Sports

Sports Briefs

COLLEGE SOFTBALL: Zilnicki receives honors Former Riverhead High School star Jackie Zilnicki, a junior at Western Connecticut State University, was named to the Little East All-Conference second team as well as the second teams of the New England Softball Coaches Association Division III all-star team and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-New England team. Zilnicki finished the season with a .351 batting average, 30 runs scored, a .981 fielding percentage and went 19 for 20 in stolen bases.

COLLEGE ROWING: Hughes on boat of the week Libby Hughes of Orient was a member of the William Smith (N.Y.) rowing team’s varsity eight that earned the season’s final Liberty League Boat of the Week Award selected by the conference. The Herons finished fifth in the NCAA Rowing Championship recently. Ranked sixth in the nation entering the championship, William Smith improved its standing with a strong effort in the grand final. The Herons finished third in their preliminary heat in 6 minutes 51.64 seconds to progress to the grand qualifier, where they again finished third in 7:08.09 to earn a spot in the grand final. In the final, the Herons logged a time of 7:14.04.

William Smith won nine Liberty League Boat of the Week awards this season. As a team, William Smith finished fifth at the NCAA Championship. It was the Herons’ ninth appearance in the national championship since 1997.

HIGH SCHOOL ROWING: Monarchs to row in college Two Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School rowers will move on to compete in the sport at the collegiate level. Monarchs captain Renee Girard will be a member of the 10th-ranked Cornell team in the Ivy League while Lauren Woodhull will join Villanova’s squad. Girard and Woodhull helped establish the sport of crew at McGann-Mercy as members of the school’s inaugural team in 2006 as junior high school students. During their time at the school, McGann-Mercy has claimed nearly every piece of hardware in the northeast in the scholastic division. These accolades included first- and second-place finishes in the Big Duck Regatta, a silver medal in the New York Empire State Games, gold medals in the New York State scholastic championships and a bronze medal in the prestigious Stotesbury Cup in Philadelphia last year.