PHOTOS by MARISSA GONZALEZ
By MARTY OGDEN
When the Danbury boys’ track team won its first ever FCIAC outdoor track title 23 years ago, some of the parents of the team members were still in high school. Flash forward nearly a quarter of a century later and the boys track team has won 16 titles and earned four runners up trophies.
The 2015 version was more of the same after a narrow one-point victory over Ridgefield last year. This year, the Hatters had a 53-point cushion over the Tigers winning 174.66-121. The Hatters scored in 17 of 18 events, with multiple scorers in nine events putting them over the top once again.
Danbury boys coach Rob Murray said, “It was our multiple scorers that set us apart.”
Ridgefield and Danbury both won six events with Ridgefield dominating all the multiple-lap races, but for every victory Ridgefield took, Danbury came back with thirds, fourths and fifths to balance out the points.
Danbury was led by senior captain Matt Andrew, who won the 100 (11.23 seconds), finished second to his teammate Devonte Clark in the 200m (22.69) and ran a leg of the 4x100m relay, which set a school record of 42.80. The biggest surprise for Danbury was the victory of sophomore Tumani Edwards in the high jump, who defeated two New England qualifiers and cleared 6 feet, 2 inches for the first time. He also came back to set a nearly two-foot PR in the triple jump to take the bronze medal.
A big disappointment was that Alex Ostberg of Darien was not able to compete due to a nagging ankle injury. His loss obviously set his team back, but he still managed to cheer on his teammates, even making it out to the field events to watch four Darien javelin throwers score a combined 18 points in the event.
“This is fun,” he stated. “I never make it out to the field events.”
Spencer Brown of Wilton surprised people with his choice of events. The Danbury Dream Invitational winner in the mile, showed off his speed to the rest of the FCIAC and won the 400m in 49.21, setting a school record in the process and leading three other boys under the 50-second barrier.
With no Ostberg or Brown, that left the distance races open to Ridgefield’s Austin Gilbert who took victory in the 1600m (4:20.58) and the 3200m (9:21.88) and Kristian Sogaard (1:54.92) who won the 800m and ran the anchor on the first-place 4x800m relay squad (8:09.58).
In the throwing events, Syracuse-bound football player Evan Adams of Norwalk ruled the day, tying Hunter Shipp of Wilton in the shot put with a 55-7 heave and taking the win with an eight- inch better second throw. He came back to improve his seed by nearly 20 feet to win the discus, too.
On the girls’ side of the meet, Staples won its seconds title in three years after finishing as a runner-up last year to Darien. The Wreckers defeated host Danbury by one point 114-113 to take the victory. Staples scored 64 of their points from four outstanding athletes. Junior Hannah Debalsi had less of a challenge this year now that her main competition, Claire Howlett of Westhill, has moved on to run for Stanford. The All-American runner swept the two longest races running 5:04 and 10:41 for the 1600m and 3200m runs, respectively. Senior Olivia Wiener showed off her versatility by taking the 300IH in 47.76 and the javelin in 115-5, winning the crown by an inch over her teammate to take 1-2-4 place points for the Wreckers. But it was in the jumps where Staples leaped ahead of it competition. Bridget van Dorsten was the third double-winner for Staples, capturing both the long and triple jump with distances of 16-11 and 35-5. Elizabeth Knoll finished second in the long jump and came back to tie the meet record in the high jump with a 5-6 effort.
It’s been four years since the Danbury girls won a trophy at FCIAC’s after an 11-year run of finishing no worse than second. The Lady Hatterz featured a well-balanced attack scoring in 13 of 18 events and winning five. Senior Niema Reilly led Danbury by winning the 100m (12.35) and 200m (25.50) and running the anchor of the 4x100m, which set the meet record of 48.52. She motivated herself to pull off the triple by, “Just knowing the girls next to me were fast, which made me run harder.”
The host team scored 77 of their points in events that athletes didn’t run over a lap, which made it easier on their lap counter. They were represented in the mid-distance events by freshman phenome Leah Sarkisian’s win in the 800m supported by her teammate Abbey Llanos’s fourth-place finish.
Greenwich’s Sarah Cicchetti continued her dominance of the FCIACs throws by winning both the discus and shot. Her 114-foot throw in the discus was 20-feet further than second place and her 36-8 heave in the shot was more than three-feet better than her nearest competitor.
Even more dominant than Cicchetti was Darien senior Madeleine Schneider, who cleared 12 feet in the pole vault, 3.5 feet higher than second place. She then went for the FCIAC meet record of 12-6.5, but missed after three valiant tries.
Next up for many of the FCIAC competitors will be the state class meets on June 1, 2 and 3.