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

In honor of MySportsResults celebrating 25 years of covering Connecticut high school track and field and cross country, we look back at 25 of the best athletes over the past quarter of a century at the beginning of each season. We continue from Part One with some of the top boys who have made an impact on our sport since the winter of 2000!

Demario Gray, Bloomfield, Class of 2013

Bloomfield certainly knows how to produce jumpers and Demario Gray added to the legend of the WarHawks jumps squad. He only came out for track in the spring of his junior year but in one season of indoor track, he certainly made his mark. He was State Open champion in the long (23-5.5) and high jump (6-10) and led his team to a State Open title. He is tied for #4 CT all time in the high jump and still is inside the All Time top 10 list in the long jump. He also earned All New England in both events and earned All American honors by virtue of his 3rd place finish at NBNI in the high jump. 

Henry Wynne, Staples, Class of 2013

He has certainly heard this before, but Henry Wynne certainly loved to win. He swept every individual championship race he ran his junior and senior years during indoor track, including a national championship in the mile in 2013. During his junior year he won the 1000m and ran legs of the winning SMR and 4x400m relays to lead Staples to a State Open title. He came back to win New Englands in the 1000m and 4x400m and anchored his SMR to a 6th place finish at Nationals, breaking the CT record with a time of 3:29.40. His best time of 2:25.55 in the 1000m is still the state record and his mile record of 4:05.15 lasted nine years. 

Christian Alvarado, Fairfield Prep, Class of 2014

Records were made to be broken and Christian Alvarado has broken his share of them. He was a two time State Open and New England champion and was the first boy to go under 9:10 in the 3200m at the Open, crossing the line in 9:07.63 to break Raneri’s Open and CT all time record. At New Englands, he ran 9:00.29 for 2-miles and broke the state record in that event as well. While he doesn’t hold the records any longer, he was instrumental in pushing the envelope for the next generation of athletes. 

Alex Ostberg, Darien, Class of 2015

The middle years of the second decade of the 21st century marked an extremely deep era in CT distance running with several All Americans competing against each other for state titles. Alex Ostberg was one of them. He finished 2nd in the State Open 3200m two years in a row, but his senior year, he won New Englands in a time of 9:00.58 to just barely miss Alvarado’s state record. But a week later, he went up against a field of the best runners in the nation at NBNI and took 3rd in 8:48.88 to become the first CT boy under 9:00 and 8:50. Ostberg was a team player, helping his team win the 4x800m relay and also taking 2nd in the 1600m at the Open. At Nationals, before running his state record on Sunday in the 2-mile, he also helped his distance medley relay to a 2nd place finish. The Blue Wave broke Glastonbury’s state record with a time of 10:05.47 and has stood as the CT standard for eight years.

Joseph Fogarasi, Windham, Class of 2015

Once Jordan Thull broke 15-ft, he opened the floodgates among CT pole vaulters and over the next 17 years 11 athletes have exceeded that high bar. Joseph Fogarasi took 4th in the Open his sophomore year and proceeded to take the next two indoor Open titles along with three Class M crowns as well. With no pole vault at New Englands, the Windham vaulter took 5th two years in a row at Eastern States. At Nationals, he set the CT indoor record with a height of 15-10 to finish 8th, two places behind his friend Chris Rough of West Hill who also jumped the same height. 

Eric van der Els, Brien McMahon, Class of 2016

Running demanding triples for his team, Eric van der Els still managed to have enough left at the end of the season to compete at the Nationals level. As a senior he won the 1000m, 1600m and 3200m at the State Open to help his team to a State Open runner-up finish, their highest in school history. He then became the third CT boy to break 9:10 in the 2-mile to take 2nd at New Englands both his junior and senior years. At NBNI, he found another level becoming the 3rd CT boy to win a national championship, breaking Cabral’s state record in the process, finishing in 14:42.41. 

Mark Doyley, Weaver, Class of 2017

Mark Doyley had a huge smile every time he won a race and his fans certainly saw that smile quite a bit. His sophomore year, he was among the top sprinters in the state, but by his junior year he swept every championship in the region, claiming his first Open and New England titles in the 55m with a best of 6.28. Only Sheldon Simson has run faster among CT sprinters. At NBNI he earned All American status in the 60m junior and senior year with a best of 6.84, the second best time in CT history. His junior year he ran 21.79 to earn another All American honor, but ran .03 faster to take 13th his senior year. He is one of the few sprinters who is ranked top four All Time among the four shortest events. 

Tyler Gleen, Trumbull, Class of 2017

Winning three straight State Open 600m titles is a very rare accomplishment and Tyler Gleen won each title from 2015 to 2017. His sophomore year he took 4th at New Englands and followed that up with the win his junior year. He then improved his time to 1:19.52, the second fastest time in state history and came away with a second place finish his senior season at New Englands. He also ran 1:54.86 to win the Yale Invitational 800m to become one of the fastest half milers in state history at the time of his graduation. 

Dyshon Vaughn, Career Magnet, Class of 2018

Dyshon Vaughn had already won a few outdoor class titles, but  played basketball through his junior year. Once he decided to commit to track year round and compete during the winter, he really learned to soar. He came out of obscurity to win the SCC, Class S, State Open and New England championships and then added one last medal and crown to his sterling resume. On his final jump of the day at NBNI, Vaughn set a Connecticut state record with a leap of 24 feet, 5 1/2 inches to tie for first place. First and second were also tied on the first tiebreaker with jumps but Vaughn was awarded the national title with his third-best leap.

