Several athletic teams at Greenwich Academy were lights out this winter, whether winning a national championship or competing in the Fairchester Athletic Association.
Gators’ Squash Are Once Again National Champions
Greenwich Academy Squash Wins National Championship
The Greenwich Academy Squash team entered the U.S. High School Championships on a mission.
After falling to Baldwin School in last year’s tournament, the Gators went 9-0 this season and were again matched with the Bears this season with the title on the line.
This time, Greenwich Academy clinched the national championship after winning their first four matches of the day, beating Baldwin School by a score of 5-2.
Haley Scott, India Stephenson, Haley Aube, Emma Mactaggart and Jessica Yacobucci all picked up victories for the Gators.
Greenwich Academy started the tournament by playing the Baldwin School JV team and advanced into the semifinals with a victory over Noble & Greenough School. The Gators would secure a trip to the finals with a win over Deerfield Academy.
“I am unbelievably proud of these girls,” Greenwich Academy head coach Luke Butterworth said. “I couldn’t be prouder, to be honest. And it wasn’t just for winning the title, but the way we won it. We won it with togetherness and we were united as a group. The morale of the group was so high and the weekend couldn’t have gone any better, both on and off the court.”
This marks the ninth time that GA has won the national championship and the victory also secured a home town sweep of the Squash Championships with Brunswick also claiming the title for the boys’ side. Following the Patterson Cup win, the Gators would follow it up with a victory at the New England Championships just a few weeks later.
“The girls really stepped up when they needed to step up and were cheering each other on,” Butterworth said. “They were giving each other encouragement throughout the whole weekend. The final was our toughest test. We won our matches when we needed to and we took it to another level in our play.”
GA Hoopsters Has a Bright Future in the FAA
After a brief leave of absence from the FAA playoffs for the past few years, Greenwich Academy finished with a 10-7 regular season record and won their first round playoff game this winter season.
Under head coach and former NBA player Wes Matthews, the Gators clinched the No. 4 seed in the FAA playoffs before falling to eventual tournament champs Hamden Hall.
Freshman twins Kaitlyn and Olivia Davis set the tone for the season, as both pose scoring threats to go with Olivia’s point guard duties and Kaitlyn’s ability to get everyone involved.
“Kaitlyn is a joy to watch and a joy to coach,” said GA head coach Wes Matthews. “She gets everyone involved and she makes everyone better. She lets Brooke Powers be an excellent shooter and she makes her sister, Olivia, a better ball handler. Her presence is priceless.”
The Gators would take down King School 49-28 behind a 20-point performance from Kaitlyn Davis and 12 points from Brooke Powers. The Davis twins accounted for more than half of the team’s offensive output in the playoff win.
Phoebe Morris, Cora Creighton, Brooke Powers and Casey Gottlieb all played important roles in the winning season for the Gators.
Greenwich Academy Swimmers Take Second at New Englands
A memorable season for the Greenwich Academy swimming and diving team was capped off with a second place finish at the New England Championship meet and an FAA Championship.
After going undefeated in dual meets on the season, the Gators (333 pts) finished only behind Deerfield Academy (343.50) at the NEPSAC championships
A tandem of Paula Scanlan, Diana Tramontano, Quinn Scannell and Kate Hazlett won the 200-yard medley relay in the first event of the competition for the Gators with an All-American time of 1:45.58.
Scannell would also take first place in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 1:50.36
Tramontano took third place in the 200-yard individual medley while Hazlett took the top overall spot in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Scanlan, Christina Li, Hannah Subramaniam and Borden Wahl took third place with a time of 1:39.80
In the diving portion, Emma Cannon took fifth place with a total score of 363.70.
GA cruised to an 11-0 season record, winning the Bud Erich Invitational in the process.
Greenwich Sentinel sports editor Paul Silverfarb contributed to this article
