Bloomfield Earns 3rd Girls State Open Indoor TF Title

CIAC State Open Indoor T&F Championships

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

Fans of the CIAC Girls State Open Indoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday were witnessed close competition in several events and were treated to an equally close battle for the team title. Class S winner Bloomfield came away with their third Open title by defeating Class LL champion Glastonbury by a score of 47-41. Greenwich had their highest finish since they won in 2018 to take third with 35 points while Windsor finished fourth a point behind.

Photo courtesy of CIAC Twitter

Bloomfield last won the Open titles in 2017 and 2019 to accompany their 20 class titles since 1989. The four members of their 4x200m started them off on the right note and contributed most of their team’s points in various events. Jahniya Barclay, Kiylah Williams, Caleah Baker and Sianna Lloyd were the Week #6 HOKA Athletes of the Week and state leaders all season. They were never seriously challenged and won in a time of 1:43.96.

Barclay, only a freshman, was Class S champ in the 55m dash and came in as the third seed. She lowered her PR in the biggest race of her life thus far and won with a time of 7.16. This time makes her the fifth fastest freshman in the nation.

Click to view video: https://mysportsresults.smugmug.com/2023-ITF-CIAC-State-Open-Championships/Girls-55m/

Baker took 6th in the 55m but really shined in the 300m where she won in a state leading time of 40.31. Their 4x400m faced a stiff challenge from Windsor and Glastonbury to take third in a new season best of 4:05.35. Other major points came from Laniyah Henderson who took fourth in the long jump, tying her PR of 17’7.75”. Layla Spann-McDonald continued the ThrowHawks tradition of scoring in the shot put and coming within a half inch of her PR, taking fourth with a throw of 36-00.50.

Glastonbury kept the score close by relying on its relays. They started off by totally dominating the 4x800m. The team of Jacqueline Caron, Lila Garbett, Jacqueline Dudus and Kelley MacElhiney easily won in a state leading time and US #31 of 9:36.61. In the 1600m sprint medley relay, Alexandra Edwards, Riley Carroll, Ava Gattinella and Annika Paluska weren’t able to hold off E.O. Smith, but stayed in front of Greenwich to take 2nd in 4:17.03. Gattinella, Dudus, Carroll and Paluska finished their day once again taking second, but this time in the 4x400m. Altogether, the Guardians earned 26 of their 41 points in these three relays. Class LL champion Brooke Strauss wasn’t able to find that extra gear she had last week, but still managed a third place finish in the 1000m with a near PR of 2:57.90.

4x800m

There was drama in the 4x800m before the race even started. Greenwich’s lead-off runner Lauren Resnick took a fall coming off the first turn and was not able to start because she had concussion-like symptoms. The Cardinal’s girls coach Peter Watson was able to get another runner, Orla Muir, who was on the relay card but was upstairs at the time to come down to the track. Resnick was an FCIAC scorer in the mile and 2-mile and was accustomed to the pressure of a big meet. Meanwhile, Muir finished 14th in the Class LL 1000m and wasn’t expected to run. Muir was put into the fourth leg to give her a few minutes to warm-up and they actually took fourth place in a season best time of 9:54.96.

55m Hurdles

In an afternoon full of star performances, one of the brightest had to be Leonaya Knox of Hillhouse. A former volleyball player, she came out for track in her sophomore year to find immediate success taking second in the Indoor State Open 55m hurdles race and winning the Outdoor State Open 100m hurdles. Now a junior she has already run the 8th fastest time in the nation of 8.05 at a Class M championship preliminary heat. She more than delivered, winning her specialty in a time of 8.06, only .02 seconds more than Tess Stapleton’s meet record. Additionally, she also knocked .11 seconds off her lifetime 55m best to take the bronze medal in that event on Saturday.

600m

There was a big showdown in the 600m between defending champion Brittani Westberry of Windsor and E.O. Smith’s Gabriella Hernandez. The Panther went through the 400m under 60 seconds with Westberry a step behind. But over the last 150m, Hernandez pulled away and won in a time of 1:33.17. Her time of 1:31.69 from the CCC championship meet is still the fifth fastest time nationally. Westberry was pulled along to her PR of 1:34.79, which is the 9th fastest time in state history.