Malcolm Going, Danbury, Class of 2019

Winning one New England championship is an accomplishment of a career, but Malcolm Going had won five during indoor track titles alone. His sophomore year he was part of the winning 4x400m and 4x800m relays. But then his junior year he ran a leg of the 4x400m after winning the 600m and repeated as 600m champion his senior year. His best time of 1:20.38 puts him as the 4th fastest 600m runner in state history. But he was more than just a solid regional runner. He excelled at the national level as well. In Going’s junior year he anchored Danbury’s sprint medley relay team, coming from behind to barely win the national championship with not only the fastest time in the nation in 2018, but a new CT record as well. His senior year he ran the fastest 800m time in New England history, running 1:50.85 in an open meet at Boston University and came back to take 3rd in the same event to earn individual All American honors. 

Gary Moore Jr., Hillhouse, Class of 2022

Gary Moore Jr. is an athlete who could do it all. He began his high school career wanting to be a decathlete and excelled in a number of years as a freshman with his best events in the throws. It's rare for a freshman to even make states and yet he was Class M runner-up in the shot put. His sophomore year he qualified for New Englands but a week later, Covid shut down the entire world, but that never stopped Moore as he continued training and competing every chance he got. The Indoor track season of his junior year he only was allowed to compete in dual meets, but he still became the first CT boy in 20-years to break 60 feet for the shot. That same indoor season, he broke 70 feet in the weight throw. In each meet his senior year the excitement built as he inched closer each time to Mel Taylor’s 53 year old state record. When he unleashed the shot 64'-1.25 at the Class L championship, the crowd at his home track erupted in joy over the historic accomplishment. After taking 3rd in the most competitive New England shot put ever, he took part in two National championship meets in the same weekend earning All American in the shot put at Nike Indoor Nationals and at both meets in the weight throw. 

Photos courtesy of John Nepolitan

Gavin Sherry, Conard, Class of 2022

Gavin Sherry swam for Conard in the winter of his freshman year and ran indoor track for the first time the following year where he went undefeated in the 3200/2-mile races as well as setting the New England meet record in 8:53.25. The Covid pandemic took away his chance to run Nationals and his entire outdoor season returning to the indoor track his junior year. But this break in his high school career didn’t seem to faze him and he rarely if ever was defeated in the region in any race he competed. But by winter of his senior year, he was ready to race with the best in the nation. As expected, he swept all of his regular season and championship races that included winning the Millrose Games HS 1-mile in the current meet record of 4:05.10. He even helped his 4x800m team to All New England honors and won the 1600m and 3200m at the State Open. At New Englands he faced his long time competitors Aidan Puffer and his brother Callum and he once again won the 2-mile in a meet record time of 8:51.59. At NBNI he had one of the greatest weekends of any CT distance runner. On Friday he was pushed by his brother Callum and Puffer, who both earned All American, as Gavin not only won his first National title, he broke Ostberg’s CT 2-mile record with his time of 8:48.59. Then on Sunday, he was part of one of the deepest high school mile fields ever. He finished in 4th place, only .04 seconds out of 2nd and .3 seconds off the win. His time of 4:02.69 was his second state record of the weekend. 

Josh Mooney, Stonington, Class of 2023

It’s always exciting to watch athletes develop over a four year period. Josh Mooney made the state meet but wasn’t an instant success, unlike the previous two honorees. He improved his times in the Covid shortened sophomore year but started to receive more notice by his junior year, winning the Class S meet in the 55m hurdles but false started in the finals of the State Open. He returned to take 2nd in the Nike Indoor Nationals Emerging Elite.60m hurdles. He used the disappointment of the previous year to push himself to an undefeated season in the 55m hurdles his senior year. He tied Myles Bradley’s state record, running 7.26 to win the Open and returned the following week to win New Englands. At NBNI he broke the CT record in the 60m hurdles, running 7.80 in all three rounds to take 3rd place and earning All American honors. 

Honorable Mention

The rich history of athletes over the past 25 years made selection of 25 performers an impossible task. Since CT indoor track and field fans can argue about why some names were not selected, our list below also recognizes several more athletes for their outstanding careers over the past quarter of a century.

Jermelle Lewis - 2000, Bloomfield - Sprinter

Josh Fournier - 2003, Bacon Academy - Jumper

Gavin Coombs - 2004, Griswold - Distance

Jay Koloseus - 2006, Guilford - Distance

Willie Ahearn - 2008, Danbury - Distance

Matt Marriott - 2009, Staples - Sprinter

Chris Rough - 2015, Westhill - Pole Vault

Alex Korczynski, 2018, Windham - Distance

Edward Williams, 2019, Sacred Heart Waterbury - Hurdles

Michael Browning, 2019, RHAM - Thrower

Justin Forde - 2019, Brien McMahon - Jumper

Chet Ellis - 2019, Staples - High Jump

Sean Dixon-Bodie, 2020, Bloomfield - Jumper

Callum Sherry - 2022, Conard - Distance

Aidan Puffer - 2022, Manchester - Distance

Visit the only site for the latest Connecticut High School State Records for Outdoor and Indoor Track & Field at My Track and Field Records.

If you enjoy the content that MySportsResults provides, you can help keep our content free by shopping for your 25th MSR Anniversary gear at our sponsor Marathon Sports who helped make articles like these possible.