Record-breaking day at New Haven Invite

New Haven Invitational

(Photos by Gabrielle Watson)

By MARTY OGDEN

After weeks of training, the 2014-15 indoor track and field season started off with a bang at the 13th annual New Haven Invitational this past Friday.  Athletes from all around the state converged on the Floyd Little Athletic Center to dust off their spikes and show off their skills.  Three meet records were set or tied on the girls’ side and five records were set on the boys. 

One of the biggest surprises of the meet was Cecelia Blamahsah of Windsor High who set a four-inch PR to defeat Mae Mathews of Nonnewaug, the top returner from last year’s State Open.  Both athletes were awarded with a jump of 5 feet, 4 inches and tied Jasmine Cribb of Naugatuck’s meet record set in 2008. 

Darien senior Maddie Schneider was last year’s indoor State Open runner-up in the pole vault, tied the record with a jump of 11 feet, held by Kim Johnson in 2008. 

Windsor’s quartet of Jiana Baker, Alicia Wilkerson, Erika Hightower and Sashana Hinds took down one of the oldest record on the books in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 1 minute, 45.49 seconds, which is just over three seconds faster than Hillhouse’s 2002 time of 1:48.54. Windsor barely missed a sweep of the relay records, running 4:06.53 in thee 4x400m, just .02 seconds shy of Hillhouse’s 2012 team.  Both races were anchored by Hinds, who also took home the gold in the 200m.

The host Hilltoppers took home some major points in the sprints with senior Alethia Moore winning the 55m dash in 7.40 and grabbing a second in the 200m, while Outdoor State Open 300mIH champion Jaliyah White was only .01 seconds off her all-time best 55HH time.

In the 400m, Bloomfield’s Tashay Roberts was the only runner to break 60 seconds and ran 59.90 to take the win over Pomeraug junior Michaela Meyer.  Normally running the 400m and 200m, last spring’s State Open double champion in those events, Anna Sulger of Darien made her first serious move up to the 800m and edged out Weston’s Rhemi Toth by a little over a tenth of a second in a time of 2:24.20. 

The distance runners, most of who just finished cross country a few weeks ago, were happy to be on flat surfaces and show off their speed.  Ridgefield’s Hannah Flemming who came off an injury toward the end of the fall season, showed she is back in shape, setting an indoor PR of 5:18.70.  Haley Hasty of Rockville gave a display of the new strength she acquired in cross country after finishing 4th in the State Open, shattered her all-time best with a time of 11.23.74            

 In the longer relays, perennial distance power house Glastonbury made up of Kathryn Hastings, Sabrina Glaser, Kaitlyn Herbert, and Kaylee Stebbins took home top honors in the 4 x 800m over Mercy and in the battle of SWC teams, Pomperaug edged out Weston in the distance medley by .19 seconds with a time of 13:11.91.

In other field events, both winners set indoor PRs to take top honors.  Greenwich senior Sarah Cicchetti struggled to break 30 feet in the shot put at beginning of last indoor season but quickly improved to finish seventh in the Indoor State Open.  Her winning throw of 36-9 on Saturday was over a foot better than she threw last winter. Danielle Humphreys of RHAM also improved by over a foot in the long jump to start off her senior campaign on the right foot. 

Not to be outdone by the ladies, the boys also came out strong and set five meet records. The biggest winner of the day was the 6-foot-4, 262-pound senior from Farmington, Dan Hardiman, who heaved the shot 55-6, which was better than any Connecticut athlete’s best throw last year. 

Randy Neish of Glastonbury, who held the top sophomore time in the country in the 1000m last winter, ran a 4:27.97 to take down Farmington’s Matt Chisholm’s record from two years ago to open up his junior campaign.  He came back later in the day to make it a double victory in  the 3200m over Palmer Weimann, Chisholm’s former teammate.         

Senior Cole Clark of Weston, who said he was “hungry after cross country” took over the lead after a slow first lap to negative split a 2:01.30 and break an 11-year-old record set by Matt Anderson of Manchester. 

In the short relays, the Hillhouse squad of Akiel Smith, Darius Wise, Brendon Stewartson and Tyreise Swain ran 3:31.82 and took down Prince Tech’s six-year-old record while Windsor’s team of Chris Mack, Nathaniel Williams, Shy Brooks and Kyshawn Bonner tied their own record from 2012 with a 1:33.35.

In the sprints, Oscar Medina of Crosby, last year’s State Open runner up in the 100m, flew to a PR of 6.58 in the preliminaries and won the 55m in 6.60, nipping Justin Fredrick of McMahon at the line. The 200m was won by Weaver sophomore Mark Doyley in 22.50, who had previously in his career set a meet record at the USATF Youth Indoor Championships.     

Doyley was not the only sophomore to take home the gold.  Swain, who was a member of Hillhouse’s record setting 4x400m relay, also won the open 400m in 52.41, defeating his relay teammate Stewartson by one tenth of a second.  The Hilltoppers also have hurdlers to go along with their 400m runners.  Shawn Flechter started off better than he finished last year and won the 55HH in 7.68 for the 13th best time in the country.              

The distance relays gave the FCIAC a chance to show off their depth.  With the top three teams in state coming from one conference in cross country, it is difficult for very good teams to get any recognition.  Greenwich and New Canaan went 1-2 in the 4 x 800m relay with the Cardinals taking first in 8:40.07, almost seven seconds in front of the Rams. In the Distance Medley, New Canaan defeated Fairfield Warde 11:11.20 to 11:14.54 with McMahon and Greenwich going fourth and sixth. 

Somehow, Bloomfield always seems to find a state-quality high-jumper and this year will be no exception with newcomer Amaciah Gadson taking first place in a jump off with a leap of 6-2 over Gabriel Abdul-Karim of Hillhouse. Drew Lee of Bristol Central took home top honors in the long jump by a quarter of an inch over Zaheem Anderson with a best of 21-7 and the pole vault was won by Dan Gerardi of Simsbury in 11-6.           

With nine scoring performances in eight events, Hillhouse boys defeated Windsor for the team championship, 59-45.  The Bloomfield ladies are also off to another strong start after taking 11 scoring places in nine events to defeat rival Windsor, 64-44.  


New Haven Invitational

Meet Results

Girls Highlights

Boys Highlights