One great season

Grimes reflects on team's accomplishments

As he prepares for his team’s break-up banquet, Winthrop High School girls basketball coach Peter Grimes is continuing to accentuate the many positives in the Lady Vikings’ season.
Winthrop, the No. 1 seed in the Division 3 North Sectionals, lost to Wilmington, 48-46, in overtime in the semifinals. Pentucket Regional went on to defeat Wilmington, 41-39, in an all-Cape Ann League final. Pentucket then dropped a 45-31 decision to Division 3 South champion Archbishop Williams, a team that the Lady Vikings will see in the Comcast Tournament next year.
Grimes is excited that some of his players are receiving letters from college basketball programs. The team’s undefeated regular season record, top-5 ranking in the state, and its unprecedented five-All-Stars-on-one-team-status (Unanimous League MVP Courtney Finn and All-Stars Nicole Giaquinto, Kristen Finn, Katerina Mallios and Meredith Soper) brought it considerable attention.
 “The other day, Nicole Giaquinto received some mail to go to UMass-Dartmouth and one of the things that I put on the form was that she was the Massport Tournament MVP, a Westwood Winter Classic All-Tournament selection, and an NEC All-Star,” said Grimes. “Those are things we’re trying to emphasize.”
Grimes said the 21-1 record is something to applaud. “If somebody had told me at the beginning of the year, that we’d be 21-1, I’d take it,” said Grimes. “We accomplished many of the goals we set as a team, which were to win more games than the team before and make the tournament. We were an undefeated Northeastern Conference team.”
The Lady Vikings averaged close to 70 points a game, a number that shows the firepower of the Winthrop offense.
Grimes said he asked the players a simple question on the van ride home after the final game -- “Did you have fun?”
“They all agreed, ‘of course we had fun,’’’ related Grimes. “I waited  awhile and I asked the girls, ‘Does anyone know what our record is over the last two years?’”
“Your record was 41-4 over two years,” I told them. “There’s nothing that can take that away.” And I said, “Guess what?  Here’s a kicker for you – how many seniors won’t be able to play anymore?  That’s right, we don’t have any seniors, so we’re all coming back next year.”
Indeed, with all of the Winthrop players eligible to return, the Lady Vikings will enter next season as one of the highly-ranked teams in Massachusetts. Fans should notice several college scouts at Winthrop games. When Winthrop players compete in AAU and other off-season tournaments and leagues, the utmost respect will be given to them by teammates and opponents as a result of their phenomenal run the past two years.
The break-up banquet will be a night to savor one of the greatest seasons in the program’s history and a night to look ahead with much excitement and optimism.

Falling in line

NEC realignment appears to be a good fit for Winthrop

The Northeastern Conference athletic directors and school principals voted Monday to change the league alignment and split the teams into divisions based strictly on enrollment in all sports except boys ice hockey, gymnastics, wrestling, boys and girls lacrosse, swimming, and field hockey.
The divisions are based on total enrollment [male and female] in all sports except football which is based on male enrollment. With Peabody joining the Northeastern Conference this fall, the conference will be split into two 6-team divisions.
Winthrop’s football team will play in the South Division with Saugus, Swampscott, Marblehead, Danvers, and Beverly. The North Division will consist of Revere, Peabody, Salem, Gloucester, Lynn English and Lynn Classical.
The Winthrop boys and girls basketball teams will play in the South Division with Swampscott,  Gloucester, Danvers, Saugus, and Marblehead. The Beverly boys and girls teams will move up to the North Division and compete with Peabody, Lynn Classical, Lynn English, Salem, and Revere.
The Winthrop baseball, softball, soccer, track, tennis, and cross country teams – boys and girls, will also compete in the South Division.
As of right now, the Winthrop boys ice hockey team will compete in the North Division with Beverly, Danvers,  Gloucester, Revere,  and Saugus. But that alignment is likely to change.“When Peabody joins the conference this fall, either Winthrop or Saugus may move to the South Division in hockey,” said Winthrop Athletic Director James Coffey.
Coffey said the realignment will be in effect for four years.
“I’m happy with the divisional realignment,” said Coffey. “I think it’s the only fair way to do it. Let’s take, for instance, our girls basketball program. Right now, we’re in the South. If we had been placed in divisions by power, they would have been in the North and they would have had a great year and that’s where they belong. But what happens when all these girls graduate and I think we come back down to reality. If you do it by enrollment, it makes the most sense.”