Preview of Boys State Open Indoor TF Championship

By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp

There are 174 schools that compete in indoor track in Connecticut and the top 18 qualifiers in 15 events from the recent class meets will converge upon Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven at noon Saturday to crown the State Open team and individual champions.

While there can only be one champion for each event, the top six place in all events, except the pole vault and sprint medley relays, will earn the opportunity to compete on March 4th at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

MySportsResults has been providing free coverage of CT’s track and field athletes all season long and we will do our best to preview some of the most exciting events to watch and look at who is in contention in the chase for the team titles.

Boys Championship

There is never a guarantee for a State Open team title, but Hall of West Hartford has so many potential scorers and several chances to win some events. Long sprints, distance, relays, hurdles and even the pole vault should provide the Titans plenty of opportunities to score points. And if that isn’t enough, the Titans have the depth to move various runners from their individual events into relays and possibly strengthen them to score even higher.

Possibly the closest team will be Windsor. They have strong points available to them in the sprints, short relays, long jump and shot put. They were the Class L runner-up to Xavier and usually do better outdoors than indoors, but this could be their year they take home their first State Open trophy under the cover.

Stonington has Joshua Mooney who could score highly in three events plus Ryan Gruczka who barely made the 1000m but is seeded highly in the 1600m. While he was third in the 1000m at last year’s Open 1k race, he obviously didn’t overextend himself at the Class meet since he was going for team points. He is in the 4×880 and will probably scratch one of the events and could score highly in the other individual event he chooses. The Bears could go over 30 points if things fall their way.

Greenwich has Gianluca Bianchi who is seeded #2 in the 300m by .01 seconds plus several relays that could score highly. They could be the biggest thorn in the side of Hall since Greenwich athletes are in several events where they will face off against the Titans.

Scoring over 25 points in the Open is very difficult for most teams, so a small change in one athlete’s performance one way or another will have a big impact in the standings. Other top teams could be Staples, Hillhouse, Ridgefield, Xavier, and E.O. Smith.

Events Worth a Closer Look

55m Dash

Three boys have already run 6.42 or faster this season and that has never happened before in Connecticut. In fact, only twelve other boys have run that fast since the CIAC began hosting indoor championships 91 years ago. Simsbury’s Noble Gongon, in his first season of indoor racing, has run a state leading time of 6.36 twice this winter. The time ranks in the top 10 nationally and is #6 All Times in CT history. Gongon will have plenty of challenges. Enfield’s Mason Pilkington and Colin Brown of Cheshire have both run 6.42 this season. While Pilkington has really broken though this year, Brown is well known because he was the State Open and New England champion last spring in the 100m. Add in Achillius White of Windsor and several others who have run in the low 6.50’s and this is a race fans should watch closely. Note that both Gongon and Pilkinton have earned MSR’s HOKA Athlete of the Week Awards.

300m

There are several rivalries that have gone down in the annals of CT track and field and are remembered long after the athletes have graduated. We might be witnessing one of those in the 300m this year. Greenwich’s Gianluca Bianchi and Hall’s Sam Sandler have battled it out since last year. Bianchi was New England 300m champion last winter and Sandler won the 400m title at the outdoor New Englands and the pair were legs of some awesome 4x400m teams both indoor and outdoor last year. At the Class LL on Saturday both athletes gave it all they had, breaking the Class LL record with times of 34.71 and 34.72 with Sandler in first. Who won doesn’t matter now because you know that when they line up on Saturday both are going to try to break the other to become State Open champion. These great athletes have already run the 7th and 9th fastest times in state history and are both ranked top 25 nationally. If you keep an eye out for this race, you won’t be disappointed. Sandler was the HOKA Athlete of Week #6.

55m Hurdles

Another great rivalry to watch will be in the 55m hurdles. Michael Johnson of Lewis Mills is the defending State Open champion and had the state’s fastest time last year. In outdoor track Johnson defeated Stonington’s Josh Mooney in the Class S championships and New Englands in the 110m hurdles but Mooney was able to take the 110m hurdle Open title for himself. But so far this year Mooney has been running a little better and won the Class S championship in a state leading time of 7.46. That time is ninth nationally and tied for 6th all-time in CT history. Johnson isn’t far behind having run a 7.60 already this season and won the Class M championship. With eight boys under eight seconds, there should be an equally tight battle to take top six and earn a spot at New Englands. Hall’s Joe Nham has improved every race he has run this season this season and popped off a PR of 7.77 to win Class LLs. He might need another PR to hold off Amir Phelmetto of Hillhouse who has also made some great strides and set his PR of 7.78 to win Class L. Mooney was the recipient of the Week 9 HOKA Athlete of the Week.

