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

On Wednesday, the Eastern Connecticut Conference divided their outdoor championships into two meets, the D1&2 divisions hosted by East Lyme HS and the D3& D4 divisions held at Griswold HS.

ECC Division 1 & 2 Championships

East Lyme HS, East Lyme

RESULTS

Last year’s champions were bumped to the runner-up spots as Norwich Free Academy defeated defending champion East Lyme by a score of 140-129 on the boys side and Woodstock Academy held off Norwich Free Academy by a margin of 145.5 to 123.5 in the girls competition.

Boys Highlights

NFA pulled out the win with a total team effort, scoring in 16 of 18 events and prevented a 5-peat for East Lyme. Junior Fernando Flores had his greatest day of his career setting two PRs in both the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles. He won the shorter hurdle race in 14.69 which is 3rd in Class LL and took 2nd in the longer race, running 39.16 which is 2nd in his Class. 

Jayvon Thompson joined his teammates Reese Newson, Joal Barros and Oliver Aubin to win the 4 x 100m and earned his 2nd gold as he set his PR of 50.85 to win the 400m and finished off his day with a runner up finish in the 200m. In his first season of outdoor track, Dajeenly Desardouin has quickly taken to the triple jump. He came away with a win in the event in a near PR of 42’ 0.0 and he also scored a point in the high jump as well. 

East Lyme has ruled the ECC in the distance events for the past few years so when NFA started off the meet winning the 4x800m, that was a bit of a surprise. Patrick Croughwell, Joshua Wucik, Jesse Croteau and Michael Fusaro joined together to run 8:11.79. The amazing thing is that the Wildcats won it without their best 800m Kyle Kornacki who they saved to run the 800m fresh. That gamble paid off as he set a PR of over a second, winning in 1:56.07.

East Lyme was 2nd at the State Open and New Englands in cross country and their success has really made the other distance runners in the conference step up. Sam Leone was the New England mile champion this winter and Sean McCauley was the State Open runner up in the 3200m this past February. Leone set his PR of 4:16.52 and MCauley was hot on his heels running 4:18.63 on Wednesday. But neither expected the race Christian Menounos was about to run. He was far behind them in cross country and usually runs the 800m in track. The Woodstock Academy senior not only broke 4:20 for the first time, he ran an incredible 4:15.80 which broke Peter Fitzsimmons’ 50-year old meet record. 

But not far behind the trio up front were two other East Lyme runners. Matt Carrier and Jack Faisch took 4th and 6th place, running 4:22.91 and 4:25.56. If you add their times together, that will put the Vikings for a low 17:20s for the 4xMile at Nationals which gives them a shot at All American honors and Xavier’s state record of 17:20.31 that they set last year will be in play. 

Stonington’s Hagen Drake ran two PRs in the hurdles. He ran 15.15 to take 2nd in the 110m hurdles and 39.06 to win the 300m hurdles. Those times take over the top spots for Class M in both events. 

For the fourth straight season, Waterford’s Brodie Scott set a PR at ECCs. He cleared 6-8 to claim the victory in the high jump and tie for the state lead this season.

The pole vault takes speed, strength, coordination and very specific technique that takes years to develop. But when you see a freshman pick it up quickly you know you might be witnessing the arrival of the next big record breaker. Last year as a freshman Justin Blezard cleared 14 feet which is higher than ECC record holder Joe Fogarasi did in his 1st year of HS. This winter he tied Fogarasi’s sophomore PR and on Wednesday the Viking jumped higher than his predecessor did at ECCs sophomore year, clearing a PR of 14-6. But it was after ECCs that Fogarasi really took off and cleared 15 feet at the Open to take 2nd and 15-3 to claim the New England title as a 10th grader. Let’s hope we see a similar trajectory for the Blezard in the coming weeks. 

We are going to look back on this time as one of the glory days of CT throwing. Not only is there so much depth in the shot put, the past couple of years the event has been led by two ECC rivals that have gone back and forth with each other. East Lyme’s Tom Matlock and NFA’s Chris Amy have traded titles just about every season. The pair are never more than a few feet apart and have driven each other to constantly improve. This Wednesday it was Matlock’s turn in the winner circle as all of the senior’s throws made it over 60 feet and once the title was in hand, he unleashed a 2-foot PR of 62-5 to make him the 3rd best in CT History and 37th nationally. Amy had some foul trouble but still managed to take 2nd with a distance of 58-10.

The pair matched up once again in the discus with Matlock taking his 2nd gold medal with a PR of 169-2 with Amy in 2nd with a distance of 158-7.

