Newtown athletes, including some who have taken their skills to the collegiate level, have been recognized for accomplishments on the playing fields, courses, and courts.

Nacewicz Defensive Player Of Year

Former Newtown High School standout football player Max Nacewicz, a senior at Springfield College, has been selected as the Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year.

Nacewicz, of Sandy Hook, is an Applied Exercise Science major who put together a dominating season for the Pride, totaling 104 tackles, including seven sacks. Nacewicz will go down as one of the all-time greats at Springfield as he owns the program record for tackles-for-loss (54) and sacks (34), and his 299 tackles are the third-highest total in program history.

Quarterback Arndt Sets Records

Western Connecticut State University senior quarterback Will Arndt, of Sandy Hook, was named Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Offensive Player of the Week (announced in mid-November) after his record-setting performance in the Colonials’ 63-42 victory over Westfield State University.

Arndt completed 30-of-41 passes for 397 yards and a school-record seven touchdowns in the triumph. He threw touchdown passes of 59, 14, 12, 37, 14, 11, and 13 yards en route to breaking the school records for passing yards (3,012) and touchdowns (32) in a season.

The Colonials closed out the season with a 5-5 overall record (4-4 in the MASCAC).

Smith Earns All Conference Accolades

Castleton University (Castleton, Vt) cross country team member Grandon Smith, of Newtown, earned North Atlantic Conference (NAC) All-Conference honors following last weekend’s NAC Championship.

Smith was named to the First Team All-Conference after posting a time of 27:26 to finish second overall in a field of 115 runners.

Smith has led the Spartans in each of their seven races on the season, winning one event and placing in the top five on four occasions.

A season ago, he earned Second Team All-Conference honors.

Herring An Ace On The Volleyball Court

Newtown’s Emma Herring, a senior volleyball player at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, was named to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) women’s volleyball All-Tournament Team.

Herring led Holy Family with a match-high 14 kills in the team’s quarterfinal clash with eventual champion Post University. She recorded a .636 attack percentage after not committing an error on 22 total attacks. Herring also finished the match with three block assists.

Herring concluded her career as the program’s all-time leader in aces with 214. She also finished with 996 career kills to rank fifth on the all-time list.

Holy Family finished its season with a 12-19 overall record and was 11-8 in the CACC.

The Tigers earned the fourth seed out of the South Division, advancing to the CACC Tournament for the eighth time in the program’s history.

 

Calandro Competes In All-Star Game

Newtown High School volleyball player Jamie Calandro was selected to participate in the Senior All-Star Game at Plainville High School on November 23. In a match with the best senior spikers in the state, Calandro had 11 digs, five kills, and two aces.