ECC Medium Perfect Fit For Ledyard Sports

You couldn't blame Ledyard High sports enthusiasts if they order their steaks and hamburgers cooked "medium well" from now on.

Moving to the ECC Medium has worked out extremely well for Ledyard teams this fall.

After competing recently in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large for years, most Ledyard teams moved to the Medium this season based on enrollment figures. Bacon Academy, which now has more students than Ledyard, moved to the Large to replace the Colonels.

The formula of playing twice against divisional teams of similar size coupled with improved talent has produced a proliferation of championships that even the most optimistic Colonel followers could not have predicted.

A quick checklist:

Boys Cross Country - ECC Medium title

Girls Cross Country - ECC Medium title

Boys' Soccer - On pace for co ECC Medium title

Girls Volleyball - State Tourney bound after 2-16 season last year.

The boys' soccer team is tied with defending state champ Montville at 7-1 in the Medium with two winnable games remaining against Windham and Stonington left in a quest for an ECC Divisional co-title, which would be the program's first ECC crown since coach Bill Glenney was a LHS player in 1996.

Ledyard was 3-11-2 overall last year (2-7-1 in the ECC Large).

The boys' cross country team, 4-6 in the Large (7-7 overall) last year, finished third overall in the ECC Open and wrapped up an undefeated ECC Medium season for a division title.

The girls' cross country team, 4-9 overall (2-8 Large) last year, posted a 10-1 record, won the ECC Medium, its first ECC crown since 1992, and finished second overall in the ECC Open Thursday.

The girls' volleyball team, 2-16 last year, has qualified for the state tournament berth with a 8-6 overall record to date. The Colonels did play in the Medium last year, losing all eight matches.

The football team, 4-1 now, has competed in the Medium for three years, but enjoyed success in the Large due to its tradition of excellence. Other fall sports, though, have benefitted from its disassociation with Norwich Free Academy, three times the size of Ledyard, and larger schools such as Fitch, East Lyme, Waterford, and the soccer factory of Woodstock.

While it would be unfair to pin all of Ledyard's success on division change, it's evident that playing peers such as Montville, Windham, New London and Plainfield gives Ledyard a better chance to succeed.

"The switch has helped a little as we aren't seeing NFA, Woodstock, East Lyme twice a year," soccer coach Glenney said. "The L division is a battle in every game because schools have so many kids to work with, the smaller schools in the medium have some talent but overall, on numbers alone, the large schools tend to provide more problems top to bottom.  I think we would be competitive in the Large, not 7-1 like now, but competitive."

Glenney's Colonels (10-3 overall) were a team on the rise with a strong group of sophomores who took their lumps last season. A balanced attack of offense, paced by Zach Higgins, Anthony Saccone and Zach Ash, and defense, led by goalkeeper Jason Smith, gives Ledyard a complete team.

"The team has been working very hard since the summer," Glenney said. "They were lifting and running all summer long and the 18 of them are a very tight group that get along and understand that the greater good of the team comes before the individual.  Offensively we are scoring more than we have in years and thats because of the talent and hard work that these kids have provided. Ryan Fabry, the Lyman Coach, said he couldn't find any area of weakness on the team, just solid players all around and I would agree with him."

Therefore, Glenney believes Ledyard would be state tourney-bound no matter in the Large or Medium this year.

"I don't think that we have exceeded expectations," Glenney said. "I knew that this team would be good this year and knew that if we could gel together we could compete for the ECC Medium title."

Ledyard lost early to Montville, 1-0, and dropped two one-goal games to NFA and East Lyme in double overtime. The Colonels' offense has come alive, erupting in a 3-1 win over Montville, which had allowed just five goals all season, and in a 3-1 win over improved New London this week.

"The big difference in the game against Montville was that the kids were upset with their performance the first time around and wanted to prove they could play with the third ranked team in the state," Glenney said. "We had a game plan drawn up defensively and offensively and we stuck to it and put together a great 80 minutes. We have six guys with five or more goals. When you have that much diversity it makes it tough for teams to key in on any one player and we made things click against Montville."

Glenney remembers when Ledyard challenging for soccer supremacy was expected.

