By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
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Girls 55m Hurdles
There was little surprise as a pair of state hurdlers dominated the girls 55m event on Saturday since they have been the best so far this season. Hillhouse’s Leonaya Knox continues her impressive junior season as she sped to the win in 8.12 with Wilton’s Jill Roberts right behind for the silver medal in her PR of 8.22. Her time makes her the 7th fastest hurdler in state history. Also earning a medal was Bethel’s Rosie Volpintestas in 8.68.
Boys 55m Hurdles
The finals of the boys 55m hurdles featured US #2 Josh Mooney of Stonington and his long-time rival, US#6 Michael Johnson of Lewis Mills. Both had clean stepped over the hurdles in the preliminary heats with the fastest times and were adjacent to each other on the start line of the final race. Mooney extended his unbeaten streak this season winning in 7.39 as Johnson closed behind in 7.48 for second place.
Boys 55m Dash
Top seeded Noble Gongon of Simsbury almost didn’t make the final as he tied for the slowest of all the preliminary qualifiers. But the State Open champion found a burst of speed in the final meters for a narrow win from lane 8 in 6.47 as Enfield’s Mason Pilkington earned a sixth place in 6.53. The top six finishers were only .06 seconds apart.
Girls 4x200m Relay
With speedy legs and fast paced exchanges Bloomfield’s 4x200m Open champion relay quartet of Jahniya Barclay, Kiylah Williams, Caleah Baker, and Sianna Lloyd sped to their best time this season of 1:42.49 to win easily over Wachusett Regional at 1:45.10. The quartet is rapidly closing in on their school and state record of 1:40.66 set in 2017.
Boys 4x200m Relay
Third ranked Windsor almost tied their season best time as they held off all challengers for the 4 laps to win in 1:30.32 over Lexington MA and Bishop Hendricken RI. The squad of Jaden Long, Maxim Copeland, Grant Harris and Taeshawn Berry, only a few hundredths of second from their season best, was joined by sixth place Greenwich on the awards podium.
Girls 600m
Perhaps the most successful track event of the day for state athletes was the 600m where top-seeded Gabby Hernandez of EO Smith used a final surge going into the final turn to accelerate from her win in 1:32.96. Her competition was almost all in-state rivals as Windsor’s Brittani Westberry earned silver in her PR of 1:34.63 while Newtown’s Riley Powers gained a PR of 1:35.38 for the bronze medal and cracked into the top 20 nationally. Julia Gustafsson of Greenwich held her position to finish 4th in 1:37.45 while EO Smith’s Navia Casa earned the final podium spot after winning the previous heat in 1:39.32.
Girls High Jump
The girls high jump almost featured a sweep as state athletes took five of the six spots on the podium led by defending champion Audrey Kirkutis of Conard. Coming off her State Open win, Kirkutis had a perfect day as she cleared each of her successive heights on her first attempts from 5’1” to her season best of 5’7”. Avery Smith of EO Smith led the sweep of the remaining places with her third place height of 5’5” as Victoria Baker of Sacred Heart Academy placed fourth at the same height for a new school record. Rounding out the podium places at 5’3’ were Meg Barnouw of Fairfield Ward and Tia Stapleton of Fairfield Ludlowe.
Boys High Jump
The contingent of state boys leaping at the same time in the adjacent high jump area were almost as successful as Bloomfield’s Ja’Mari Manson cleared a 1-inch PR for the win at 6’7” on his second attempt. While Khalil Antoine of Hillhouse didn’t equal his PR of 6’8” set last week, he cleared 6’7” on his final jump to gain the silver medal. Open champion Dar Jankovic of EO Smith placed fourth after clearing 6’5”. Interestingly, only two returners from last year cleared six feet and this there there were no less than 16 over that mark.
More All-New England honors came in these events:
Boys 600m
In one of the more exciting events of the day, the final heat of the boys 600m produced the three fastest times as Sean Clegg of Londonderry-NH outlasted a hard-charging Gabe Sisk of Hall and his teammate Jonathan York, the early leader. Clegg found the lead with a 100m remaining as York struggled to maintain his speed. The final 50-meters saw Sisk pass York in trying to catch Clegg. Clegg crossed the line in 1:21.64 just ahead of Sisk in a PR 1:22.10 and York’s PR of 1:22.14. The pair of boys from Hall are both junior, broke their school record and now possess the top two times in the state this year. Shelton’s Luke Pacheco won the previous heat in his PR of in 1:22.81 to gain fifth place and a spot on the podium.
