Above: ARHS tweeted congrats to its Girls Outdoor Track team for winning the District Championship over the weekend. Four more Gonk teams will try to match the accomplishment this afternoon. (image from @ARHSAthletics)
Algonquin has four varsity teams vying to become District Champions this afternoon. (If they don’t get rained out.) If successful, it would make five District Champ teams for the school this spring.
While I’m catching up readers on the latest ARHS Athletics accomplishments, I’m also looking back at highlights from news stories I didn’t cover this school year.
Spring Tourney Journeys
Last year, the Spring sports didn’t even get a chance to play. This year, they were the only sports allowed to take part in true post-season tournaments.
As of this morning, the following ARHS varsity teams are scheduled to compete in Central Mass District Finals this afternoon:
Tuesday, Jun 15, 2021
- 4:00 pm – Boys Tennis vs. Westborough @ Home
- 4:00 pm – Boys Volleyball vs. Doherty Memorial @ Doherty Memorial High School
- 5:00 pm – Girls Lacrosse vs. Bromfield @ Littleton Middle School
- 7:30 pm – Boys Lacrosse vs. Grafton @ Littleton Middle School [Alumni Field]
Meanwhile, Girls Outdoor Track already won the CMass Class A Championship meet last Saturday. (Read about their 2nd straight CMass win in the Telegram.) They are scheduled to compete in the State Championship on Thursday, June 24th. (Time and place TBD). Although Boys Outdoor Track only came in 4th at the CMass tournament, they’ll also compete at States.
Two other sports ended their journeys on high notes. ARHS Athletics tweeted two weeks ago that Girls and Boys Rugby both won their final games.
A few other spring teams made it to CMass playoffs earlier this season, but didn’t earn the right to continue on:
- Baseball made it into the CMass Championship Finals where they lost 5-12 to St. Paul of Worcester
- Girls Tennis made it to the quarter finals before losing to Wachusett Regional 1-4
- Softball lost to Wachusetts 0-22 in the 1st Round
Gonk’s Baseball program also made headlines for another reason this spring. The JV team features its first female player. Sophomore Ellie Westphal was covered by The Harbinger and the Telegram. (Back in 2018, the Southborough resident was awarded the Eric Green Sportsmanship Award by Southborough Little League.)
This season, the Telegram also covered the strong prospects for a varsity Baseball pitcher (Sam Hill), the Boys Tennis team, Boys Lacrosse and Girls Lacrosse. They also covered the small, dedicated bunch of Gonk Wrestlers.
Highlights from Earlier Seasons
As I noted, teams competing in Fall and Winter sports weren’t able to take part in traditional post-season tournaments this year. But they did have some chances to shine. Here are highlights from media coverage over the course of the year.
Girls Gymnastics – The Harbinger covered the team’s undefeated season and Gymnast Acacia Truong’s invitation to compete at Nationals. The Telegram also covered the team at the season’s start.
Swim & Dive Teams – The pape also covered the Boys and Girls Swim teams’ undefeated seasons and posted a slideshow from the unusual season. (Competing teams performed on different days, then compared times.) The Telegram focused on the team’s 24 season coach, Jean Fedak.r
Field Hockey – The Harbinger wrote about the Pod 8 Champions. (This fall, athletics was limited to playing in small “pods” of schools.) It also covered the retirement of Dan Welty as the coach after 19 years. The Telegram covered the accomplishments of one of the team’s players, Day Ruffo.
Girls Soccer – Another Pod 8 Champion covered by The Harbinger.
Girls Volleyball – The Telegram previewed what was referred to as an upcoming “battle of perfect squads” between ARHS and Westborough in the Fall 2 season final week. (Post-coverage, ARHS lost 2-3.)
Football – The Telegram focused on the team’s resilience during a difficult season.
Girls Hockey – The Telegram focused on the regional group of players including students from other high schools.
Cross Country – Metrowest/Milford Daily News profiled runners Will Lambert and Ada Gebauer and the Telegram covered their Pod 8 individual titles.
