We see all the time on ESPN people giving grades to teams. Whether it is with the draft, free agency, or in this case the overall scope of the season. This one will be a little different though, instead of diving into the ridiculously minute stats that the professionals have I’ll be using three main stats to describe the season. A coach, player, or my expectation for that team and how they lived up to that. If they were supposed to be good and weren’t they will get a bad grade and vice versa. How well they performed in playoff competition if applicable. If you win a championship you will get a good grade. And finally, the amount of talent on the team. This can be current talent or promise for the future.
Boys Tennis: A+
In a season of incredibly high expectations, Morgan boys tennis not only overcame them, but absolutely blew them out of the water, going 18-0-0 including beating #1 ranked Suffield 5-2. Morgan is ranked #5 in class S and getting absolutely robbed of a higher position in my opinion. Out of all of Connecticut, only three teams went undefeated: Morgan, East Lyme, and New Canaan. Out of those three teams, Morgan had the most volume of wins, East Lyme winning 14, and New Canaan winning 15.
Coach Christopher Zawadski had even higher goals than everyone else outside of the team. “At the beginning of the season, we had team goals, and we had individual goals for team goals. We wanted to win the Shoreline Conference. We
wanted a perfect season. We wanted to have multiple kids make the all-conference team, and we wanted to take home
at least two championships,” said Zawadski.
Coach Zawadski’s goals were a tall task, winning two championships in high school tennis is tough. You are competing as an individual either in singles or doubles. For players like Nathan Miller, having to play against all of the best tennis players in the Shoreline is incredibly hard to win one game. Not to mention how tough it is to win 3 in a row as the number one-ranked player, or more as a lower rank.
Another key part to Zawadski’s goals was winning a state championship as a team. If they had completed this goal they probably would have gotten an A++ from me, “At this point, A plus, if we win states, I’ll keep the A plus. If we don’t win states, then obviously it will not be an A plus,” said Zawadski.
Although they were not able to accomplish this goal because of their loss to Suffield in the State semifinals, they still had an incredible season. Even though coach Zawadski said it wouldn’t be an A+ for him, it is still an A+ for me.
Baseball: A+
After a shaky first couple of games, dropping two out of three to begin the season, Morgan baseball pulled it together, winning their next 8 in a row en route to a 14-6 season where they are ranked eighth in Class S. On Friday, May 29, Morgan took home the Shoreline championship, defeating Cromwell 9-5. This is their first time even making it to the Shoreline final in 10+ years.
For assistant coach Chad Neri this is the goal every year. “Our goal is always to win shorelines and states… we gotta just keep playing our game. We can’t let other teams kind of dictate what we’re gonna do on the field. We gotta play small ball when we have to; we gotta play gritty; we gotta play tough. We’re a fast team, but we don’t have a lot of
size or strength. So we just gotta keep doing what we do best, and that’s to pitch, play defense, and steal bases,” said Neri.
They have not won a shoreline championship since 1997. Now that Shorelines are over, they are fighting for the coveted state championship that they have never won in Morgan baseball history, losing in championship games three times; 1968, 2015, and 2016.
Also having three second All-Conference team players in Trevor Powell, Zach Viens, and Nathan Levy as well as one honorable mention in Jacoby Brown means this team was not a fluke. They have a ton of stacked talent, including players like Travis Aiken, who went off this year, and Jack Henry Palazzo, who probably would have been first team if he didn’t tear his UCL mid-season.
Unfortunately they were not able to pull through in the state championship and lost to Coventry 11-1. However, this is still one of the best seasons in recent Morgan baseball history and with a majority of the core being juniors, they have a real shot to do something big next year too.
Boys Lacrosse: B
After a middle-of-the-road season where the expectations were higher than the results, it is hard to find a grade better than maybe a C+ or B-. However, for this Morgan lacrosse team, there is a lot to be excited about.
“Our goals were having a winning record, playing our heart out, and getting better as a team,” said senior captain Jake Lichack.
Obviously, the winning record didn’t go their way as they went 7-8, which is not terrible but not where they want to be. There is something to be said for how young the team was, though, with 18 members of the team being
freshmen and sophomores. Sophomores like second-team all-conference player Bowen Gersz and many others had to step into varsity roles.
“We were gritty at practices, really putting in the effort, and we definitely did improve over the season…I would give it a B just because of how much people improved, but obviously our record wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” said Lichack.
Even if the record didn’t show it, these players thrived and showed great potential for the future of the team. They were easily able to take care of teams they should have like Cromwell and Valley. And that is why they get a B for this season and hopefully more A’s to come.
Girls Lacrosse: B+
After finishing 10-6 and making the state and shoreline tournament, Girls Lacrosse had already accomplished what they had set out to do. They had a good season this year compared to the last couple of seasons. The last couple of seasons were not what they had hoped, finishing 7-8 last year, 9-9 2 years ago, and 5-11 in 2023.
“[Our goals were] to make shorelines, and to make the state tournaments… So this year, it was to do better overall,
and we actually had the best record in a long time. We finished 10 and six, which is the best record we’ve had in at least 12 years, so we ended up doing really well,” said junior Emerson Dunning.
