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Last Update: Sunday, March 18, 2007 |
By Vickie Fulkerson - The Day - Published on 02/10/2002
New London — Allison Griggs was announced as the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division high jump champion Saturday afternoon, followed by a deafening roar from her teammates that filled Coast Guard Academy's Roland Fieldhouse.
Griggs, it seems, had never high jumped before ... well, maybe twice in practice.
And now her victory had helped lead the Vikings' girls' indoor track team to its third straight championship.
East Lyme, missing seniors Kim Rhodes and Kristen Torrance, both out for the season with ACL knee injuries, finished with 145 points to top the six-team field. Fitch was second with 105 and Ledyard third with 88.
“We exceeded my expectations wildly,” East Lyme coach Carl Reichard said. “Things have turned around a lot this year where we don't have the home run hitters anymore. So now we've got to hit a lot of singles and we asked the kids to do some different events than they're used to.
“Allison Griggs usually competes in the shot put ... and today she comes out and wins the high jump. That makes you look like the coach of the year, but I didn't do that. She did. It's just an indication of the team's spirit.”
Ledyard won the Large Division boys' championship with 153 points, followed by Fitch with 118 and East Lyme with 98.
East Lyme had a pair of double-winners on the boys' side with Felix Vincent (55-meter dash, 300) and Eric Griswold (55 hurdles, long jump). On the girls' side, Fitch's Portia Delain (55 dash, 300), Ledyard's Jenny Worth (600, long jump) and Killingly's Meghan Owen (1,000, 1,600) each won twice, with Owen shattering a pair of meet records.
Owen, fresh off a third-place mile finish last week in the prestigious Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, ran the 1,000 in 3 minutes, .62 seconds and the 1,600 in 5:00.54.
Meanwhile, East Lyme had only two individual first-place finishes, both by Griggs.
She won the shot put in a meet record-setting 41 feet, 13/4 inches and the high jump at 5-0. Griggs said that during practices for the high jump earlier in the week, Reichard would only let her attempt jumps up to 4-8. So reaching the 5-foot mark was something of a surprise to her.
“It was kind of weird,” said Griggs, a senior. “I don't know where it came from. ... This is definitely awesome for us to win this, but I also wish Kim and Kristen could have been a part of it. They've always been a big part of it.”
Rhodes won the State Open 300-meter championship last year, lifting the team to an Open title as well, its first in program history. But Rhodes tore her left ACL during soccer season and recently had surgery to repair it. Torrance tore her ACL prior to soccer season, but took her usual spot in goal for the Vikings this fall with a brace on her knee. She also had surgery following the season.
Nevertheless, Reichard said the athletes on his team were receptive to their suddenly increased responsibilities this season.
“Injuries are a part of what you do,” Reichard said. “I didn't know if we could win today, I just told the kids to compete hard, compete intelligently and then they could go home happy no matter what.”
Ledyard's boys' team won its second straight championship in much the same fashion, using its depth.
The Colonels got just one individual title from Paul Gieri in the 600, but took three of the meet's four relay events.
“I think we worked harder this year,” Gieri said. “Our practices were harder. We wanted to defend our title.”
Gieri took the 600 in 1:31.89, establishing the meet record in the first year of the event. The state of Connecticut formerly sponsored the 500 meters, but switched to the 600 this season to conform with New England standards.
“We have a strong balance of top-level individuals,” Ledyard coach Dave Tetlow said. “I just tried to keep people as fresh as I could get them for the relays. ... I hadn't seen Fitch at this year because we weren't at any of the same meets. We saw East Lyme and we knew they were tough, too. You're just not sure who's going to shine.”
Ledyard took the 4x720 relay with Rob O'Donnell, Ryan Moore, Kyle Sweet and Dave Holliday, the 4x360 with Pat Edgecomb, Tony Gallo, Chris Troxell and Paulo Walters and the 4x180 with Nate Shuttleworth, Joe Luginsland, Jon Stakely and Gieri.
For Killingly's Owen, who formerly competed in basketball during the winter months, she's enjoyed her transition to indoor track.
And while she may be a newcomer, she's certainly not new to running, having captured two straight New England cross country titles.
“There's more laps, more turns,” Owen said of indoor track. “That can slow you down, but at least the weather's not a factor. ... Last week (at Madison Square Garden) was just a special meet. That was a goal I wanted. Just to go there.”
Still, said Killingly coach Alden Miner, Owen approached Saturday's races much the same as she did the higher-profile one.
“The preparation and the mental focus are the same,” Miner said. “... There just isn't much for me to say. When she gets on the track, she says it all.
