Markeshia Ricks Photo
A championship three-peat for the Hillhouse boys track team.
In the wake of winning more championships, Hillhouse High student-athletes made the trek to City Hall to be feted for their accomplishments.
The Board of Alders welcomed the Hillhouse boys track team, the boys basketball team, cheerleaders back to the aldermanic chambers Monday to recognize their accomplishments in their respective sports with individual citations. They also recognized some future Hillhouse athletes — the 7th and 8th grade champs of the city’s middle school league from Celentano — on capping off their own winning season.
It’s the second time that the track team has made the trip, as Dixwell Alder Jeanette pointed out. But Assistant Track Coach Darrell Brown made sure that everyone knew that it was the third year in a row that Hillhouse had left opponents looking at the back of their jerseys, their cleats and eating their dust.
He credited Hillhouse Track Head Coach Gary Moore as the mastermind behind the program, its athletes, and its not so secret sauce — consistency.
“The difference between teams and programs lie in being consistent,” he said. “That’s the difference between Hillhouse and any other track team.”
2017 state boys basketball champs.
Renard Sutton, Hillhouse boys basketball coach, said that he hopes like the track team, the basketball team will be back in the aldermanic chambers for a third year. This is the second year that Hillhouse has faced off with a team at Mohegan Sun Arena and came out as the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference State champions.
Sutton reminded the crowd gathered in the aldermanic chambers that at Hillhouse, the student part of being a student-athlete is taken seriously.
“A lot of people like to look past that fact that we’re more than just good athletes,” he said. “We’re student athletes and that plays a major role in what [students] want to do in life whether they want to be a judge or a plumber.”
Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker, a Hillhouse graduate, said alders are excited when young people come to the aldermanic chambers because one day it will them who lead the city.
“You have accomplished the things that you accomplished because you’re a team,” she said. “And that team consists of a lot of different parts. Your parents are part of that team. Your coaches, your teammates, everybody.”
Annex Alder Al Paolillo Jr. said team work plays a role in the work that alders do at City Hall and youth has been a top priority for the current crop of board members. He praised the students, but also took time to praise the adults who help make their success possible.
“We don’t do anything on this earth by ourselves, and you’re blessed to have some terrific coaches, role models and parents,” Paolillo, taking up the teamwork theme, said. “We salute the adults that are continuing to give their time, their efforts, all of their combined talents to bring you to this day. You not only honor your schools but you honor the city of New Haven.”
Beaver Hills Alder Jill Marks, who represents part of the district where the high school is located, offered her congratulations pointing out that her daughter is on the girls track team.
Cheerleaders keep the spirit.
As is her tradition, Alder Morrison made a point to honor the Hillhouse cheerleaders. Morrison, a former Miss Hillhouse and cheerleader, said that the hard work of cheerleaders often goes unrecognized, but they are the athletes who are there through it all.
The board also recognized 7th and 8th graders from Celentano School who are the city’s middle school basketball league champions.
Celentano’s got next.
Coach Greg Johnson Sr. said that in a few short years the boys will be part of the future championship teams from Hillhouse.
“We’re building future champions,” he said.
Congratulations to our student athletes and to the adults that made all this possible. We are so proud of your success both on the court/track as well as your success in school. You earn this, you deserve this!