2023 Last Chance Indoor Qualifier
Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational
By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
With the team championships behind us and the need for athletes to double and triple for points in the rear view window, several of Connecticut’s best athletes traveled to a few last chance meets in New York City and Boston over the weekend to chase national qualifying performances. Besides state leading and highly nationally ranked marks, there were some major dents on the Connecticut all-time top performance list.
Saturday – Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational at Staten Island, NYC
On Saturday at the Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational at the Staten Island NY facility many athletes competed for their schools in an elite high school only meet. There were several outstanding performances from athletes tuning-up for New England Championships this weekend and the national meets the following weekend.
Shelton’s Hannah Andrejczk has been tearing up the track the past few weeks. This junior went from a state qualifier last year to one of the state’s elite in one year and can now be mentioned among Connecticut’s best distance runners of all time. Last week she won the State Open in the 3200m with a time of 10:42.93, the fourth fastest time in state history. On Saturday she moved down to the mile and ran 4:55.28 for 3rd place. That time is 16th nationally and is the 8th fastest time on the state’s all-time list of milers.
E.O. Smith sent a strong contingent to Staten Island. State Open 600m champion Gabby Hernandez lowered her indoor 800m PR to 2:13.92 to move her to #8 CT All-time indoors. Her teammate Alexis Buskey had a strong double, running 5:08.40 for the mile and 2:20.69 for 800m. The Panthers also put together a 4x400m that won in 4:04.30. The squad just made it under the qualifying performance for Nike Indoor Nationals at the Armory.
The top two finishers from the State Open high jump had a rematch and pushed themselves to even greater heights. With a best of 6’2’ coming into the event, Hillhouse junior Khalil Antoine cleared 6’4”, 6’6” on his way to a PR of 6’8” to defeat Open champion Dar Jankovic of E.O. Smith based on misses. Both cleared lifetime bests of 6’8”. There are now four New England jumpers who have cleared the height, so this should make Saturday’s event on the infield even more exciting.
As a bronze medalist in 600m in the recent State Open, Luke Pacheco of Shelton ran his first 800m of the season and finished in a solid 1:57.73. He was 7th in the event at outdoor Open and will be looking to make New Englands in the spring.
Also, in the 800m was E.O. Smith’s Jacob Robinson-Smey. The senior, who was a part of last spring’s State Open championship 4x800m, ran his lifetime best in the event taking 5th in the Emerging section, running 1:58.89.
After several near misses, Daniel Hand senior Nicholas Montana finally broke 4:30 for the mile, completing the eight laps in 4:29.08. In the two-mile, older brother Michael Kraszewski of Hale-Ray paced his brother Matt and helped him break 10-minutes for the first time. The senior, who will compete in the mile at New Englands ran 9:45.47 while the sophomore was right behind in 9:46.83 as Matt just missed qualifying for nationals.
Greenwich keeps producing outstanding long sprinters. They have been second in the State Open 4x400m last winter and spring and again this winter. State Open 300m champion Gianluca Bianchi has gotten most of the recognition, but Harrison Goldenberg, only a junior, came out of the shadows and won the 400m in a time of 49.83. For a few hours, he had the state’s leading time until York ran faster at BU the next day.
Leonaya Knox of Hillhouse has reached another level. We have known she is fast as evident by her 8.05 PR and wins at Class M and State Open championships in the 55m hurdles. But now we are witnessing her consistency of high level performances. For the third meet in a row, she ran under 8.10 and took second in a time of 8.07.
Knox’s teammates also had big marks with wins in the throws. State Open shot put champion Shalisha Robertson is getting her groove back from a hamstring injury earlier in the season. The junior won the weight throw with a distance of 47’1.5” and took third in the shot, reaching 38’7.75”.
Chakour Biao, better known as a hurdler after taking 3rd at the Class L Championship, won the weight throw with a distance of 59’11.25”. David Walker is really finding success in the event, taking second with a throw of 58’6.5”. Both athletes qualified for the national championships.
