Sportspersons of the year
Taylor Driggers
Taylor Driggers (NFA Class of 2014) is a senior at UMass Boston and has just completed an outstanding athletic year. At the NCAA Division 3 Indoor Championship Taylor finished 3rd in the Long Jump with a distance of 18’8.50” and earned All-American Honors. Taylor helped lead her team, The UMass Boston Beacons, to the National Championship Title.
At the NCAA D-3 Outdoor Championship Meet Taylor placed 6th in the Long Jump with a distance of 19’00.75” to earn All American Honors. In the 4X100 Meter Relay Taylor anchored the Beacons to a third-place finish in 46.98 seconds earning another All-American Honor and followed that by running the first leg of the 4X400 Meter Relay which placed 8th and earned All-American Honors. Taylor saved her best effort for the Triple Jump where she placed FIRST and claimed the National Championship with a jump of 41’2.50” to earn her fourth All-American Honor on the weekend. This jump was 17.75” in front of the second-place jump and it also gave her the UMass Boston school triple jump record. UMass Boston also tied for the National Team Title.
Taylor Driggers has earned 5 All-American Track Honors this year and made significant contributions to two NCAA Team Championships.
Shea Gendron
The Norwich Sports Hall of Fame Co-Sportsperson of the Year for 2018 is Shea Gendron. Shea’s senior year softball season, and career, at the Norwich Free Academy was extraordinary.
Shea’s on field accomplishments this past year garnered the following recognitions: named to the all-area team by New London Day, named to the all – Eastern Connecticut Conference first team, and also named to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association all-state first team. All of these recognitions were for the second time. Also, Shea was named the New London Day player of the year and to the Game Time Connecticut (formally the New Haven Register) all-state first team.
Let’s take a look at what all the fuss is about! In 2018, Shea’s position in the field was catcher. She had a .970 fielding percentage and threw out seven of ten runners trying to steal a base. It was with the bat, however, that Shea drew the most attention. Her 37 hits this past season gave her a career total of 139, breaking the NFA career hit total by ten. This is not a cheap record as NFA has produced many great hitters throughout their history. She also had 22 runs batted in, 13 doubles (also an NFA single season record), and three home runs to go along with a .430 batting average. Her slugging per centage was .690 and her on-base plus slugging per centage (OPS) was 1.158. For the uninitiated, an OPS this high shows that Shea not only hit for average but also for power. Shea’s career totals include a .432 batting average, 122 runs batted in, 34 doubles, and seven home runs. She also threw out 17 of 21 base stealers.
Shea will be attending Western Connecticut State University in the fall with the intention of playing softball and majoring in secondary education.