High Schools: Duggan pulls away from Turners in fourth quarter (PHOTOS)

The Duggan Academy press gave the Turners Falls boys basketball team problems Wednesday night.  

The Thunder trailed 37-32 heading into the final eight minutes of action when Duggan turned up its press, forced some turnovers and converted them into easy buckets to pull away with a 54-47 victory in an independent game in the Powertown.

Duggan led 25-10 at the half. 

Levin Prondecki led the Thunder (0-10) with 19 points. Alex Quesada continued to shoot the ball well, scoring 17 points, while Branden Truesdell had four points, Jake Lavin scored three points and Deven Sloan and Cam Burnett each had two points in the loss. 

Three different Turners Falls boys swimmers won their event on Wednesday in a meet with Central and Renaissance in Springfield. 

Nik Martin took the 50 free with a time of 26.12 and the 100 free with a swim of 1:00.03. Desmond Wallace won the 100 back (1:15.06) and Matt Sibley took first in the 100 breast (1:42.12) for the Thunder.

The Turners boys defeated Renaissance, 46-29, but fell to the Golden Hawks, 56-32.  

The Turners girls fell to the Golden Eagles, 56-32, and lost to Renaissance, 36-22. Leah Gump took first in two events, the 100 fly (1:18.69) and the 200 IM (2:49.00) and Sophia McComb won the 500 free (6:48.03) in the loss.

Ella Guidaboni’s time of 2:57.06 was the top time between the Thunder and Renaissance. 

It was a successful trip for the Mohawk Trail Nordic ski team on Sunday in Dalton, competing in the 2021-22 Mass Nordic Classic, which also served as a skate qualifier for the U16 and NENSA Eastern High School Championships.

Mohawk Trail’s Eleanor Meunier, who attends Hampshire Regional, placed 23rd with a combined time of 33:42 to secure a spot on the Mass. Eastern team. Fellow Warriors Sylvie Mahon-Moore and Kala Garrido — both of whom attend Hampshire — earned spots as alternates, with Mahon-Moore taking 27th with a time of 34:40 and Garrido placing 28th with a time of 34:44. 

Mohawk Trail’s Vincent Gauthier was the fastest finisher on the boys side for his team, as he placed 32nd in the U16 qualifiers with a time of 30:56 while Augustus Niswonger placed 42nd (33:36) and West Williams took 57th (33:28). 

The U16 Championships will be March 12-13 in Jackson, N.H., and the Eastern High School Championships will be held March 19-20 at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Maine. 

Mt. Institute Ski

The second Mt. Institute Ski League race of the season took place on Wednesday at Berkshire East, with the Northfield Mount Hermon girls team placing four girls in the top 10 to take first with a score of 223. 

Hogger Chiara Pinci took first overall with a combined two run time of 91.13 on the giant slalom course. Olivia Weinstein took third (93.75), Parker Toyloy placed eighth (96.48) and Areia Heilman came in ninth (97.31) for NMH. 

The Deerfield Academy girls took second with 211 points after Josephine Cramer placed second (93.27), Jing Wang earned fifth (95.47) and Hadley Carey took sixth (95.59). 

On the boys side, Deerfield Academy’s Johnny Monty’s combined two run time of 85.38 on the giant slalom course earned him first overall and helped lead the Big Green to a first place team finish with 263 points. 

Monty was joined in the top 10 by fellow DA skiers Tait Kline (third, 86.28), Alexander Grosse (fourth, 89.17), Joe Brown (sixth, 91.40), Andrew Lewis (eighth, 92.24) and Ben Martino (ninth, 92.78). 

The NMH boys earned second with a score of 225. Hogger Ryan Choi took second with a combined time of 86.15 while Toby King came in 10th (93.39). 

DA scores

The Deerfield Academy boys hockey team extended its win streak to three on Wednesday with a 5-2 win over Westminster. 

The Big Green girls hockey team fell to Pomfret on Wednesday, 1-0. The DA boys squash team beat Westminster, 7-0, and Millbrook, 7-0, on Wednesday.