Saturday – Tracksmith Twilight Meet at The Armory
Uptown at The Nike T&F Center in The Armory, several New Milford boys spent the evening at the historic facility with their school’s mile record going down not once, but twice. Ben Schipul first ran a 4:28.91 and got to celebrate his achievement for about five minutes until fellow junior Ben Daniels toed the line and finished in a time of 4:26.60
Their senior captain, AJ Taborsak, who was All New England in cross country, ran 9:07.13 for 3000m to take 28th place. Right on his heels was conference rival Jack Ciambra of Joel Barlow a place behind in 9:07.21
Sunday – Boston University Last Chance Qualifying Meet
At the Boston University’s lightning fast banked 200m track many outstanding performances were posted at the Last Chance Qualifying meet with heats of professional, open and college athletes on Sunday. Two of the best marks for Connecticut athletes came from Hall’s Jonathan York, the State Open 600m champion and the cross country State Open champion of Ridgefield.
York had a slight injury earlier in the season and is getting better week by week. He went from 2nd at Class LL in the 600m and came back as the 7th seed at the Open to win the title. On Sunday afternoon he finished 16th in the college dominated field in a time of 48.97. That time is not only 55nd nationally for high schoolers, but is the 5th fastest time in state history.
Ridgefield’s Steven Hergenrother has raced very sparingly this winter but has already made the trip to Boston to compete in the John Thomas Terrier Classic on January 28th where he ran an outstanding 8:26.70 for 3000m. After running the anchor on the 2nd place 4x800m and winning SMR team at the State Open, he ran the mile, his primary event on Saturday where he ran 4:08.05. He finished 54th in a field in which 34 broke four minutes. The time ranked him 10th nationally and is the 2nd fastest CT schoolboy, behind only Gavin Sherry’s state record of 4:02.69.
Running in a slightly faster heat was Devan Kipyego of St. Raphael, RI who was the New England 1000m champion and won four events at the Rhode Island state meet last weekend. He finished 35th in an indoor PR of 4:01.04 and ranked #2 nationally. Kipyego has already been close to breaking four once before. Last June he ran 4:00.64 at the Brooks PR Invitational. According to Stephen Mazzone from OceanStateRunning, he will most likely be competing in the 1000m and will have a shot at Said Ahmed’s 21-year old meet record of 2:25.14.
Also of note was Staples alum Henry Wynne, now running for Brooks Beasts TC who won his heat and defeated Cooper Teare last year’s USA Track and Field Champion in the 1500m. He had the third fastest time of the day of 3:52.51. And a new addition to the high school sub 4:00 mile club was made by Missouri high school senior Connor Burns who ran 3:59.11 to make him the fourth fastest U.S. high schooler indoors all-time.
State Open champions Hall had several other top performances. The Titans put a quartet in the top 50 finishers. Class LL champion Gabriel Sisk took 34th in 1:56.11 and sophomore Fareed Abu Rabia was a place behind in 1:56.24. These are the two fastest 800m times in the state this winter. Nathaniel Aronson finished in 2:00.80, good for 46th and in 47th place was Connor Mayr who ran 2:00.97. While these four aren’t expected to run together at New Englands, their times add up to a low 7:54 4x800m relay.
Other CT runners in the 1-mile included:
83rd Isaac Mahler Hall 4:25.03
84th Ethan Striff-Cave Hall 4:25.32
87th Liam Edson Ridgefield 4:25.67
90th Colin Goldschmidt Hall 4:28.17
103rd Ben Lewis Hall 4:33.84
105th Sullivan Dunn Ridgefield 4:35.04
111th Uri Noyman Hall 4:48.62
400m – 31st – Aaron Sandler Hall 52.28
Sunday – East Coast Invitational in Boston
Across town at the Reggie Lewis Center, site of this weekend’s New England championships, the East Coast Invitational took place with several Connecticut athletes making the trip. Ellington broke two school records. First Connor Lagasse broke Jack Olender’s school record in the 800m with a time of 1:59.26 to take second place. Next, Nicholas Martino broke the Knights oldest school record on the books, running 23.66 in the 200m.
Winning the 800m was State Open 1000m champion Soheib Dissa of Newtown. The sophomore became the first boy from his school to break two-minutes indoors, finishing in 1:58.87.
New England 4x800m qualifier Rose Penney of New Fairfield took third in 2:28.21 in the 800m and got a feel for the track she will be running on this weekend.
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