Hall Near Perfect in Taking 3rd Boys Indoor TF State Open Title

CIAC State Open Indoor T&F Championships

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

Hall boys had a nearly perfect day to easily win the CIAC Indoor Track and Field State Open Championship on Saturday at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. They scored 66 points, more than doubling 2nd place Greenwich’s total of 30 points with Xavier only a point behind and a surprise Ridgefield taking 4th with 28 points. The Titans defended their title from last year in winning their third Open championship in four years.

Scoring in nine of 15 events, Hall had two wins, three silver medals and two bronze medal finishes. It is kind of hard to say who led the team because they had so many bright spots despite an illness that swept the team last week. Once again Jonathan York surprised many by winning the 600m from a slower heat after doing the same last year in the 300m. The junior suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the season but ran a PR of 1:23.49 for the inw and bumped his teammate Gabe Sisk back a spot after he won the final heat. The pair gave the Titans an unexpected 18 points when they were only seeded for ten.

Photo courtesy of Craig Rosenberg – https://craigrosenberg.smugmug.com/

Hall’s other win really put an exclamation point on their victory as they defeated a strong Greenwich team in the final 4x400m relay. Windsor led early but Hall and Greenwich were always a couple of steps apart. Fareed Abu Rabia ran a 52.5 leadoff leg and handed off to Gabe Sisk who split in 52.5. Then 600m champion York ran 50.1 with Sam Sandler anchoring in 49.5 to not only give the team the win, but they also earned the State Open record with their time of 3:24.88. The 2009 Weaver team that held the record was anchored by the late, great Daundre Barnaby who ran for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics before tragically passing away by drowning in the ocean in 2015.

One of the most anticipated races of the afternoon was the 300m when Sandler faced Gianluca Bianchi of Greenwich. The pair broke the Class LL record last weekend with Sandler winning by .01 seconds. This race did not disappoint fans as the two great runners dueled once again, this time with Bianchi gaining the edge and the win with a time of 34.89 to Sandler’s 35.00.

Photo courtesy of Craig Rosenberg – https://craigrosenberg.smugmug.com/

Isaac Mahler knocked about eight and a half seconds off his lifetime best to take 3rd in the 3200m. The junior rode in the back of the front pack of three and then made a bid for the win but could not match the finishing kicks of New Milford’s Colin Walsh and Staples’ Ben Lorenz. Walsh barely held off top seed Lorenz, running 9:20.49, just over one tenth of a second in front of Lorenz.

But it was in the relays where Hall really shined. In addition to the 4x400m, they scored better than expected according to the seedings. But who pays attention to the seeds, especially when you possess enough depth to move people out of individual events and into the relays. Their 4x200m knocked about .8 seconds to take 4th in 1:33.51.

Hall was seeded 7th in the 1600m sprint medley relay but started in the final heat when East Lyme scratched. They took advantage of the added competition and knocked off two seconds from their seed time but unfortunately were surprised when Ridgefield’s Steve Hergenrother was inserted into the lineup in the previous heat to give the Tigers the win in a time of 3:37.35. In the final heat, Hall’s Gabe Sisk grabbed the lead with a 51.2 400m split and sophomore Fareed Abu Rabia faced some stiff challenges but pulled away over the last 100m to finish in a time of 3:40.83 to take second overall.

Hall also inserted two new runners into the 4x800m and took 4th in 8:15.40, a nine-second improvement from last week. Added points came from Joe Nham, who took 5th in the 55m hurdles (7,94) and Liam Wright’s 3rd place finish in the pole vault, clearing 14’0”.

Xavier had their best finish at the State Open since 1999, the last time they won an indoor Open title. They started off the afternoon strong with a win in the 4x800m. They came in as the third seed but had the fastest time in CT from the SCC Coaches Invitational. The Falcons improved their team by adding Class L 600m champion Nick Cassarino and putting him on the anchor leg. While top seeded Danbury was able to give them an early challenge, the Falcons used the first three legs of Owen Martin, Alexander Ushchak, Jack Ouellette, all running splits of 2:00, to build a large lead. The large lead was needed when Ridgefield added Hergenrother as their anchor leg to finish in about a 1:55 split. Luckily for Xavier Cassarino was able to run 1:58.6 and hold off a fast charging Hergenrother. Xavier just missed Suffield’s State Open record by about a second, running 8:00.87 to Ridgefield’s 8:03.06. Class L champion Martin added more big points by taking second in the 1600m (4:20.79) fellow sophomore Ouelette who also made New Englands with his 6th place finish.

