‘We Are Very Close To Reaping the Rewards’: New Turf Fields, Track at New Canaan High School Near Completion

The sub-surface work for the new turf fields at New Canaan High School was completed last month and lighting towers and fencing there have been installed, according to the volunteer committee that’s overseeing the widely anticipated projects. Turf and fill for both fields—a full-size field and a smaller one—will be installed once daytime temperatures consistently reach 45 degrees and that installation will take about three weeks to finish, according to a information supplied by the Town Fields Building Committee. According to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, an ex officio member of the committee, next week’s warm temperatures are expected to deliver a window for the installation. “Thanks to the town’s contribution and the private donations, as we kick off the spring season, we are going to have some tremendous fields and a track complex for our athletes to use, and for the youth-level lacrosse and soccer players, and so I think it’s really exciting,” Egan said. “We are on the verge of having a complex that will be second to none as far as this area is concerned.”

PHOTOS: Nine NCHS Student-Athletes Sign Early Letters of Intent To Play Sports in College

Nine New Canaan High School student-athletes signed early Letters of Intent on Wednesday to play sports in college starting next year. The gallery above includes photos from a signing ceremony overseen by NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, held in the Wagner Room. We also asked the students why their future schools are a good fit, and put their responses in each caption.

Did You Hear … ?

Chef Luis Lopez, known locally for his eponymous restaurant on Elm Street, has been seen cooking in the open kitchen at Spiga on Main. ***

After school Wednesday, a man was seen trying to enter cars in a New Canaan High School parking lot, according to a communication from NCHS Principal Bill Egan. “We do not believe he was successful, nor do we anticipate his return,” Egan said in an email. “However, please make sure you lock your cars on campus. I would keep them locked before and after school.

End of an Era: Danielle Simoneau Steps Down as NCHS Softball Coach; Joel Geriak Named Successor

The highly successful and widely respected head coach of the New Canaan High School varsity softball team has stepped down, officials said Monday. Danielle Simoneau decided to make the change in order to watch her own daughter Makenzie—a freshman at Trumbull High School—play, according to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan. “We are very grateful for all the time and effort Danielle has given to build the softball program at NCHS and in the community,” Egan said in an email to softball families. “NCHS softball was a perennially weak program before Danielle came on board. We won an FCIAC Championship under her leadership and the youth softball program is viable option for girls in the spring.”

Named to the NCHS post in 2010, Simoneau herself was a standout pitcher, and powerful hitter, at Westhill High School in the early 1990s.

Did You Hear … ?

The aerial photos in the gallery above show the new turf being laid at the Water Tower Turf field at New Canaan High School and the final stages of drainage and grading for the NCHS track. Both projects are moving forward on schedule, and officials expect completion of the first turf field midweek next week and paving of the track by the end of next week. The project, estimated to cost $5.8 million is a public-private partnership between the town and New Canaan Athletic Foundation. ***

Town officials last month received an after-the-fact application to add a full bathroom in the basement of a New Canaan home. The bathroom at 31 Shady Knoll Lane went in “many years ago” and the job cost approximately $5,000, according to a building permit application received Sept.