The Staples High School Boys Lacrosse team will hold its annual Sticks for Soldiers event on Saturday as the team hosts the Trumbull Eagles.
The Sticks for Soldiers charity raises funds to assist and support wounded veterans and their families. Its main fundraiser is a high school lacrosse tournament held in November.
On Saturday, there is a suggested, optional donation of $5 for admission with funds raised to support the fall tournament
Pre-game activities begin at 11:45 a.m. with a “shoot out” by grade for all PAL boys lacrosse players.
The Staples High School varsity girls golf team won its season opener today at their home Longshore course, defeating Ridgefield High School 169-217. Senior tri-captain Faith Garcia led the Wrecker victory with a 3-over-par 40 while freshman Alex McMahon, playing her first match, shot a 42. The Staples team ended up last year with a 17-2 record, finishing second in the FCIAC behind Greenwich, which accounted for both Staples losses. Pictured before today’s play are (l-r) Marie McHugh, Analise Brown, Faith Garcia, Mary Bennewitz, and Alex McMahon. Said Patty Kondub, assistant coach: “We are starting our run for the championship.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com
Westporter Andy Kaplan said last July he had given up on golfing at Longshore Club Park, opting to go as far away as Farmington to play on decent links.
Ryan Segrue, who is serving as ValleyCrest’s superintendent for the Longshore golf course, listens to golfers tonight. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com
“The greens, they looked diseased,” Kaplan said. “It was like the surface of the moon, brown, discolored.”
Even pockmarked, he said.
But as Kaplan left a Town Hall presentation tonight by principals of ValleyCrest Landscape Companies, he seemed a bit more optimistic about returning to his hometown course this summer. Calabasas, Calif.-based ValleyCrest has a three-year contract with the town and aims to upgrade the 18-hole golf course while saving the town $755,450 attributed to personnel attrition over three years.
Ten runners from Westport finished today’s 2014 Boston Marathon that saw more than 35,000 runners and an estimated one million spectators pay tribute to the victims of last year’s terrorist bombing.
Staples grad Alicia Kaestli, 24, (pictured in an earlier race) was top female Westport finisher. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Twitter.com photo
For the first time in three decades, an American won the men’s race. Meb Keflezighi finished in 2 hours 8 minutes 37 seconds, a personal best and the second-fastest time ever for an American man at Boston.
According to official results, Ian L. Cadieu, 30, was the top Westport finisher, running the 26.2 miles in 2 hours 55 minutes 12 seconds, good for a 1506 overall place. The Yale graduate, who works at Westport’s Bridgewater Associates, was a three-year letterman in cross country at Great Neck North High School on Long Island, according to his Yale athletics biography.
Second best Westporter’s time was by Jason Martin, 41, with a time of 3 hours 5 minutes 7 seconds for a 3586 over place. And third was Kenneth C. Klegar, 44, in 3 hours 12 minutes 5 seconds for a 4562 place. Top female Westport runner was 2008 Staples grad Alicia Kaestli, 24, in 3 hours 12 minutes 47 seconds for a 4754 overall place. See all searchable results here.
The Staples High School baseball team today edged Greenwich 2-1 in a nine-inning thriller played out on a cold, windy day at home. Greenwich senior Kyle Dunster matched Staples ace Rob Vallone, each throwing six innings of one-run, eight-strikeout baseball. The game ended on a walk-off fly ball hit by senior catcher Adam Dulsky (above) that was misplayed by the Greenwich center fielder, allowing second baseman Zack Azadian to score. The Wreckers improved to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in conference. Rob Chasin for WestportNow.com
Marc Lasry addressing a Milwaukee news conference on Wednesday. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo from nba/bucks.com
Marc Lasry, the hedge fund titan who has a home in Westport’s Greens Farms area along with a Manhattan apartment, says he will be spending “a huge” amount of time in Milwaukee in the future.
Lasry, who is on Westport’s top 10 taxpayer list, and fellow financier Wesley Edens on Wednesday bought the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team for about $550 million from former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl. The purchase is subject to NBA approval, which is expected.
Lasry, whose specialty is investing in distressed companies, will feel at home with the Bucks. The team will finish the regular season with the NBA’s worst record and lowest home attendance.
Lasry and Edens agreed to keep the team in Milwaukee, which has only won one NBA title, in 1970-71. The Bucks reached the finals for the last time in 1974, losing to the Boston Celtics.
Westport residents will have an opportunity Monday, April 21, to meet principals of the maintenance company that aims to upgrade Longshore Club Park’s 18-hole course while saving the town $755,450 over three years, Parks & Recreation Director Stuart McCarthy has announced.
Calabasas, Calif.-based ValleyCrest Landscape Companies has a three-year contract that became effective Jan. 1 following unanimous approval in November by the Board of Selectmen in its final meeting with former First Selectman Gordon Joseloff and Selectman Shelly Kassen and Charles Haberstroh as members. The savings is attributed to personnel attrition, according to McCarthy.
“This is an opportunity for Longshore’s golfers to meet the team at ValleyCrest and hear its plans for Longshore,” McCarthy said. “ValleyCrest is a leader in the industry and we are excited to welcome them to Longshore.”
Scheduled to be at the meeting set for 7 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium are John Crowder, ValleyCrest’s vice president of business development, Terry McGuire, the company’s national director of operations, and Ryan Segrue, golf course superintendent. McCarthy added that Todd Bunnell, ValleyCrest’s director of agronomy, and Vince Gilmartin, northeast director of maintenance operations, will also be present to discuss current course conditions and future plans.
With the 118th running of the Boston Marathon a week away, two Westporters, who competed in last year’s event say they won’t be back this year, but not because of the 2013 terrorist bombing.
Blake Benke and Kathy Muro (holding 2013 Boston Marthon jacket): other reasons for not running this year. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Blake Benke, 37, who completed the Boston Marathon for the 10th time last year and was only a couple blocks away when the explosions happened, said, “It will never be the same for me.
“The day is somewhat tainted. The aftereffects are disturbing, like a pre-9/11 and a post-9/11. Life, as we know it, changed. We were pure and innocent. That changed on a dime.”
Benke said he has many friends who are entered in this year’s event, but he cannot participate. “My absence has nothing to do with last year’s experience,” he said. “I will not be there because I’ve run many long races and am not focused on a marathon at this point.”
The Staples Lady Wreckers took to the field for their season opener in New Fairfield today and won 16-0 behind a shared no hitter tossed by pitchers Gillian Birk and Katie Burke. Assistant Coach Dave McCartney said, “This was one of the games we had to win to be in a position to head back to the state tournament.” All of the starters; three seniors, three sophomores and three freshmen, made it on base safely in what turned out to be a lopsided victory. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Matthew Mandell for WestportNow.com
Olympic champion figure skater Dick Button told an overflow Westport Library audience today he did not want his new book, “Push Dick’s Button: A Conversation on Skating from a Good Part of the Last Century-and a Little Tomfoolery,” to be a memoir nor a history of skating. “What I wanted to accomplish is to help the reader understand what it is they are really seeing on TV when they watch competitive figure skating,” he said. Button said there are a few things about figure skating today that he does not like -– including “the secrecy of judges, the cookie cutter skating programs, and many of the rule changes that are defined in this book.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
