Naugatuck Girls win NVL Track Meet 

Friday, May 25, 2001

© 2001 Republican-American 

NVL GIRLS TRACK
By Joe Palladino

WATERBURY — From this day forward, when you define the word ‘upset', simply refer to the 2001 Naugatuck Valley League girls track & field championships. This meet was loaded with them.

The favorites that stayed true to form were few. One of those, however, was Team Naugatuck. The Greyhounds won their second straight NVL Meet title by a mere 13 points, holding off Holy Cross 136 -123. 

Two other past NVL champions who retained their crowns were Crosby's Lisa Stublic and Wilby's Jaime Welch. Stublic was never challenged as she won the mile in 5:13.19 and then came back and set a meet record in the 3,200 with a time of 11:17.67, more than 10 seconds faster than her own previous mark. Wilby's Jaime Welch defended her 100-meter dash title with a time of 12.9, and then she coasted to the win in the 200 with a time of 26.98. Like Stublic, there was no one even close.

The rest of the meet was shock city.

It began in the javelin, where Seymour's Randi Cuccaro, who was voted the meet's most outstanding performer, pulled off a stunning upset of Naugatuck's Krystal Pabey, last year's NVL and Class LL champion. Cuccaro didn't just win, she set a meet record in the process with a throw of 124-feet, 4-inches. After moving over to win a silver medal in the shot put, Cuccaro set a meet record in the triple jump (34-5).

"Nothing really surprised me today," Cuccaro said. "But I did have three personal bests and two school records. If Cassie (Moran) had beaten me in the long jump, or if Krystal beat me in the javelin, I wouldn't have minded, because I had done a personal best."

Moran claimed an NVL title in the long jump, and while that might not be considered a surprise, the way it happened was stunning. Torrington's All-State jumper, Casey Kasenetz, fouled in all three of her attempts during the preliminary rounds. That opened the door for Moran, and the Naugy senior walked through to claim the gold with a leap of 15-feet, 6 ˝-inches.

Holy Cross' Desaraya Williams set a meet record with her winning leap in the high jump. She cleared 5-feet, 4-inches for the title, while Torrington's Amy Weingart won the shot put, and her put of 36-feet, 4-inches also set a meet record.

Three more surprising results were turned in by the Crusaders. Cristina DelBuono, competing in the hurdles for the first time in an NVL meet, won both the 100 high (16.00) and 300 intermediate (48.46), while freshman Tina Platt, running track "just to stay in shape," sprinted to the 400 meter crown in 60.41.

"I finally got my steps down," said DelBuono, who took a third gold medal as part of a winning Cross relay squad. "When you get them down to three steps between each hurdle, then the times will be good."

Naugatuck's Diana Clarke, who watched helplessly as Stublic blazed past her in the mile and two mile, grabbed some gold of her own in the 800, running to first in 2:25. Her Naugatuck teammate, Carrie Wilcox, turned around some NVL heartbreak from one year ago to grab herself a piece of gold.

In the 2000 shot put finals, Seymour's Jen Jones beat out Wilcox on the final throw of the competition. Thursday, Wilcox reversed fortune by beating out Jones for the discus title on her final throw.

"I did not want my senior season to end like it did last year," Wilcox said.

On her last throw, trailing Jones, Wilcox took over the lead with a toss of 95-feet, 6-inches. 

"Jenny came to me before she took her last throw and said, ‘I think you have it today,'" Wilcox added.

She was right. Jones did not rise to the occasion this time, and while Wilcox understood the pain of her close friend, "I am still happy I won this year."

Holy Cross won the 4x400 (4:18) and 4x800 (10:11.85) relays, and Wolcott, led by Erin McIntosh on the final league, won the 4x100 (52.29), holding off a late charge by Wilby.

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