It was the crushing disappointment a year ago when Joshua Mooney false started in the finals of the Open 55m hurdles that fueled the Stonington senior to reach another level. In the trials he ran a new PR of 7.41 but that was only a precursor of what came next. Mooney met his rival Michael Johnson of Lewis Mills, the defending State Open champion, in the finals and found an entirely new level of hurdling. He won, knocking an incredible two-tenths of a second off his previous best and tied Myles Bradley’s CT State record of 7.26. The time moves him into the lead nationally according to Athletic.net. It moves him ahead of Nathaniel Rayan of Scotch Plains (Fanwood, NJ) who held the national lead at 7.30. Johnson’s finish of 7.39 ties him for third all-time in Connecticut history and fifth nationally.

The 55m dash was expected to be a deeper race but a couple of false starts by Bryan McClean of Derby and Achillius White of Windsor and a scratch by Cheshire’s Colin Brown opened spots for other sprinters to make the finals. Pre-meet favorite Noble Gongon of Simsbury, in his first season of indoor track, did not disappoint and ran a new PR of 6.35. His time moves him into the top ten nationally according to the Athletic.net rankings.

Like the Class L 1000m race, Jack Mattingly of E.O. Smith held the lead early and went through the 800m in about 2:03. But right before the bell rang, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Tyler Bartlett made a bid for the lead along with Newtown’s Soheib Dissa, who sat on Mattingly’s shoulder the entire race. With 100m to go, the Newtown sophomore drove into the lead right before the last turn and held off Bartlett for the win in a time of 2:34.41.

Windsor has been the state leader in the 4x200m most of the season and won as expected, but faced a challenge from Amity who broke 1:33 for the first time this season. The Warriors quartet of Jaden Long, Maxim Copeland, Grant Harris, and Taeshawn Berry held the lead the entire race and won in a time of 1:32.22 with the Spartans taking 2nd in 1:32.63.

The pack was content to let top seeded Parker Broderick lead early in the race and the Fairfield Warde junior just led a train of a dozen runners in the only heat of the boys 1600m race. There wasn’t much action until the final lap when Xavier’s Martin, returning from his 4x800m victory, made a bolt for the lead but Broderick held him off which noticeably put pain in the Xavier runner’s face. Broderick used a 29-second last lap to become the first CT boy to break 4:20 this season, finishing in 4:18.32 with Martin taking second in 4:20.79 79 just ahead of the Class S duo of Stonington’s Ryan Gruczka (4:21.36) and Hale Ray’s Mike Kraszewski (4:22.79).

There wasn’t a single runner head and shoulders above the others in the 3200m. Top seed Ben Lorenz of Staples set the early pace of the 16 lap race with New Milford’s Collin Walsh never more than a step behind and Hall’s Maler on their heels. The pack went through the 1600m in 4:47 with five athletes within striking distance. Right after the halfway mark Walsh made a charge for the lead with Lorenz close behind and Mahler hanging on in third place for the next few laps. But with 400m to go Mahler woke up the other two by bursting into the lead in an attempt to steal the race with a 31-second penultimate lap. With 150m to go Walsh took the lead and used all he had to finish with a 30-second last lap to hold off Lorenz over the final 50-meters. Walsh won in a time of 9:20.49 with Lorenz next in 9:20.63 and Mahler not far behind in 9:23.89. All three athletes have qualified for New Balance and Nike Indoor Nationals.

In the field events, Lucas Williams of Ridgefield not only won the State Open, he set a PR of 15-ft and tied for the 8th best vaulter in CT history. His improvement has been nothing short of remarkable. After starting to vault in 8th grade, he was able to clear 8’6” in his freshman year during the Covid shortened season. As a sophomore he improved to 9’3” that was still not indicative of a future State Open champion. Last year honors began to come his way and he earned All-State indoors and outdoors with an outdoor best of 13’3” to take sixth at New Englands. Now as he is in the middle of senior year, he is over 15-ft with an outdoor season remaining.

Coming into 2023, there were only two returning high jumpers over 6-feet. There were eight over the height on Saturday, but the crown was awarded to E.O. Smith’s Dar Jankovic. The senior was tied for the state lead with Ja’Mari Manson of Bloomfield at 6’6”. When all the other athletes went out at 6’2” that took the pressure off Jankovic, and he cleared a new PR of 6′ 7” for the win. He even took a shot at the State Open record with three chances at 6’10.5”.

As expected, Hamden’s Christopher Hergott, the state leader, took the title in the long jump. But what wasn’t expected was his setting a new CT leading leap of 22’7.25 that ranks him #46 nationally.

Old Saybrook’s Bardh Thaci wasn’t on anyone’s radar last winter. As a sophomore he was 21st in the Class S meet and had a season best of 39’3”. Fast forward a year and he now can claim the title of State Open champion. He toss of a lifetime best of 53’8.5” is the third best throw in the state this season.

The top six finishers earned their spot in the New England Championships on March 4th at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. Seeds should be posted by the Monday before the meet after the Massachusetts Meet of Champions.