Girls 300m
MySportsResults hasn’t written much about Lauren Kropo of Naugatuck. The freshman has been a star in the NVL, but against state class competition, she was part of the Class L championship 4x200m and finished 4th at the Open in the 300m to qualify for New Englands. She came in as the 10th seed with a PR of 41.27 and she was perhaps hoping for a PR and a medal if things fell her way. Well, the banked track must have agreed with her as she not only finished 4th, defeating all the other Connecticut girls that finished ahead of her all season, she came away with a HUGE PR. The Greyhound not only broke 41-seconds, she went under 40-seconds for the first time to run the state’s fastest time this season and moved all the way up to 8th on the All Time CT list. She is sandwiched between Wilbur Cross greats Rachel D’Amora and Shanea Calhoun, finishing in a time of 39.85.
Boys 1000m
Simsbury’s Daniel Coyne picked a good day to run a 5-second PR as he finished 3rd in 2:31.66 behind the wire-to-wire victory by St Raphael’s Devan Kipyego in his season best of 2:29.51. The Trojan was 6th at the State Open and barely make the regional meet and now has Connecticut’s state leading time.
Boys 2 Miles
The final heat of the boys 2-mile evolved into a 2-pack affair of three front runners and a pack of three chasers. Eventual winner Adam Bendetson of Scarborough ME prevailed for the win in 9:13.99 over Ryan Sarney (MA) and Troy Silvestri (RI). The pack of chasers provided three CT additions to the podium with juniors Collin Walsh of New Milford (9:22.31), Ben Lorenz of Staples (9:23.81) and Hall’s Isaac Mahler (9:28.72) repeating the order they finished in at the State Open.
Girls 4x400m Relay
Moses Brown, anchored by Sophia Gorriaran just missed the RI state record, but still took the win in a time of 3:58.39. Windsor took 4th in 4:02.05 to improve upon their state leading time. Glastonbury took 5th in 4:03.45 and Greenwich grabbed the last set of medals taking 6th place in a season best of 4:03.63.
Boys Long Jump
In the event won by Salter Brown of Moses Brown RI with a leap of 23’3” the final podium place was earned by Windsor’s Grant Harris with his PR jump of 21’9.5”. The senior took home his second medal of the afternoon after running a leg on the victorious 4x200m at the beginning of the meet. Suffield’s Avery Cipcic who should be getting ready for the pentathlon next week just missed the finals, taking 8th place.
Girls Shot Put
The finals of the shot put won by Lowell’s (MA) Veronica Jones with a mark of 40’11” included a 4th place by Hillhouse’s Shalisha Robertson (39’1.75”). Bloomfield senior Layla Spann-McDonald made the finals, but just missed scoring, throwing a PR of 36-10.0.”
Boys Shot Put
Favored Jacob Cookinham of Bishop Stand MA didn’t disappoint fans as he unleashed a winning toss of 67’3” for the win which would have been the meet record until last year’s outrageously competitive meet. East Lyme’s Thomas Matlock earned 5th with his PR toss of 53’2.25 in the finals while Simsbury sophomore Marshall Potter took 6th with his PR mark of 52’10.75 during the preliminary round.
MySportsResults was busy Saturday in snapping pics and taking videos of several of the events at the 35th annual New England Indoor Track and Field Championships at The Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
You may need more than a few minutes this week to view these photos in our just completed galleries that are freely available from MySportsResults.com. Feel free to use them in any end of the season team slide shows.
Click to view the MSR SmugMug 2023 New England ITF Championships galleries.
If you enjoy MySportsResults provides, make sure to visit our sponsor soundRUNNER and Marathon Sports who helped make these pics available for free viewing.
soundRUNNER Spring Spike Month/Nights
It’s almost time for Spike Month to start at all four SoundRunner stores. Athletes and coaches will get 20% off spikes and 15% off everything in the store (unless it is already discounted) beginning March 20 through April 21.
Coaches, if you want to arrange for a Spike Night or Morning then please contact a Store Manager at your local store listed below. If your athletes cannot attend a spike night then they can come into one of four stores during those dates and get the discount as well.
Branford – dean.tresca@soundrunner.com
Fairfield – eileen.gould@soundrunner.com
Glastonbury – darren.elledge@soundrunner.com
Old Saybrook – nick.cunningham@soundrunner.com