1. LEDYARD 153; 2. FITCH 108; 3. EAST LYME 98; 4. NFA 70; 5. WOODSTOCK 21; 6. KILLINGLY 5.
4x720 relay: 1. Ledyard (O'Donnell, Moore, Sweet, Holliday) 7:44.10; 2 .NFA; 3. Fitch; 4. Woodstock; 5. East Lyme. 55 hurdles: 1. Griswold (EL) :8.20; 2. Luginsland (L); 3. Troxell (L); 4. Shea (NFA); 5. Vanasse (F); 6. Paige (F). Shot put: 1. Rivera (EL) 45-4/; 2. Bedian (EL); 3. Lillibridge (N); 4. Batten (N); 5. Burdick (EL); 6. Winkelman (L). 1,000: 1. Ross (NFA) 2:42.78; 2. Olivier (F); 3. O'Donnell (L); 4. Moore (L); 5. Blanchard (L); 6. Landry (F). High jump: 1. Dahl (F) 6-5; 2. Shea (N); 3. Luginsland (L); 4. Burbank (F); 5. Lane (N); 6. Harris (W). 1,600: 1. Olivier (F) 4:35.15; 2. Holliday (L); 3. O'Reilly (EL); 4. Burbank (F); 5. Sweet (L); 6. Ceiko (W). 3,200: 1. Mandelburg (N) 9:59.33; 2. Olivier (F); 3. Burbank (F); 4. Holliday (L); 5. Sedlack (L); 6. Scott (L). 4x360 relay: 1. Ledyard (Edgecomb, Galb, Troxell, Walters) 3:15.26; 2. Fitch; 3. East Lyme; 4. NFA. 4x180 relay: 1. Ledyard (Shuttleworth, Gieri, Luginsland, Stakely) 1:27.33; 2. Fitch; 3. East Lyme; 4. NFA. Sprint medley: 1. NFA (Clark, Ross, Bishop, Bashelor) 3:26.90; 2. Fitch; 3. Ledyard; 4. East Lyme. 300: 1. Vincent (East Lyme) :37.51; 2. Walters (L); 3. Griswold (EL); 4. Gieri (L); 5. Kulvanen (F); 6. Schmidt (K). Long jump: 1. Griswold (EL) 20-Ž; 2. Vincent (EL); 3. Dahl (F); 4. Schmidt (K); 5. Walters (L); 6. Troxell (L). 600: 1. Gieri (L) 1:31.89; 2. Kulvanen (F); 3. Edgecomb (L); 4. Ruff (W); 5. Parker (F); 6. Gallo (L). 55 dash: 1. Vincent (EL) :6.77; 2. Shuttleworth (L); 3. Stakely (L); 4. Vieu (F); 5. Bigelow (F); 6. Laperle (W). Pole vault: 1. Kevin Joly (W) 13-4 (new record, old record 13-3Ž set by Ledyard's Wayne Dalton in 1975); 2. Davis (L); 3. Mihalko (L); 4. Nemeth (L); 5. Scott (L); 6. Perry (L).
1. EAST LYME 145; 2. FITCH 105; 3. LEDYARD 88; 4. KILLINGLY 36; 5. NFA 31; 6. WOODSTOCK 25
4x720 relay: 1. East Lyme (Cody, Barner, Wang, O'Connell) 9:08.86; 2. Ledyard; 3. NFA; 4. Fitch; 5. Killingly; 6. Woodstock. 55 hurdles: 1. Piccione (K) :9.91; 2. MacDougall (EL); 3. H. Worth (L); 4. Nolan (F); 5. Updyke (EL); 6. Smith (L). Shot put: 1. Griggs (EL) 41-1ž (new record, old record 39-3Ž set by NFA's Michelle Artis in 1992); 2. Parker (L); 3. Welch (EL); 4. Storvick (L); 5. Jackson (EL); 6. Hewes (F). 1,000: 1. Owen (K) 3:00.62 (new record, old record 3:03.00 set by East Lyme's Heather Stevenson in 2001); 2. Stevenson (EL); 3. Hicks (W); 4. Keegan (N); 5. Harrington (F); 6. Kauffman (F). High jump: 1. Griggs (EL) 5-0; 2. Auger (N); 3. Parker (L); 4. Nolan (F); 5. Bernier (W); 6. Valade (W). 1,600: Owen (K) 5:00.54 (new record, old record 5:09.99 set by Fitch's Jessica Schenk in 1999); 2. Barnes (EL); 3. Boucher (F); 4. Holly (L); 5. Hargis (EL); 6. Kauffman (F). 3,200: 1. Boucher (F) 12:05.64; 2. Barnes (EL); 3. Holly (L); 4. Zike (F); 5. Hargis (EL); 6. Martin (EL). 4x360 relay: 1. East Lyme (Wang, Siebert, O'Connell, Stevenson) 3:52.40; 2. Ledyard; 3. Fitch; 4. NFA; 5. Woodstock. 4x180 relay: 1. Fitch (Delain, Rozier, Lowe, Paul) 1:40.55; 2. East Lyme; 3. Ledyard; 4. Woodstock; 5. Killingly. Sprint medley: 1. Woodstock (Larsen, Bernardi, Bernier, Hicks) 4:04.87; 2. NFA; 3. East Lyme; 4. Fitch; 5. Killingly. 300: 1. Delain (F) :43.02; 2. Rozier (F); 3. J. Worth (L); 4. Stevenson (EL); 5. Gillian (EL); 6. Siebert (EL). Long jump: 1. J. Worth (L) 15-11ž; 2. Lowe (F); 3. Nechamen (EL); 4. Chastie (F); 5. Vincent (EL); 6. Siebert (EL). 600: 1. J. Worth (L) 1:39.66; 2. Rozier (F); 3. O'Connell (EL); 4. Wang (EL); 5. Ewell (L); 6. Sinko (N). 55 dash: 1. Delain (F) :7.63; 2. Nechamen (EL); 3. Gillian (EL); 4. Vincent (EL); 5. Shuttleworth (L); 6. Slonski (L).
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