Girls Highlights

Woodstock Academy denied NFA a sweep of the ECC D1&2 titles. The Centaurs won five events and scored in 16 of 18 events. Senior Juliet Allard led her team on the track with a 2nd place finish in the 100m and wins in the 200m (25.61) and 300IH (45.87) to contribute 28 points to her team’s total. Her teammate, Emma Weitknecht also made a major contribution by winning the 100m hurdles in 15.15 and taking silver medals in the 300m hurdles and 4x400m relay. The Centaurs stepped up in the throws as well with Avery Plouffe sweeping the indoor and outdoor titles in the shot put with a throw of 37-7 and junior Lillian Morgis moving up one spot in the discus from last year, winning with a distance of 113-8. 

There is a youth movement in the ECC distance events. NFA freshman Oriana Pescatello won the 1600m in a PR of 5:11.00, doubled back to take 2nd in the 800m and finished off her day running a leg of the winning 4x400m. Meanwhile in the 3200m, freshman all state cross country runner Maggie Littler of Ledyard won her first individual championship, crossing the line first in the 3200m in a PR of 11:57.14. She joined her sister Kate. Fionna Woody and Josephine Withbroe, to win the 4x800m in a time of 10:09.40. Kate Littler also defended her title in the 800m, running a season best of 2:20.62.

NFA’s Riley Davis came into the 400m seeded 4th, but used a supreme effort to claim the crown. The senior broke 60 seconds for the first time, winning in 59.04. She also joined Paige Brayman, Karina Chan and Pescatello to earn another championship in the 4x400m with a time of 4:08.48.

New London’s Darielys Arnold also swept the long jump with a distance of 16’11.0 and triple jump with a PR of 35-2.0

ECC Division 3 & 4 Championships

Griswold HS, Griswold CT

RESULTS

Boys Highlights

The Griswold boys utilized a home track advantage to repeat as team champions on Wednesday afternoon as they scored 187.5 points to defeat runner-up Windham with 104 points and 3rd place Lyman Memorial with 94.5 as ten teams scored.

Like last year, Griswold was led by sophomore Tycen LaBelle scoring 30 points as he swept the 1600m (4:50.35), the 800m in a PR of 2:03.10 and the 3200m in season best of 10:22.28. He was the defending champion in the 1600m and 3200m.

Wolverine Brenden Hopkins had a profitable day as well as he added 26 points with victories in the pole vault clearing 13-6 and the javelin with a throw of 144-4. He added a 3rd place in the discus behind the winning toss of 154-2 by Zane Baton of St. Bernard.

Windham tried to keep pace with Griswold as they scored wins in the first two relays. A win in the 4x100 in 45.04 by Anden Gonzalez, Alexander Lebron, Kaihieme Grosvenor, and Malcolm Hunter was followed by a first place in the 4x800 in a season best of 8:41.45 from the team of Yarel Lacott Cambrelen, Edgar Mejia, Ruben Quiroz Torillo, and Abiezer Soto-Galarza. 

A trio Whippet jumpers took home gold medals as Kevon Roberts cleared 5-8 in the high jump, Deshawn Chapman leaped 20-9.5 in the long jump and Giovanni Rodriguez sailed 39-9.75 in the triple jump.

More double event victories came from Nicholas Zaprianov of Lyman Memorial as he swept the 110m (16.29) and 300m hurdles in his PR 40.27. Killingly’s Everton Brown was the fastest sprinter winning 100m in 11.19 and 200m in 23.04.

Girls Highlights

The Montville girls claimed their third consecutive title with 194 points as they more than doubled runner-up Wheeler with 89, Lyman Memorial with 86 and Windham in 4th with 84.5 as 10 teams earned points.

Montville fueled their title defense with several victories that started with their 4x100 winning in 51.66 with the quartet of Leiana Haugabook, Aubrey Axtell, Adeline Smith and Tiana Bamber. Bamber returned to win the 100m finals in 12.94 and the 200m in 26.68. 

But the highest scoring effort of the day came from teammate Isabel Northrop who took home three gold medals after winning the 100m hurdles in 16.03, clearing 5-0 in the high jump and leaping 16-9 in the long jump.

The Wolves added to their onslaught of victories as Ashlynn Audoin tossed the javelin 91-0, Kamryn Plikus defended her pole vault title clearing 10-0 and their 4x400 of Evelyn Granskog, MacKenzie O'Donnell, Peyton Cook, and Adeline Smith has a season best of 4:27.89.

Junior Hazel DeLucia of Lyman Memorial had a huge day as she won the 1600m with a personal best of 5:09.96, a season best in the 3200m of 11:20.62 after starting the meet with anchoring their 4x800 to a win in 10:31.08.

Wheeler was led by victories from Eloise Post in the 400m (1:02.80) and Kaitlyn Kumpf in the 800m with her PR of 2:22.91.

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