Sunday, March 14, 2010
CHS girls basketball has a good core returning next season and should be strong again.
When a program with as much tradition, history and success as Columbia has, sees its season ended abruptly in its own home gym, it may be hard to look at it as a good year. But when you've been coaching as long as head coach Johanna Wright, you don't look to championships and wins and losses to define your success. "I do look at the season as a success," the 26-year head coach said. "A successful season to me is kids being good students and doing well and moving onto college. Basketball is a means to an end." The Cougar girls saw their streak of conference and state sectional championships come to an end this season. In the semifinals of the North II Group 4 state sectional championships, Columbia ran into a North Hunterdon team with a …
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The MMS boys lost 53-39 but ended their season with an impressive 11-5 record.
Maplewood Middle School 6th grade basketball team lost the championship game of the Suburban League to West Orange 53-39 at Maplewood Middle School Monday evening. The game was an exciting one with Maplewood battling back from a 14-point halftime deficit to close within 5 points, but West Orange's six field goals from beyond the 3-point arc proved to be too much to overcome. Coach Andrew Wozniak commented, "Unfortunately, we had a few too many shots rolling in an out of the basket from the outside and we missed a few too many easy shots from the inside, as our team did not have all the offensive balance and scoring from our players in the Championship game as we did in some of the other games." Coach Jay Brown added, "We did not have our …
Monday, March 8, 2010
Playoffs draw to a close for Cougar teams with mixed results.
It was a bittersweet week for Cougar Nation. There were two big winners—and two very tough losses. Starting with the good news, Columbia's Henry Scott was sensational at the Meet of Champions this weekend. The senior swimmer became the fifth Essex County boys swimmer to win an M-of-C crown in the last 21 years, claiming first place in the 200 yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Scott has been a large part of Columbia's resurgent swimming program which finished 7-2 this season, and advanced to the second round of the sectional playoffs. The Columbia boys fencing team claimed it first state championship since 2007, fending off Bernards 15-12 at Morris Hills High School. It was Columbia's fourth state title since 2003. I had never seen a …
Sunday, March 7, 2010
More good news? The CHS boys 200 Freestyle team won its C final relay!
SPORTS|Sunday, March 7
Columbia High School swimmer Henry Scott won the 100 Fly (50.59 seconds) and the 200 Free (1 min 42.14 seconds) at the meet of champions today. Scott's 200 Free time breaks his school record from last year. Meanwhile, the CHS boys 200 Freestyle relay came in first in the "C" Relay (17th overall) with another CHS record-breaking time of 1:30.80, besting yesterday's time which had broken a school time record from just a few weeks ago. The CHS bosy 200 Freestyle team actually achieved the twelfth fastest time overall at the meet, but after pre-lims yesterday—in which they placed 17th overall—they were swimming in the C final Sunday. Reported swim mom Lindsay Scott, "All the boys got to stand on the top podium step!" The 200 Freestyle team …
The CHS boys 200 Relay team placed 17th overall at the meet of champions.
SPORTS|Sunday, March 7
Saturday, March 6, the Columbia High School boys competed at the prelimimary round of the High School meet of championships for swimming. Among the boys, Henry Scott advanced to go into the top 8 championship heat in both of his individual events, the 100 Yard Butterfly (ranked 4th) and the 200 Yard Freestyle (ranked 3rd). These races are all close going into the finals as all the times are only hundredths of a second apart. The Columbia boys 200 Free relay team came in 17th place, which means they will swim as the top team in the pre-consolation finals today. Yesterday, they swam the event in 1 minute 31.5 seconds breaking their own record from a few weeks ago by almost a second. Swimmers were Nigel Hunter, Robbie Gottlieb, Venka Duvvuri …
Saturday, March 6, 2010
North Hunterdon eliminates two-time defending champs from sectional playoffs.
The Columbia girls basketball season game to a shocking end on Saturday afternoon, losing 34-33 to the third-seeded North Hunterdon Lions at South Orange Middle School. The loss eliminated them from the North II Group 4 state sectional playoffs, and ended their chances at a three-peat in the section. "We were saying that it was surreal. We were stunned. But you have to show up for every game. You can't take anyone for granted," said Columbia girls head coach Johanna Wright. "It's very difficult when you have that amount of seniors because there's no tomorrow for them. This is it." North Hunterdon came in with a game plan of not turning over the ball, beating the Columbia press and forcing the Cougars into a half court offense and it worked…
Friday, March 5, 2010
CHS girls lacrosse practice starts today. First game is April 1.
In yet another sign that spring is approaching, the Columbia girls lacrosse team began practice Friday, March 5. You could find them at Underhill Field between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. going through their drills and practicing their scrimmages. The girls, ranked #38 in the state, are serious about lacrosse. They will practice six days a week until the season starts on April 1. At that time, their two or three scheduled games per week will replace some of the practices. But the girls need your support. They have two major fundraisers upcoming. The first is Saturday, March 6 (yes, tomorrow!) when they will take to the streets of Maplewood Village and South Orange Village with cans to collect money from passersby and motorists. Look for the girls …
The final score Thursday night was 60-41.
PLAINFIELD—The Columbia High School boys basketball team's season came to a close Thursday night as they were defeated 60-41 by Plainfield in the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA Group IV Section 2 State Tournament at Plainfield High School. Plainfield (20-3), the No. 7 team in the Star Ledger Top 20, got off to a fast start in the first quarter of play by outscoring the Cougars 11-5. The suffocating Cardinal man defense held Columbia (13-14) without a point for the first five minutes of play before Justin Martin sank a free throw to break the drought. Plainfield widened their lead in the second quarter, opening on a 16-2 run and ending the half with a 29-12 advantage. The Cougars fought hard in the second half but could not stop …
Columbia girls basketball team dominates Westfield in quarterfinals
The Cougars jumped out to an 11-0 start on Thursday night at South Orange Middle School against the Westfield girls and never looked back. They cruised to a 57-35 win over the Blue Devil girls, eliminating them in the quarterfinals of the North II Group 4 state sectional championships. "I thought they played really well tonight," said Columbia head coach Johanna Wright. "I was just impressed with overall game. This time of year, you ought to be playing like this." Westfield turned the ball over in each of its first five positions and were out of the game before the end of the first quarter. Up 21-10 headed into the second period, the Cougars allowed just three points in the quarter and scored 15 to take a commanding 36-13 lead into the …
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Columbia boys fencing tops in the state once more.
In the biggest moment of the year, with a perfect season and a state championship on the line, the Columbia boys fencing team turned to its biggest stars—and they delivered. On Tuesday night at Morris Hills High School, the top seeded Cougar fencing squad edged the second seeded Bernards boys 15-12, en route to claiming its fourth state championship and first since 2007. Holding a 13-12 lead, just one point away from the win, senior co-captain epee fencer Mathew Gibson stepped up and claimed a 5-1 victory over David Howes, ending a late comeback attempt by the Mountaineers. "If anything I was energized," Gibson said, responding to whether he was nervous or not. "I thought it would come down to epee and I just ran with it. It feels awesome…
Congratulations to Henry and the rest of the swim team- that is Awesome!!!! more ›