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

RESULTS 

RECORDS

Girls Championship Highlights

We sometimes forget that these athletes who consistently perform at a high level are actually just kids and make mistakes like all kids do. Bloomfield, who still came away with their 9th Class M title in addition to their previous 15 Class S titles, was missing a significant number of point scorers due to disciplinary actions taken against five seniors. They still managed to use their underclassmen to score an amazing 156 points with Sacred Heart Academy repeating as the runner-up team with 66 points and Sheehan holding on for 3rd with 58 points.

Photo courtesy of CIAC

“We had to adjust,” said Bloomfield coach Anne Burrows. That involved scratching our 4x100m relay and asking kids to step up. Those that showed up, stepped up today.”

More misfortune struck when defending Class M and State Open 400m and 200m champion Jahniya Barclay developed an injury that forced her to scratch from both events and could not run the relay. While if she recovers by Saturday, she is still on the card and can run, that loss could cost the WarHawks significant points that might not be able to be made up in the more competitive meet. Bloomfield still managed to win the 4x400m without Barclay in 3:59.34 with the talents of Deanna Spears, D'Asia Duncan, Kiersten Golding and Soleigh Dixon over a distant runner-up Sheehan at 4:05.75. 

Leading the return as Class M champions was junior D'Asia Duncan who reset her record she established last year in the 100m hurdle finals with a time of 14.17 that bested her 2024 time of 14.32. Duncan would return later in the 300m hurdles to cross the line in 43.53 that eclipsed her 2024 record of 44.05. Another junior, Vannessa Agyemang, had a banner day as well finishing second behind Duncan in both hurdle races while winning the long jump with a leap of 18-01.

Bloomfield’s youth parade of winners included sophomore Saphyr Brown as she blazed through the 100m finals in her PR and CT#3 time of 12.09. She followed later towards the end of the meet with her quick 25.01 in the 200m for a season best and CT#7 clocking.

With Barclay sidelined, the door opened for Plainfield senior Tamia Chapman to shine as she sped to her PR and new CT#3 time of 56.54, almost 2 seconds ahead of Bloomfield’s Dixon and Deanna Spears, both finishing under 59 seconds.

Maya Quaranta of Sacred Heart Academy steady improvement all season culminated in a personal and meet record toss of 43-06 that crushed one of the oldest marks in the books by almost a foot. The previous mark of 42-09.25 by Barbara Jackson of Hillhouse had withstood all challengers since 1983.

A new state leader emerged on Sunday in the discus as Plainfield’s Nevaeh Dailey used a 5th round toss of 133-11 to claim the title ahead of Bloomfield’s Payton Sirdine (125-0) and defending champion Quaranta (121-0).

The javelin runway was the scene for another defending champion to shine as Weston’s Alexis Banks won with a throw of 121-07, well below her PR of 136-6 that is a CT#1 this season.

Defending 800m champion Faye Carnemolla bested the field again this year with a season best of 2:18.93 as Nonnewaug’s Madeline Garguilo trailed by less than a second in her PR of 2:19.80.

As previewed, Katie McMorrow of New Fairfield held off all challengers to win the 1600m in her PR of 5:10.56 while Hand’s Annecy Vlieks, another junior, sped to her gold medal in the 3200m in 11:16.16 over McMorrow at 11:21.00.

Other winners in the girls championship included:

4x800m - Weston - Isabella Fournier, Delia McQuown, Nicole Bartlett, Abigail Winslow - 9:51.92 season best

4x100m - Sheehan - Leah Larson, Hope Obremski, Julia Gootman and Isabella Mariconda - 49.67 season best

High Jump - Jenna Luoma, Ellington - 5-2 season best

Triple Jump - Hope Obremski, Sheehan - 36-09 personal record

Pole Vault - Kamryn Plikus, Montville - 11-00 equaled her personal record

Boys Championship Highlights

Haddam Killingworth used a lack of recognition in the pre meet predictions as motivation to claim their second Class M title in outdoor track since 2021 on Sunday night at Willowbrook Park in New Britain. The Cougars scored 65 points to hold off strong challenges from Stonington that took the runner-up plaque with 55.5 points with Cromwell at 54.5 and Ellington only half of a point behind with 54 points.

Photo courtesy of CIAC

“This wasn’t on our radar until the seeds came out and I thought we could score a lot of points here,” said long time H-K coach Matt Diglio. “Once I started adding them up and I thought, huh, we have a shot. The throwers were tremendous. We had a great senior group. We came together at our conference meet where we tied with Cromwell and to come here, it is just exciting to win.”

Diglio also announced this will be his last year coaching at Haddam Killingworth, but he will continue to coach the highly successful cross country program in the fall. He will take over for Jim Ford who retired this year from Guilford and will get to coach his daughter Kaylin who already is one of the top pole vaulters in the state as a freshman. 

There will be a significant changing of the guard at Haddam Killingworth as girls coach Rich Dupuis will also be stepping down after 50 years at the helm. 

Diglio’s statement about his throwers was right on the money as they scored 37 points in the three events led by a first place by senior Tim Cavrell in the javelin with a new CT#3 toss of 173-01. Teammate Trevor Dixon scored a silver medal 8-feet behind at 165-01, a new CT#6 distance this season. The pair swapped finishes in the shot put scoring 2nd and 6th behind top ranked Liam Sweeney of Bacon Academy with this winning toss of 52-8.5. The pair’s final 6 point came about in the discus won by Griswold’s Matthew Perea with his throw of 154-08.

The Cougar’s lone victory came from Eli Hamann-Shay as he blazed to his PR of 48.64 to win the 400m as well as establish a new CT#6 time this season.

Stonington kept in the hunt for the title with double victories from Max DeLaRosa in the 100m finals in 10.89 and later in the 200m in 22.23.

Ellington used twin victories from hurdler Dylan Calsetta to stay in contention as he sped to a PR in the finals of the 110m hurdles in 14.93 that marked the first time under 15 seconds. In the longer 300m race, Calsetta set another personal record as he dipped under the 39 second barrier to win in 38.92, a new CT#6 this season. Calsetta was also instrumental in the Knight’s winning the 4x100m relay in 43.56 with Mason Pathammavong, Shane Gesualdi and Dominic Attardo.

The expected senior duel in the 1600m materialized as Tolland’s Dillon Stoeffler and Cromwell’s Dylan Bathrick sped to PRs with the Stoeffler edging Bathrick by a scant margin of 4:18.82 to 4:19.47. The pair returned for the 800m where Stoeffler may have used his allotment of any extra energy to win the 1600m as Bathrick won by just a few thousandths, 1:55.22 to 1:55.51.

Senior Daniel DiTunno of Rocky Hill held off sophomore Tycen LaBelle of Griswold by less than a second winning in 9:40.78 to a season best by LaBelle in 9:41.27 as Lakeview’s Ben Schildgen closed for third in his PR of 9:41.50. 

Other winners in the boys championship included:

4x800m - Weston, Sebastian Geraghty, Jack Lorenz, Asher Leuzzi, Brett Martin - 8:11.53

4x400m - Weston, Brett Martin, Markus Soennichsen, Maxime Carlson, Nicholas Masters - 3:26.32 season best

High Jump - Brodie Scott, Waterford - 6-06

Long Jump - Yhosman Moffi, Plainville, 22-00 personal record

Pole Vault - Dylan Vazquez, Sheehan, 14-00

Triple Jump - Damarion Wilson, Prince Tech - 44-01.25

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