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

RESULTS

Race Videos on MSR YouTube Channel

The 17th Danbury Dream Invitational, held at Danbury High School on Saturday night with the vast majority of athletes setting personal records and many earning national qualifying marks. It was a small, but high quality meet that lasted just over two hours with a casual, party-like atmosphere. 

Right off the bat, the first events saw state leading and national qualifying performances. The Naugatuck girls 4x200m team of Keryn Thomas, Mijonia Hart, Cynthia Singleton and Lauren Kropo faced Danbury. Both teams were locked together through the halfway mark and by the time State Open champion Kropo grabbed the baton for the anchor with a slight lead, she pulled away even more to run a state and New England leading time of 1:42.27 with Danbury also earning a ticket to New Balance Nationals Outdoor with their time of 1:44.11. The Greyhounds not only broke their school record, they now have the 8th fastest school record in CT history. 

The Naugatuck boys must have been motivated by their girl’s team success and did them even better. They were pushed to the wire by Greenwich with both teams breaking 1:28. The Greyhounds team of Eliezer Pena, Jaiden Roach, Runner Anur and Ryan Deitelbaum ran 1:27.62 which is not only the meet record and the New England lead, it is the 3rd fastest time in state history. Only Windsor’s All American team from last year and Hartford Public Golden West championship team from 1972 have run faster. The Cardinals now have the 2nd fastest time in the state, New England and the 4th fastest time in CT history. Another feather in their cap is that they took down Danbury’s 10-year old FCIAC record. 

The most thrilling race of the evening was the boys 800m. There was a star studded field that included New England champions and All Americans and the top 15 boys broke their PRs. Danbury’s Alexander Hannon handled pacing duties toeing the field through 54 seconds the first lap with Ridgefield All Americans Charles Lovett and Magnus Manley about a second behind. They pair grabbed the lead and went through 600m with a 10-meter lead. But lurking in the pack was the defending State Open champion Thomas Conklin of Lyman Hall charging quickly on the final turn. He passed Manley with 80m to go and didn’t get around Lovett until the final steps of the race. Conklin took over the state lead and ran the 2nd fastest time in New England and the 89th fastest time nationally with a 1:52.41. Former state leader Dylan Bathrick split a 1:51.9 on Friday in a SMR at the Night of Speed meet which should make this event the biggest toss up at the State Open. Lovett ran 1:52.61 with his teammate Manley crossing the line in 1:54.09. New England mile champion the past indoor season, Sam Leone of East Lyme, dropped down in distance to set his PR of 1:55.02, good for 4th and Danbury’s Kyle Jeffers also set a PR of 1:55.87 to provisionally qualify for NBNO. All five athletes are now ranked in the top 21 in New England which includes prep school athletes that can’t qualify for the regional meet. 

Joe DeLuise was leading the O’Grady Relays 2k steeplechase when he fell over the last barrier with about 80 meters to go. That misstep cost him the state lead as Matt Kraszewski passed him and grabbed the win. The Oxford junior returned to Danbury High on Saturday and once again went right to the front with Rocky Hill’s Dan DiTunno not far behind. But as the race went on DeLuise’s lead grew until he crossed the line in an amazing time of 6:01.83 which moves him up to #2 in the US and while he missed Tucker Shaefer’s meet record by about a second, he now has the 8th fastest time in CT history. DiTunno’s time of 6:09.11 is the 11th best time in the nation and also qualifies him for NBNO and is currently #16 all time in CT history. 

The girls 2k steeple saw a match up between the defending State Open champion in the event and the current state leader. New Fairfield’s Katie McMorrow’s first major win came at the CIAC steeplechase championship last year. She used that confidence to propel her to a state title in cross country and indoor track this year. She faced Trumbull’s Jane Hall and both of them provisionally qualified for NBNO with their times. McMorrow took over the state lead and moved up to US #28 with her time of 7:19.98 and Hall’s time of 7:23.64 is not the 36th fastest time nationally. 

The girls mile saw All New England 1000m runner Alexandra Morgan run away with the win with a new PR of 5:02.64. The Fairfield Warde junior provisionally qualified for NBNO and currently has the 5th fastest mile time in CT. Behind Morgan, there was a tight race for 2nd place with Ridgefield’s Nora Foley, Katelyn Zaloski and Caleigh Cooleen all running PRs between 5:16 to 5:18. 

The meet concluded with another star studded field in the boys mile. The race was a bit of redemption for Xavier’s Owen Martin. Soon after setting his school record in the 2 mile at New Balance National Indoor, the senior was diagnosed with a stress fracture that limited his training to running in the pool. His first race back was a solid 4:25 1600m in a dual meet and he followed that up with another decent 2:01 800m earlier this week. There was a big question mark whether the All American relay runner could return to his former fitness with so few miles under his legs the past two months. But that question was answered as he battled this winter’s State Open runner up in the 3200m, Sean McCauley of East Lyme. The pair were only steps apart from each other with Martin grabbing the lead with 650m to go. But at the bell, the Owen Martin we have watched for the past four years came alive as he opened a gap, finishing in 4:16.05, less than two seconds off his mile PR and one of the fastest races he has ever run. McCauley was overtaken on the finishing stretch by Ridgefield’s Trevor Fuller who took 2nd in a PR of 4:17.90 with McCauley grabbing third in 4:18.54. Martin and Fuller qualified for NBNO with the Viking making the provisional standard. Ridgefield junior Aidan Nelson broke the 4:20 barrier for the first time, taking 4th in 4:19.35 with Hall junior Jonah Schulman only .02 behind. 

Other Event Winners:

Girls 200m: Emma Wohlrab, Danbury,  27.90 PR

Girls 800m: Evelyn Tie, Darien, 2:21.87 PR

Boys Freshman Mile: James Hayes, Greenwich, 4:47.24

Boys Hammer: Luke Kieffer, Fairfield Warde, 142-06

Girls Hammer: Olivia Michelini, New Canaan, 97-00

Foss Running Camp

Will take place August 14-19, 2025 at Camp Wah Nee in Torrington, CT

Visit their website at fossrunningcamp.com for more information and to apply for 2025.