday against the Mt. Anthony Patriots, touching out the Bennington VT school in the final relay race for the win.
Gigi French and Lindsey Smith each posted two wins, while Allison Ryder and Catherine Roden were also victorious. There were no winners that day on the boys side, who lost out 8-63. The girls lost to Taconic Hills when they were disqualified in the final relay race for leaving the blocks too early. The Titans posted a 48-44 win, but the NLB swimmers claimed victory in several races. Again Gigi French and Lindsey Smith won both their individual races, with Taylor Robertson, Allison Ryder and Catherine Roden also touching out their opponents. Jeffery Miller and Mikale Exley claimed victory on the boy’s side, but still dropped the meet 18-31. It was a tough outing against St. Joseph’s of Pittsfield, MA. Lindsey Smith won both her races again, and Gigi had the other lone NLB win, in a match they lost 27-64. Jeffery Miller won both his outings for the boys, with Mikale Exley again posting a win. The meet was lost however,17-40.
Boys Basketball Remain Strong In CHVL Play
The Mountaineers traveled to New Lebanon last Friday night for a matchup with the Tigers. Berlin jumped out to a 23-8 lead in the first quarter and were up 44-23 at the break. Held to just 2 points however in the third quarter, Berlin found itself having to hold on against a determined New Lebanon comeback to post the 61-50 win. Roark Slattery tossed in 19 free throws to lead the Mountaineer’s with 31 points. Ryan Willis made seven from the field to finish with 17 points on the night. Brandon Caul led the Tigers with 23 points. The win pulled Berlin to 3-1 in league play, with a 3-3 record overall. The one league loss came earlier in the week, as Berlin fell to the Bishop Maginn Griffins by the score of 75 to 64.
Wrestlers Suffer A Tough Loss To Cairo-Durham
The Patroon Conference foe proved to be a little too much for Berlin-New Lebanon grapplers, though seniors Mike Hicks, Jesse David and Chris Houle all recorded pins, as did Junior Steven Mallory. Mallory was also named co-wrestler of the week along with Freshman T.J. Smith. Mallory has posted a 6-1 record over the past few meets including a 4-1 record in the recent Cohoes duals with Smith getting a pair of varsity wins. He also leads the team in reversals and near falls. Both wrestlers attended New Lebanon.
Boys Volleyball Posts Its First Win
The Mountaineers hung on for a 3-2 win over Patroon Conference opponent Taconic Hills this past week. Berlin dropped the first set to the Titans 20-25, before posting 25-21 and 25-20 wins. Taconic Hills evened the match with a 25-21 win, but the Mountaineers powered by the opposition in the deciding set, 25-7. The victory moved Berlin to 1-2 in the conference and 1-3 overall. Philip Doin led the way with 9 service points, 11 aces and 9 assists. Brandon Bink had 6 service points and 13 assists.
Soccer All-Stars
Berlin placed 4 members of its league soccer championship team on the Central Hudson Valley All-Star team, with Ryan Willis also named the league’s Most Valuable Player. Joining Ryan on the first team were Seiji Akera and Nicholas Tripepi. Willis led the league in scoring with a school record 34 goals, while Akera and Tripepi anchored the Mountaineer’s defense. Connor Douglas was named to the 2nd team all-stars. Berlin won its third consecutive league championship this past fall, before dropping a close game to Cambridge in the Class C sectionals. [/private]