Linked Up Winter Championships – 2015

St. Joseph celebrates its Class M state title. Christian Abraham – CT Post.

Nearly one month exactly. That’s how long it took to crown 35 CIAC team winter champions across eight sports. The first Indoor Track & Field Class title was decided on February 23rd, and after a riveting weekend of competition at Mohegan Sun and Yale, the championships have concluded. Battling snow, cold, and mostly the competition, these champions earned memories that will last a lifetime while capturing the trophy. Here are all the stories for all of those champions. Thanks for following along with us for another memorable and compelling winter sports season.

Girls Basketball:

From the Hartford Courant: It was a dominant individual and team performance as Capital Prep claimed the Class L crown.
From the Norwalk Hour: Wilton’s Class LL state championship, the program’s first, took awhile to sink in.
From the Connecticut Post: A Class M championship for St. Joseph was a dream come true.
From the Waterbury Republican-American: Thomaston continued its trend of memorable finals wins with its Class S championship.

Darien celebrates its Division I hockey championship win. Steve Buono – Darien Times.

Boys Ice Hockey:

From the Hartford Courant: Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks made an early impression on its way to the Division II title.
From the Darien Times: Its previous title was out of sight, but everyone saw this as Darien skated to the Division I crown.
From the Hartford Courant: Painful memories from a year ago fueled E.O. Smith-Tolland to this year’s Division III championship.

Weaver’s bench celebrates the team’s Class M championship victory. Melanie Stengel – Hartford Courant.

Boys Basketball:

From the Waterbury Republican-American: Sacred Heart completed a dream season with the Class S Championship.
From the Connecticut Post: A deep and hungry Bunnell squad came away with the program’s first championship by winning Class L
From the Connecticut Post: It wasn’t easy, but Fairfield Prep finally came away with the Class LL Championship in a thriller.
From the Hartford Courant: A late second-half surge carried Weaver to the Class M title.

The Greenwich boys swim team celebrates its State Open win. H John Voorhees – Connecticut Post.

Boys Swimming & Diving:

From the Connecticut Post: Behind nine event victories, Greenwich rolled to a State Open victory.
From GameTimeCT: A stellar final dive propelled a Daniel Hand freshman to the State Open diving crown.
From the Greenwich Time: Greenwich continued to make itself at home at Wesleyan with another Class LL title.
From the Danbury News-Times: Pomperaug prides itself on winning Class L titles, and the team did it again.
From the Danbury News-Times: Brookfield’s seniors made it four-for-four in Class M championships with another victory.
From the Weston Forum: Weston remained focused on its goal as it claimed the Class S crown.

Woodstock Academy celebrates another State Open Gymnastics Title. John Shishmanian – Norwich Bulletin

Gymnastics:

From the Norwich Bulletin: Some impressive scores were part of Woodstock Academy’s fourth-straight Gymnastics State Open championship.
From the Hartford Courant: The result was in doubt until the final event, but the class L meet ended with Southington earning the crown.
From Shore Publishing: It was a narrow margin, but a familiar result as Daniel Hand earned the class M title.
From the Norwich Bulletin: The fifth-straight class S title was a particularly meaningful one for Woodstock.

Newtown poses with the championship trophy after winning its first State Open. Mike Ross – Danbury News-Times.

Wrestling:

From the Danbury News Times: Newtown continued to set new marks in winning its first State Open title.
From the Newtown Bee: Two was the number for Newtown which repeated as the class LL champions.
From the Danbury News Times: Last weekend’s disappointment fueled this weekend’s success for New Milford in earning the Class L Championship.
From the Norwich Bulletin: Ledyard’s coach refocused his team and the message helped the squad earn a fourth-straight Class M title.
From the Norwich Bulletin: A senior made the most of his last chance and helped carry Windham to another Class S Championship.

Kelsey Swanson and Tolland ran to the State Open Indoor Track title. – Jonathon Henninger – Hartford Courant.

Girls Indoor Track & Field:

From the Hartford Courant: Tolland had to wait for a decision, and then got to celebrate a State Open title.
From the Hartford Courant: Bloomfield tried something different, but got the same results with a Class S Championship.
From GameTimeCT: Wilbur Cross was well aware of what was at stake while capturing the program’s first state title since 2004.
From the Hartford Courant: The team proved its focus as Tolland repeated its Class M title performance.
From the Hartford Courant: Glastonbury wasn’t worried about a single race, it was worried about the ultimate goal of claiming the Class LL Championship.

The Hillhouse boys celebrate the teams’ State Open Indoor title. Catherine Avalone – New Haven Register.

Boys Indoor Track & Field:

From GameTimeCT: It was a victory and celebration a year in the making for Hillhouse in earning the State Open Championship.
From the Hartford Courant: Fear of ending the team’s streak fueled Bloomfield to extend its Class S Championship streak.
From the Hartford Courant: Windsor’s depth was on display as the team earned the Class L title.
From GameTimeCT: Execution was the key as Hillhouse captured the Class M Championship.
From GameTimeCT: Danbury cruised to a repeat title as the champions of Class LL.