Sixty-nine teams from Connecticut made the journey to Boston on either a snowy Friday night or a rainy Saturday morning to compete in the 35th annual New England Indoor Track and Field Championships at The Reggie Lewis Center. Connecticut athletes brought home winner’s plaques in 15 events, countless school records and even one Connecticut State Record.
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Girls 4x800m Relay
In an afternoon of amazing performances, one stands out above all the rest. Glastonbury girls State Open champion 4x800m came into the meet as the number two seed having run 9:36.61 to qualify. But if you have followed the Guardians all season long, you would have noticed their tremendous depth in the events from 600m to 1000m. They were attempting to win the Open team title and spread their best athletes out among the various individual events. But now, with no team at stake, they loaded up the relay and smashed the Connecticut state record in the event held by Greenwich, by almost five seconds and are now ranked third nationally going into Nationals next weekend.
Their first two legs of Annika Paluska and Ava Gattinella focused on the 600m, sprint medley and 4x400m during the championship season and the only time they ran the 800m was when they went 1-2 at the East Coast Invitational in the middle of January. Paluska led off in 2:15.8 and Gattinella split 2:16.1 to extend the lead. Only a sophomore, Brooke Strauss has already built up quite a resume with multiple Class championships in indoor track and a State Open title in cross country. She absolutely blew the race open with a 2:13.5 split, handing off to Kelley MacElhiney, the only member of the State Open and Class LL championship teams running New Englands. MacElhiney, running all by herself with only lapped runners to compete against, ran an indoor PR split of 2:19.5.
Greenwich girls, with their full line up after an injury to their lead off leg at the start of the State Open, also ran a much improved line up with Julia Gustafsson, Margaret McCooe, Kate Friedman and Esme Daplyn improved from 9:54 to 9:25.93 to take 3rd. Lyme Old Lyme, also improved 14 seconds to finish 4th in 9:30.35.
Boys 4x800m Relay
Xavier High has such a great tradition in distance running and they are adding another chapter this indoor season. After winning the State Open 4x800m two weeks ago, they came into New Englands as the number two seed behind Brookline, MA. The Falcons needed a supreme effort as the top seven teams all had significant season bests and at least three teams were in contention going into the last leg. Lead off runner Owen Martin controlled most of his leg and handed off almost even with Brookline, splitting 1:59.5. Alex Ushchak had Brookline and Danbury right on his heels the entire way and split 1:56.7. Like Martin, Jack Ouellette is another sophomore who absolutely blew the race open running 1:57.6 and gave Class L 600m champion Nick Cassarino a large lead which he needed as Brookline and Danbury were charging hard over the last lap and split 1:58.4. This same line up went from 8:09.80 in January to 8:00.87 at the Open, breaking their school record, with their times of 7:52.32 to win their first ever indoor New England title in the event. This time ranks them 8th nationally. Top seed Brookline was second and Danbury, who has won multiple New England titles in the 4x800m, just missed their school record by less than a second, running 7:55.22. This performance puts them 17th nationally this season. Hall earned sixth place medals with a season best time of 8:05.67.
Girls 1 Mile
Katherine Bohlke has really come into her own this season. The Newington junior has led from the front and just gradually pulled away from the field in every 1600/mile race she has run since early January. She did the same on Saturday, winning in a PR of 4:55.54. The performance not only cracked into the top thirty nationally, she became the 9th fastest miler in state history. Not far behind was sophomore Tess Sherry of Conard who broke five-minutes for the first time, finishing second in 5:57.47 making her the 13th fastest miler in state history. Also earning a New England medal was Kelly Jones of Lauralton Hall in 5th place in a time of 5:06.60.
Boys 1 Mile
Aidan Cox of Coe-Brown, NH came in as a heavy favorite in the mile. While his career has been spotty due to injuries, he was NXR Northeast Regional Champion in cross country as a junior and ran 14:38 for 5k on the track as a sophomore. His father/ coach Tim Cox felt the senior, who will attend the University of Virginia next year, was ready to go. He led most of the race, but right behind him was an outstanding battle for 2nd place between Parker Broderick of Fairfield Warde and Ryan Connolly of North Andover, MA. The pair were closing fast on the leader and Broderick got the silver in a new PR of 4:15.79. The time moves him into the 16th spot on the all-time CT milers list, surpassing Wilton’s Spencer Brown of The Athlete’s Special YouTube channel fame.
Girls 1000m
The girls 1000m was a much anticipated race as Sophia Gorriaran, the third fastest high school 800m runner all time was toeing the line for the first time at New Englands since her freshman year. Having already run 2:39.83 for 1000m this season, the win for the Moses Brown RI senior was never in doubt. She not only won, but she also easily broke the New England meet record by two seconds running 2:48.25. But with her setting such a fast pace, she pulled several other girls to amazing times. Massachusetts champ Amelia Everett became the third girl from Newton South to break 2:50 running 2:49.56.