1000m

Last week at the Class LL championships, there was a great race between two sophomores, Conard’s Liv Sherry and Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss. Sherry made the race interesting with two laps to go as she charged into the lead. But defending Class LL champion Strauss of Glastonbury bided her time and waited until the last 100m to make her move to win the race. Sherry learned her lesson as she decided to go fast right from the gun on Saturday, taking the first lap in 33 seconds and extending her lead the entire race. By the time the other runners started closing the gap, it was too late as Sherry won with a time of 2:55.87, a top 20 time nationally. Greenwich’s Esme Daplyn was third the previous week, held off LL champion Strauss with a PR of 2:57.77.

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

Windsor took the early lead in the girls SMR, but at the exchange going into the 800m legs, E.O. Smith came within a step of the Warriors. Glastonbury and Greenwich quickly made contact, but this race belonged to Gabby Hernandez who ran controlled and split about 2:19 for her 800m leg to help her Panthers teammates Katelyn Shirshac, Jadyn Hamley, and Navia Casa another win, finishing in a time of 4:17.99. Glastonbury, clawing and scratching for every point, was able to get ahead of Greenwich by a couple of meters to score eight points.

1600m

Newington’s Katherine Bohlke is really making a name for herself this season. She has already won the CCC and Class L titles and came into the State Open as the top seed. The junior ran with confidence hanging in the pack waiting to make her move with two laps remaining. By the time the bell rang for the last lap, the race was all but over as she finished in 4:57.50 with Conard’s Tess Sherry taking second in 5:02.56. Bohlke’s time makes her the 8th fastest 1600m in state history and 26th nationally this season.

3200m

In the 3200m Alexa Ciccone of Cheshire was the early leader and broke away with Shelton’s Hannah Andrejczyk shadowing her for the first several laps with several notable athletes a few seconds behind. But right before the end of the seventh lap Andrejczyk decided to go for the lead to get away from the field of several fast finishers. After the 1600m mark, freshman Chase Gilbert, who doubled back from the 2nd place 4x800m, decided to give chase but the Shelton junior maintained her composure and never faltered. Her time of 10:42.93 was not only a 12 second PR, it moved her all the way up to #4 all time in Connecticut history and would have been a state record as recently as 11 years ago. Coming on strong in the second half of the race was Gilbert who finished 2nd in 10:50.83. Her time made her the 13th fastest runner in state history.

Shot Put

Based on seeds, there were many girls only a couple of feet from each other in the shot put and the title would be won by whoever stepped up. Hillhouse’s Shalisha Robertson threw 41’6” in early December but has had a nagging hamstring injury the last several weeks and has been stuck in the mid 30-ft range. The hamstring must be getting better because she had her best throw since December 17th, reaching a distance of 39’6.25” for the win. Coming in as the 8th seed, Hall’s Anna Siciliano had an almost four-foot PR and school record to take second, throwing 38’7.50”.

High Jump

Conard’s Audrey Kirkutis was second in the State Open high jump last year before winning New Englands and becoming an All-American at New Balance Nationals Indoor. She took her first State Open title clearing 5’6” with Victoria Baker of Sacred Heart and Fairfield Warde’s Meg Barnouw tying for the runner-up spot at 5’4”.

Long Jump

It’s taken a few years, but Gabriella Zeller of Lewis Mills has finally found her event. She only competed in the long jump last year in the CIAC Heptathlon but this winter she has focused on the event and came away with the Class S and Open titles. She jumped 18′ 5.25″ on her 5th attempt and overtook Shelton’s Audrey Kozak who was second with the same distance. It came down to their second best jumps to determine the winner with Zeller jumping one inch farther to grab the title.

Pole Vault

Weston has had a long tradition in the girls pole vault with four indoor Open titles coming in this one event alone over the past 14 years. Ellison Weiner has had two of those titles and tied her lifetime best of 12’0” to repeat as the Open champion. Four other Trojans have gone over the 12-ft mark headed by CT state record holder Emily Savage who jumped 12’7” in 2013. Allison Vigue of Coginchaug repeated as State Open runner-up with a clearance over the 11-ft bar.

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.