Although they were eliminated in the first round of states and shorelines, even qualifying is a big deal. There are
only four teams that qualify for the Shoreline tournament out of the 12 teams in the conference. They also had five players win all-conference first and second team, as well as Shoreline player of the year Emma Holecz, and Shoreline goalie of the year Annabelle Parent.
This team is one of the most hopeful for next year. All of the players mentioned for either all-conference first, second, or honorable mention are juniors. This means next year the same core group of players will be going back with even more determination to do what they were not able to do this year.
Golf: B+
The golf team might be the most unexpected performer of all of these teams. After last season, which was disappointing to say the least, Morgan was able to make a huge comeback and have a great season for the expectations they had. They ended up being ranked tenth in the state tournament and fourth in the Shoreline conference.
“The goals for this season, as they are every season, is to commit ourselves to a very competitive match schedule, to
uphold ourselves to the highest of standards when it comes to integrity and character… As far as personal goals, one was to make the state tournament and be ranked in the top 12. We did that.. The other was to finish in the shoreline seated in the top four. We did that as well,” said head coach Eric Bergman.
Even though this year was great, Morgan golf faces a large problem for the future. Out of the top six players on the team, four are seniors. This leaves an extremely young and inexperienced team for the foreseeable future. Players like freshman Grayson Meder and sophomore Landon Coley have stepped into huge roles, but it comes down to whether the other players can step up and surround them with the talent they need to be successful.
“I think having a sophomore who made second team all conference with a slight chance of making all state is a great way to build a team. Again, like I said, I think with three, four, and five guys working on their games over the summer, shooting in the mid 40s… It all depends on the commitment that these players put in over the summer and into the fall,” said Bergman.
Track and Field: B+ – A
It is difficult to give a grade to an individual sport like track and field. It really depends event to event how players do individually. In this article, I will talk about who gets an A from me.
The boys’ 4×800 relay team gets an A for this year. With a PB of 8:16 they set a new Morgan record in that event. They also qualified for the Shoreline championship, where they placed third; the state championship, where they placed fourth, and the state opens. This event was run by freshman Darren Haverkampf, sophomore Andrew Costanza, sophomore Micheal Bowker, and senior Owen Lombardi.
Senior captain Addy Reed runs the 1600m and the 3200m. She also qualified for Shorelines, states, and state opens. She placed top 5 in Shorelines and states for both races, and top 20 in state opens, where she had to compete against people from all over CT. Her PB this year was 5:14, a school record for girls mile, and 11:24 in the 2 mile.
Out of the top 15 1600m times at Morgan, sophomore Michael Bowker has 13. He also qualified for Shorelines, states, and state opens in the mile as well as the 4×800. In the mile in all 3 meets he broke the school record that he previously
Freshman Addy Massey also did the same thing as all the others. In Shorelines and states, she ran the 100m and 200m sprints, and in state opens, she ran the 200m. Massey won the Shoreline 100 and 200, finished seventh in states for the 100 and second for the 200. In the state open, she finished 17th in the 200. Her PBs were 12.62 in the 100 and 26.04 in the 200. Compared to other freshmen, she is fourth in CT in the 100 and first in CT in the 200.
Freshman Darren Haverkampf ran the 800m event as well as the 4×800. He also qualified for Shorelines, states, and Adidas nationals for the 800m. In Shorelines, he finished seventh, and in states, he finished 12th. His PB this year for the 800m was 2:05. Compared to other freshmen, he is second in CT.
Junior Joseph Morrissey qualified for Shorelines and states in the high jump and javelin events. He placed fifth in the Shoreline for javelin and second for the high jump. In states, he placed ninth in javelin and 11th in high jump. His PBs were 128’5” for javelin and 6’0” for high jump, which ties the Morgan record.
Softball: D+
A less-than-ideal season from the Morgan softball team, going 0-20. Not only that, but they lost every game except one
by more than 10 runs. An outcome where it is hard to pull anything good away besides the experiences. This team knows exactly what it feels like to be at the lowest you can possibly be.
It is especially hard to win in a conference that has been dominated by one team, North Branford. They have now won 11 Shoreline conference championships in a row. The last time Morgan was there was in 2015.
In a season of woes, there is one thing to take away from it though: everyone will be back next year. This team had no senior experience or leadership to help them get through it. They had to rely on juniors and even sophomores to step into a leadership role. Now, next year, this team will be one of the most battle-tested in the entire league and will be able to withstand any hardships that come their way.
Girls Tennis: C+
A season with very little to be shocked about for girls’ tennis. They finished with a record of 7-8 and squeaked into the state tournament as a 15 seed, where they ended up getting beaten by the second seed, and eventual runner-up, Holy Cross.
Senior captain Tessa Gebauer received all-conference second team honors, and sophomore Mia Zhimicaicela and senior Kate Gardner received honorable mentions. Singles one, one out of two doubles one players, and both doubles
three players are graduating, however with a pretty good season and a match of experience in the state tournament, this team has a lot to look forward to.
The experience will play a big role, with many of the varsity players being underclassmen. Especially with players like singles two freshman Elyse Vetrano, singles four sophomore Leila Chusino, and many others who will step into larger roles next year. For now, they get a C+, but we hope to see more in the future.
