East Lyme Sports Hall of Fame to induct eight

East Lyme — The East Lyme Sports Hall of Fame will induct eight former athletes on Dec. 8 at Flanders Fish Market. Honorees are:• Louis E. Allen III (Class of 2004, football, track & field) – Allen helped lead the football team to the Class MM state championship in 2003, being named Most Valuable Player of the game after rushing 32 times for 147 yards. He rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior, being named The Day's All-Area Player of the Year. Allen won the Class L state championship in the 55-meter hurdles in indoor track as a senior. He went on to play football at UConn, where he was a three-time letter winner and member of the 2007 Big East championship team.• Whitney Coleman (Class of 2004, football, basketball, track & field) – Coleman was a two-time All-Eastern Connecticut Conference selection and two-time All-Area selection as a member of the Vikings' football team, joining Allen on the 2003 state championship team. In that game, Coleman caught a 23-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter of the 17-14 victory over top-seeded Masuk. In track, Coleman is a member of East Lyme's all-time fastest 4x100 relay team, also joining Allen in that distinction. He led East Lyme to two ECC titles in basketball and continued his basketball career at Monmouth, where he scored 1,203 career points.• Sara Cushman (Class of 1993, softball, tennis) – Cushman was a two-time All-Area and all-state selection in softball, where she was the Vikings' catcher, and she was selected as the Connecticut High School Coaches' Association Defensive Most Valuable Player as a senior. In tennis, Cushman was the 1992 ECC doubles champion and state doubles runner-up along with Bridget Callaghan. She went on to play softball at Harvard, earning All-Ivy league honors.• Jeff Devanney (Class of 1989, football, baseball) – Devanney, for 19 seasons the head football coach at Trinity College, was an All-ECC selection at safety for the Vikings, holding East Lyme's all-time record for interceptions during his career. He also played second base on back-to-back state championship baseball teams. Devanney later played both sports at Trinity, where he was voted New England Small College Athletic Conference Football Defensive Player of the Year in 1992. Devanney has a career coaching record of 127-22 at Trinity, where his teams have captured the NESCAC title 11 times. He holds the best winning percentage in Trinity history at .852 and has been honored as NESCAC Coach of the Year five times.• Molly Giannattasio Klein (Class of 2011, volleyball) – Klein, then Molly Giannattasio, was the setter for the Vikings' ECC and state championship teams in 2010, named The Day's All-Area Player of the Year and the CHSCA state player of the year after finishing with 752 assists. She earned all-league and Class L all-state honors and earned Most Valuable Player distinction for both the ECC tournament and state championship games. Klein went on to play volleyball at Springfield College, where she was an All-New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference pick in 2012 and an AVCA New-England All-Region honorable mention selection in 2015.• Stephanie (Novotny) Whitney (Class of 2007, swimming) – Whitney was the 2006 state champion in the 200 individual medley and holds the school record as part of the 400 freestyle relay team. In 2004, as a 14-year-old sophomore, Whitney won the ECC championship in the 100-meter breaststroke by default when an athlete from Bacon Academy was disqualified for not having a regulation swim cap (hers was torn). During the awards ceremony that day, Whitney called the Bacon swimmer up to the blocks with her and presented her with the gold medal. She later earned the President's Award from the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance for her act of sportsmanship. Whitney, who led her team to four straight ECC championships, later graduated from the University of Miami.• Adam Rand (2007 graduate, football, lacrosse) – Rand won more than 500 face-offs during his junior and senior seasons combined for the boys' lacrosse team, which won four straight ECC titles during his tenure. He was an All-ECC, All-Area and all-state selection and was named MVP of the Connecticut East vs. West All-Star Game, going on to serve as a face-off specialist during his career at Stony Brook University. Rand was selected in the 2011 Major League Lacrosse draft by the Hamilton Nationals and enjoyed a six-year professional career, winning the MLL championship twice with the Chesapeake Bayhawks. He is a member of the Greek American Athletes Athletic Hall of Fame.• Tom Santoro (2005 graduate, tennis) – Santoro was the four-time ECC singles champion and the 2005 State Open champion, named the Player of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches' Association in 2004 and 2005. Santoro was ranked as high No. 3 in New England and No. 76 nationally by the USTA. He continued his career at Yale, where he was an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete recipient all four years.The Hall of Banquet will begin at 5 p.m. at Flanders Fish Market. Tickets are $50 per person, which includes hors d'oeuvres and a buffet dinner. Contact: David Putnam at dpmlsect@gmail.com