Avon

Applefield honored by Brandeis; Gauthier leads St. Anselm into NE-10 tourney

by
Gerry deSimas, Jr., Collinsville Press
April 30, 2014

Avon’s Ben Applefield of Brandeis. (Photo by Sportspix/Mike Broglio, courtesy Brandeis)

Athletes from Canton and Avon are excelling at the collegiate level this spring.

Avon’s Ben Applefield, a soccer player at Brandeis, was named the outstanding male athlete of the year. … Canton senior Monique Gauthier earned All-Northeast 10 second team honors in softball and is leading St. Anselm into this weekend’s NE-10 tournament. … Canton sophomore Nikki Luicci led the St. Francis, N.Y., women’s golf team at the recent Northeast Conference tournament. … Avon junior Alyssa Burton won the high jump to help Roger Williams capture the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship. More details are below.

Avon’s Ben Applefield won the Harry, Joseph and Ida Stein Award, which is presented to the outstanding male athlete at Brandeis University’s year-end awards banquet.

Applefield was co-captain of the men’s soccer team. An All-Conference, All-New England and All-ECAC defender, Applefield led the University Athletic Association with 10 assists and claimed third-team All-America honors from D3soccer.com.

He anchored the squad to back-to-back ECAC championships as a freshman and sophomore, then helped them to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 as a junior and senior. Applefield became Brandeis’s all-time leader in games played and games started as the Judges posted a 61-20-4 record in his four years.

Senior softball player Monique Gauthier of Canton.

Senior Monique Gauthier of Canton went 4-for-4 and scored three runs to lead the St. Anselm softball team to a 5-0 win over Stonehill that clinched the Northeast Division title in the Northeast 10 for the Hawks (26-13). St. Anselm qualified for the eight-team Northeast 10 tournament. Gauthier, who hit .327 this season, was named to the Northeast 10 second team. She has a .628 slugging percentage and has 37 hits, 16 doubles and six home runs along with 17 RBI. The centerfielder leads the league in doubles (16), is No. 2 in extra-base hits (22) and eighth in home runs.

Sophomore Nikki Luicci of Canton led St. Francis (N.Y.) by finishing tied for 18th at the Northeast Conference women’s golf tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida. Liucci finished with three-round score of 240 (81, 80, 79). St. Francis finished eighth. Luicci had three top 10 finishes this season, including at the Navy Spring Classic.

Junior Alyssa Burton of Avon is participating in jumping events for the Roger Williams women’s track and field team. Burton won the high jump with a leap of 1.42 meters or 4-7¾ as Roger Williams won the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship at Gordon College. Burton was fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 26 feet, 11.75 inches. Burton won the high jump with a leap of 4-10 at the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College a week earlier.

Senior Danielle Neagle of Avon has three goals and an assist in seven games this spring with the Roger Williams women’s lacrosse team, currently 11-7. … Senior Ian Mack of Avon completed his final season with the Assumption College men’s lacrosse team (5-9, 3-9 Northeast 10). Mack had a goal in his collegiate finale, a 12-7 loss to Merrimack College. Mack finished the season with 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points, third on the team. Sophomore midfielder Nick Guarino of Avon was successful on 13 of 22 faceoffs against Merrimack and picked up five ground balls in the game.

Avon senior Titi Vanriel is a senior with the Southern Connecticut State University women’s track team. The Owls compete at the Northeast 10 championship on Friday, May 2. … Avon junior Claire Smith is running distance events with the Boston College women’s track and field team. … Senior Travis Lane of Canton is 4-1 with a 2.13 ERA for the Springfield College baseball team (20-13). Lane has pitched in 38 innings over six games and has struck out 18 and walked 14. Opponents are hitting .188 against Lane. … Avon freshman Colin Moore has seen limited time on the Furman University men’s lacrosse team this spring. Furman is 1-12.

Former UConn QB Ken Sweitzer, right, receives Red O’Neill Award from the UConn Club.

Ken Sweitzer, who remains one of the most decorated student-athletes in the history of University of Connecticut football and is now a successful businessman and a valuable member of the community, received the Red O’Neill Award from The UConn Club on Monday night.

The award was given at the group’s 61^st annual awards dinner held at Gampel Pavilion. It is presented each year to a former UConn student-athlete who has gone from the fields and courts of play to distinguish themselves in their chosen careers. It is named after 1925 UConn graduate and former football student-athlete Martin “Red” O’Neill, who later went on to a successful career in medicine.

Sweitzer, a native of Madison, Conn., was named the Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 1981. Sweitzer earned All-Yankee Conference honors five times during his career at three different positions – wide receiver in 1979, quarterback in 1980 and ’81 and also punter in ’81. He was also a First Team All-New England pick in 1981 as a quarterback and All-ECAC as a punter the same year.

He is the owner of Sweitzer Insurance, LLC, located in Old Saybrook, Conn. He has enjoyed a 31-year career as a life insurance and annuity income specialist. Sweitzer was named a top advisor by Advisors Excel, a world-class insurance marketing organization focused on helping independent advisors increase their life insurance and annuity business, in 2011, ’12 and ’13. Sweitzer is also on the Advisory Committee for Shoreline Bank and Trust Company in Madison, Conn.

A resident of Old Lyme, he and his wife of 25 years, Cari, have three children — KC (22), Sam (19) and Sloane (16).

Are we missing an area athlete in college? Email us at [email protected].