Hornet's Notes: BHS Track Star Excels at the Collegiate Level

Fitter Continues to Excel on the Track at College

During her years as a runner on Branford's track team, Maggie Fitter helped anchor one of the best relay teams in the program's history. Now that she runs for Keane State College, Fitter is still playing a vital role in her relay team. Earlier this month she helped Keane State's distance medley team place third in the NCAA Division III championships. The performance earned Fitter All-America honors.

Fitter graduated from Branford in 2009. Her senior year she anchored two state championship relay teams. During indoor track, the sprint medley relay won the Class M state championship and finished third in the state open. In the outdoor season, she anchored the 4x800 relay team which won the Class MM state championship and competed at a national meet. In high school, also ran the 400 and 800 meter races.

This year marked Fitter's second year with the Keene State program. In addition to her performance at the NCAA Division III championships, Fitter also helped lead Keane State to a second place finish in February at the Little East Conference championships by winning the 800 meters and mile races.  As a freshman, Fitter earned the Little East Conference rookie indoor track runner of the year. She runs cross country for Keene State, too.

Spring Sports Underway at the High School

The high school's spring sports season has begun. There are numerous opportunities to check out the school's best athletes. The following is the schedule of home openers for each sport:

Baseball: April 6 against Jonathan Law High School at 4 p.m. by running the Little League evaluations this month.

Softball: April 8 against West Haven at 4 p.m.

Boys' Lacrosse: April 11 against Old Lyme at 7 p.m.

Girls' Lacrosse: April 6 against North Branford at 7 p.m.

Boys' Tennis: April 11 against Xavier at 3:45p.m.

Girls' Tennis: April 6 against Guilford at 3:45 p.m.

Boys' Track: April 7 against Wilbur Cross and Shelton at 3:45 p.m.

Girls' Track: April 6 against Career and Hillhouse at 3:45 p.m.

You can find the full schedules for all teams by clicking here.

Looking Back at Accomplishments in Earlier Seasons

As we get ready for the spring sports season, it's worth recognizing again those athletes who excelled during the winter season. The Southern Connecticut Conference in their sport - Kyle Nolan in basketball; Nick Blake in hockey; and Anthony Carroll and Diana Saaveedra cheerleading.

It's also not too late to recognize two fall sport athletes who were honored by the SCC as Scholar Athletes - Cameron Brown and Paige Simmons.

Cameron Brown earned All-Oronoque Division honors in soccer and is a captain of the school's sailing team. Paige Simmons is a captain of both the field hockey and girls' lacrosse teams. She played a key role on the field hockey team's run to the Class M state semifinals last fall.

Bittersweet Hoops Victory for One BHS Alum

The BHS boys basketball team suffered a but the loss was bittersweet for one former Hornet. Mike Conner, who coaches Lyman Hall, is a 1999 BHS graduate who played for Hornets' coach Jake Paluzzi. Earlier this month, he led Lyman Hall to a 65-59 overtime victory over Branford. This may have been his last year of coaching as he is interim principal at Troupe Middle School in New Haven and if he assumes the full-time job, he will need to resign as coach.

Before the game, Conner posed with assistant coach Rick Healey, another BHS alumn who graduated in 2006, and even donned a red Hornet jacket for a photo. He commented about how if he lost, it would be fitting that it came at the hands of Branford, where he got his start. Unfortunatley for Branford, his Lyman Hall team was victorious. Conner eventually helped lead Lyman Hall to the Class L semifinals, where they lost to Northwest Catholic.