"People have forgotten that we won a state title in 2001 and we had a few down years these last two, but Ledyard soccer is coming on strong," he said. "I reminded the kids that the last ECC title at LHS for boys soccer was my senior year in 1996 and I would love for this kids to come back and get one 15 years later. I am excited for these kids. They deserve it."

Cross country turnaround

For the cross country programs, leaving the Large left two automatic losses against NFA behind. The Wildcats won the ECC Championships in boys and girls races Thursday.

Coach Pete Hunt's boys' team, which finished third in the ECC Open behind NFA and East Lyme ofthe Large, returned its key runners from a .500 team last year and expected great improvement, if not an undefeated Medium division record. The Colonels' depth spurred its strong season in a year when many conference teams lacked a competitive fifth runner.

Returning All-Stater Corey Coates finished 17th in the ECC Championships at 18:25 over 3.1 miles. Senior Mike Delia provided a big lift with a 13th place in 18:02, and Tyler Torelli was 23rd in 18:34. Tyler Dunckle, Nick Lauer and Max Armstrong gave Hunt a deep pack.

"This group has not really won anything before, so the ECC Medium title was special for this group," Hunt said. "They worked hard and deserved it.  It was great winning it in the same year the girls won because Bruce Douglass has taken me under his wing and taught me so much, so to win for the first time in the same year as him was special for me."

Douglass, girls' coach for the last 39 years, hardly predicted an ECC Medium crown in preseason, labeling defending champ Plainfield and Stonington as favorites. But the Colonels were consistent all season and peaked in the ECC Meet, finishing a strong second with 89 points behind NFA's 70.

Senior Cedar Nelson repeated as the ECC's No. 2 runner in 19:51, placing seven seconds behind Plainfield upstart sophomore Kerri Ruffo. Colonel sophomore Jordan Houdeshell, a transfer from Virginia Beach, gave Ledyard a huge lift with a sixth-place finish. Senior Lindsay Ackley overcame her chronic shin splints for the second straight season and finished 15th in the ECC.

"My 7th runner had a bad day and finished 60th (in the ECCs)," Douglass said. "Last year after Cedar and Lindsay, my whole team was past 60th. We've worked hard to improve and the second place overall finish was a complete surprise, probably as important as the division title."

Nelson, who finished second last year to Fitch's Brandy LeClair, was the ECC's top senior runner.

"Cedar ran a masterful race," Douglass said. "At the mile she was a distant fifth. She ran the front pack down on superior pace passing one at a time. Cedar was sharp and driving hard for the last mile. She gained a lot of confidence.

"Lindsey ran heroically for 15th," Douglass added. "She has severe shin splints and runs in extreme pain. Jordan had the race of her season, Minnie Zhang improved dramatically from last year and one of the biggest surprises of the day was freshman Emme Cronin. She ran so fast that I missed her as the pack went through the first mile because she wasn't where I expected her to be." Justine Wheeler also performed well in sixth for the team."

Volleyball's Quiet Rise

The Colonel volleyball team will not win the ECC Medium, but no team has shown more improvement. Third-year coach Shirley Karkow has directed Ledyard from 2-16 last year to 8-6 and a state tourney berth this year.

The surge is due to an infusion of young talent with select returnees, plus  Karkow's commitment to run a more intense program.

"We talked about the three areas that we needed to work on: unity, physical fitness and skill development," Karkow said.

The team started summer conditioning in July at Ledyard High's weight room fitness center in and played off-season volleyball at camps and local leagues.

"Most varsity players are involved in sports year round and are committed to making themselves better athletes," Karkow said. "The leadership from our captains is the driving force of the team. They understand the importance of team unity and work on positive communication and keeping everyone together every day."

Senior Laura Levis and junior Kylie Fustini are captains. Other varsity players are: Seniors Danielle Giggi, Tori Wolfe, sophomores Ari Fustini, Alyssa Gregory, Rachel Gernert, Brianna Riley, freshman Michelle Klinikowski and Jenny Nohara.

This is shaping up as one of Ledyard's best fall seasons in many years. One of the common denomenators is the ECC Medium Division alliance. Once a solid Class L school in the '90s, Ledyard's population has steadily decreased since.

"When I ran at Fitch in 1997, Ledyard was Class L with us," Hunt said. "When I became coach six years ago, Ledyard was Class MM and now we're Class M, so in reality we are finally racing against schools are size."