NEWINGTON - Newington High School golf coach Rich Condon remembers when Jake Hedberg drove a shot into the woods at the Avon Invitational.

       A five-minute search ensued, with no sign of the ball as Hedberg approached the penalty stroke. Then, somebody thought they found it, a ball tagged with the Newington â€�"N” stuck in the dirt. Close call--or was it?

       â€�"Without hesitation, he said, ‘That’s not my ball,’” Condon said.

       It was missing an additional mark that only he knew he had inked it with, according to Condon. Hedberg took the penalty stroke and ended the match two strokes out of the lead.

       â€�"He did what was right,” Condon said. â€�"In golf, there are no referees. You’re your own referee. All you have is your integrity. I’ve never been more proud of a kid than I was there.”

       And Newington as a team, by the way, took home the win.

       â€�"He didn’t win, but his team did, which, if you know Jake, was more important to him anyway,” Condon said.

       Last Monday night, however, Hedberg did win, in more ways than one. The senior quarterback and golf standout took home the George Brinley Award for the best male athlete at Newington High School. In the spirit of the integrity his coach described, he also got the nod for the CIAC Career Sportsmanship Award.

       And who knows? Maybe he can be Tiger’s new swing coach. According to Newington High School Principal James Wenker’s weekend sports roundup--Lebron evened the Cavs/Warriors championship series from the foul line, American Pharoah took the Belmont and, in case you’re not a mourning New York Rangers fan, it might be worth checking out the Lightning/Blackhawks Stanley Cup matchup--Woods is in the market for one after â€�"a bad weekend.”

       â€�"I’d say he needs a psychiatrist more than a swing coach,” he said.

       Well that might be a little above Hedberg’s pay grade, at least for now.

       Yeah, Wenker knows his sports, but he sees it through the eyes of an educator and is quick to point out the life lessons the pursuit of athletic excellence embodies.

       â€�"I appreciate sports at the highest level because I know the hard work and commitment it takes to reach those levels,” Wenker told the crowd of parents and student-athletes that filled the auditorium for the Newington High School Athletic Scholarship Awards Night ceremony.

       And the event was about celebrating Newington’s own version of that effort. The program could not fit the 120 student-athletes that garnered Academic All-Conference honors onto one riser, so two photos had to be taken. Danielle Rocheleau, the winner of the Joyce Jamer award, given to the school’s best female athlete, lays claim to eight of Newington’s 11 swimming records. And the school has five All-State selections before the spring season picks have even been announced.

       Jordan Aprea, a three-time volleyball state champion and member of the soccer team, was the George Brinley Award runner-up. Track and field athlete Wilmarie Rodriguez was a finalist for the Joyce Jamer award.

       Olivia Burgos, Marco DiPaola, Kaila Lozada, Rocheleau and Jared Simmons were the All-State athletes.

       â€�"Not only do [student-athletes] have the rigors that every other student has, but at the end of the day, when a lot of other students get on the bus and go home, these people stay for hours and give their nights and weekends to their craft,” Wenker said.

       And their diets. All athletes are probably encouraged to eat healthy, but for wrestlers, it takes extra commitment, said Lou Mota, who presented the Richard Hastings III Memorial Scholarship Award.

       That’s given in honor of the late Richard Hastings, the iconic Newington wrestling coach who launched the program. This year, the recipient was Brendan Zotti.

       â€�"Rich Hastings would have loved you, man,” Mota said to Zotti.

       If there was a mantra to sum up the work ethic Wenker described, Hastings had it--the value of passion, focus and intensity was drilled into those who wrestled for him, Mota says.

       â€�"If you bring that mantra, everything will work out,” he said. â€�"The recipient of this scholarship is an example of that.”