Rockets Review: Winter Season Comes to a Close

Girls Basketball in Division I Tournament

Girls Basketball earned the 13 seed in DI South and traveled to #4 seed Franklin on Tuesday night. The girls put up a strong effort, entering the half only down 4, and while the home team built a double digit lead in the 2nd half, the Rockets battled back and put the pressure on in the closing minutes, however there just was not enough time left, and Needham fell 54-47.  Also on Tuesday, 3 Needham athletes, Emerson Boyd, Matt Chmielewski and Eric Silverman competed in the MIAA Alpine Ski Championships at the Berkshire East Ski Area.

Boys Wrestling Hits All-State Tournaments

After a successful run through the Sectional, State, All-State Tournaments, seniors Mark Carroll, John Cronin and Mikey Khibkin advanced to the New England Championships, beginning on Friday in Providence.  Below is the write up from Head Coach Paul Ahern about the event:

Needham entered the NE Championships with a strong contingent of athletes, and started tough, as Senior Mikhail Khibkin won by pin over his Vermont opponent in the opening round. In the next, he faced a three-time Rhode Island Champ and lost 3-2. Dropping to the consolations, he lost in overtime to a runner-up from Rhode Island.

Senior Mark Carroll, in his second appearance at New Englands, qualified to the second day with two dominating wins over Vermont (major decision) and Connecticut (pin) before falling to the number two ranked New England wrestler in his weight from Rhode Island.
Senior John Cronin's outstanding post-season run ended, as well, but not before he made significant noise and found himself in the top-12 in New England. Cronin had a quick pin over a New Hampshire third-placer, and then a major decision, 11-3 over a Vermont Champ, before losing to the Champ from New Hampshire.

Needham was one of only a handful of teams in the state to qualify three wrestlers for the tournament, and again, in elite company to have more than one wrestler win a match.

New England Indoor Track Championships

Also competing in a New England Tournament, the Indoor Track Championships, on Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Junior Adrian Amaya finished 11th overall in the 2 mile in a season best time of 9:36.59.

Dance and Cheer Championships

Capping off the weekend, and the winter season, were the Dance and Cheer Teams.  Dance traveled to Braintree for the Winter State Championships on Saturday morning and had a great performance, finishing 3rd only to Burncoat HS (2nd) and the host Wamps of Braintree (1st).  On Sunday, Cheer traveled to Whitman Hanson HS to take part in the DI South Regionals.  After placing 5th in the BSC Championships, the girls matched this finish, as they finished 5th in the competition.

Tune in on Tuesday night this week to the Needham Channel as the DI State Champion NHS Boys Soccer Team, along with their Player-of-the-Year Mac Steeves and Coach-of-the-Year Don Brock, will be recognized and honored at the Needham Selectman's Meeting, and tune in later in March as practices for the Spring sports season get going on Monday, March 18th, with regular season competitions beginning on March 28th.

For Needham Athletics program updates and links, and to follow the NHS teams through the postseason, please visit http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/athletics and follow on Twitter:@NHSRockets. 

See also the NHS Boosters Athletic Events Photo Galleries atwww.davearnoldphotography.com for photos of Needham HS athletes and teams in action.