But just a little farther back, this became the deepest Connecticut girls 1000m race ever. State Open champion Liv Sherry of Conard became the third fastest 1000m in state history, taking third in 2:51.27. Brooke Strauss broke All American Lindsey Crevoiserat’s Glastonbury school record, finishing in 2:52.18 to become the fifth fastest girl in state history and junior Esme Daplyn finished fifth, becoming the seventh fastest girl in state history with a time of 2:52.63. The Cardinal still has one more year to break Emily Philippides school record of 2:50.27. Darien’s Julia Blake finished 6th in 2:56.40 to grab a medal.
Boys 300m
There was much anticipation in the boys 300m. Hall’s Sam Sandler has the state’s fastest time since running 34.68 at the CCC championships. The senior, who has committed to Southern Connecticut, defeated defending New England champion Gianluca Bianchi of Greenwich by only .01 seconds to win the Class LL title with both breaking the meet record. Bianchi got his payback by winning the State Open by .11 seconds. The pair have run among the fastest races ever run on Floyd Little’s flat track. Moving their rivalry onto the banked track at Reggie Lewis and being pushed by MA State champ Nataenel Vigo Catala of Haverhill, everyone knew they were capable of faster times. And this race did not disappoint. Bianchi, in lane six went out hard and had a considerable lead on the back straight away with Sandler closing hard around the final turn. Bianchi just missed Daundre Barnaby 14-year old meet record by .12 seconds, winning in a time of 34.29 with Sandler a step behind in 34.47. The Greenwich senior, who has committed to Princeton, moved ahead of the great Jerome Young (34.31) on the all-time Connecticut performance list and is now ranked 5th behind such notable sprinters as Glenn McFadden (33.66), Barnaby (34.10), Mark Doyley (34.24) and Elijah Young (34.27). He also now owns the FCIAC record in the event. Sandler also set a lifetime best of 34..47 to become the 7th fastest sprinter in state history.
Girls 2-mile
There are some new underclass talents this year in the girls distance races. Besides the Sherry sisters and Kate Bohlke, Shelton’s Hannah Andrejczyk has established herself among not only the state’s but the region’s best distance runners. The junior, running right around 40-seconds per lap, just grinded the field down until only freshman Chase Gilbert of Lyme Old Lyme was able to stick with her. Finally, with about 800m to go, the Gael used her recently acquired sub five-minute mile speed and began to pull away, winning in a new PR of 10:38.19, the 11th best time in the nation. Gilbert took second in her PR of 10:44.67, the fastest freshman 2-miler in the nation. The pair also moved up to the 5th and 6th fastest runners in state history.
Girls Long Jump
Gabriella Zeller of Lewis Mills has really come into her own this winter and was the state leader in the long jump of 18’8” from her winning jump at the Class S championships. But the long jump is a fickle event and athletes’ results can often vary a foot or more. Zeller’s performance did vary from her normal performance, but in a good way. The senior improved upon her PR by over half a foot and broke 19-feet for the first time to claim the New England championship with a distance of 19’3”. That mark made her the 11th best jumper in the US and ranks her the 7th best jumper all-time in CT history. She still has another six inches to reach Tahari James’s state record of 19’9”.
Boys 4x400m
Just like the 300m, there was great anticipation in the boys 4x400m. Hall and Greenwich have been battling it out in the event the past two years with Hall usually getting the advantage. Both knew the New England meet and CT records were within their reach. On the first leg as all six teams were cutting in right around the end of the first lap, Cambridge Rindge & Latin clipped and began to fall and while doing so, he took out Hall’s lead off runner, Fareed Abu Rabia who went down hard on his arm and didn’t get back up. Greenwich ended up winning the heat in 3:24.50 with Hillhouse, winner of the previous heat in third at 3:27.00.
But race officials correctly ruled Hall was impeded and disqualified the Cambridge Rindge & Latin team, giving the Titans a chance to run alone after the others had finished. State Open 600m champ Jon York led off running a split of 50.1, then handed off to replacement runner Aaron Sandler who split 52.3. Gabe Sisk ran a 52.0 leg and Sam Sandler finished it off running 48.8. Their time of 3:23.35 held off Greenwich by a little over a second, claiming Hall’s second straight New England title.
But here is where the story gets even more interesting. While Hall was running to a near empty stadium, those that were left were cheering on Hall. Including five boys from Naugatuck who originally finished 6th when Hall didn’t finish. In an incredible display of sportsmanship, the Greyhounds provided support to Hall and “cheered” themselves out of a medal. Hall coach Jeff Billing commented on the display by saying “isn’t this what high school sports are all about? Not awards, but doing your best and encouraging others to do your best and going home happy and proud of your own efforts.”
Stay tuned for more extended coverage of all events later tonight.
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