1600m

There was a real lack of suspense the past three years in the boys distance races. While the Class of 2023 was probably the best group of distance runners to ever come through the Nutmeg state, there was a definitive pecking order with state record holder Gavin Sherry on top. While this year’s State Open 1600m won’t be as fast as the 4:11.19 that Sherry ran last year, there are a number of names that have a legitimate chance to take the title. Parker Broderick ran 4:22.28 to win the Class LL and become the fastest boy in the state. But there are several runners who are close on his heels. Class S was hot with Michael Kraszewski of Hale Ray, Ryan Gruczka of Stonington and Ryan Moore of Bacon Academy battling to the line all finishing within a second of each other in the 4:23-24 range. Gruczka is especially dangerous because he ran a leg of the 4x800m and 1000m before the 1600m and he will probably scratch the 1000m since he didn’t make the fast heat. Don’t overlook Xavier sophomore Owen Martin. He will probably run the 4x800m before the 1600m, but he went up to Boston to run the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University against college and open runners. While his time isn’t listed in the Athletic.net rankings, he did run the fastest mile time in CT with his 4:20.10 finishing time. Graczka was only two places behind him, running 4:21.08. Previous HOKA Athlete of the Week honors were awarded to Broderick (Week #8) and Kraszewski (Week #4).

4x800m

There is always a great deal of anticipation among distance runners when the 4x800m lines up. Anything can happen and often does. Danbury has a long tradition in relay success and comes into the Open as the top seed. But right on their heels is Ridgefield, the State Open runner-up in cross country. Xavier is the third seed but has run the fastest time of the year of 8:09 at the SCC Coaches Invitational so they should certainly run faster. But where surprises happen is when teams arrive at the Open and change their line ups and add faster runners to their squad. Can a team like Hall replace a 2:08 runner with a 2:02 split? They certainly have the depth in the event. Another thing that changes is the competitiveness of the more crowded field. Athletes go through 600m much faster with someone always a step away. They finish faster too due to the competition around them. Who responds best to the added competition will determine who moves up in the rankings.

Pole Vault

Usually when the bar moves up to 14-ft there will be one athlete left but at the Class LL championship there were three boys making attempts at 15’0”. Lucas William of Ridgefield, Derek Amlicke of Staples and Hall’s Liam Wright are sometime training partners and all cleared 14’6” but Amlicke was awarded the Class LL title based on misses. The state leader is Williams who has cleared 14’7” and soared over 14’6” three times this season. More than any other event, the pole vault is anyone’s guess.

4x400m

Many close meets come down to the 4x400m and with Hall, Greenwich, and Windsor all up for plaques, this might be the event that decides it all. Hall broke Danbury’s five-year old Class LL record by over two seconds last weekend, clocking 3:26.66 and Greenwich wasn’t far behind and broke 3:30. Windsor is strong in the relays and will be running right along with the Cardinals. Weaver’s State Open record of 3:25.27 is getting long in the tooth and could go down after 14 years.

Other Top Seeds To Watch

Long Jump

Christopher Hergott of Hamden is the Class LL champion with a 22′ 4.0” jump, not far off his 22′ 6.5” PR from the SCC Championships. Four others have gone over 22-ft this season.

High Jump

There is a tie for the top seeds between Bloomfield’s Ja’Mari Manson and Dar Jankovic of E.O. Smith who won the Class S and L titles. Both Cleared 6’6” at the SCC Coaches Invite and the CCC Championships. Jankovic won both times on misses.

Shot Put

Bethel’s Greyson Golda was the first boy to break 50-ft this season and unleashed a PR of 54′ 0.5” to win the Class M championships. State leader John Milner-Jones of Bloomfield fouled out of the Class S meet and did not qualify for the Open so the field is open for several challengers.

1600m Sprint Medley Relay (200-200-400-800)

This is an event that sees the most changes as teams either add a faster runner or they scratch their individual events to concentrate on scoring in this relay. Tolland comes in with the best seed and state leading time of 3:40.81 but East Lyme, Fairfield Ludlowe and Shelton are all running within a second of Tolland some time this season.

4x200m

Windsor has been tearing it up on the track all season with a top seed of 1:31.24 from the Class L meet. They also have the state’s fastest time with a 1:30.06 from the U.S. Army Officials Hall of Fame Invitational at the Armory.

3200m

Staples’ Benjamin Lorenz not only has the top seed running 9:24.80 to win the Class LL championships, he has the state’s fastest time in this event and the 2-mile by about five seconds. He didn’t run any other event at the class meet so he will go into this event with fresh legs.

1000m

After returning from illness that prevented him from competing in the CCC Championship, Jack Mattingly of E.O. Smith was pushed to the wire by Newtown’s Soheib Dissa running 2:33.25 at the Class L championships. Fairfield Ludlowe’s Tyler Bartlett has run much faster than he needed to win the Class LL race so he should be a factor as well. Mattingly was a HOKA Athlete of the Week #3 while Bartlett was the Week#5 recipient.

600m

Gabriel Sisk has the top seed to win the Class LL title in 1:23.3. Xavier’s Nick Cassarino, Noah Perryman of Tolland ran within a half second to win their respective Class M and L championships.

Stay tuned for the girls championship in-depth preview on Friday!

The latest CIAC Open records from the 2022 Indoor Track and Field Season are available below as a courtesy from MySportsResults sponsored by soundRUNNER with stores in Branford, Fairfield, Glastonbury and Old Saybrook.

Visit soundRUNNER for your gear and sign up to win $150 Gift Card!