Controversy surrounds State Open meet won by Danbury boys and Windsor girls

Staples' Hannah DeBalsi, right, and Wilbur Cross's Danae Rivers battle it out in the 1,600-meter run at Saturday's State Open. Rivers won with a US #3 of 4:53.88. She also captured the 1K in 2:50.26. DeBalsi, who was timed in 4:58.22, copped her fourth straight 3,000m crown with a time of 10:44.

By MARTY OGDEN


After a meet mired in controversies, the Connecticut State Open team champions were finally announced two hours after the meet concluded and long after all the teams went home.  Fifteen different individuals or relay team were disqualified for using ineligible athlete. The CIAC instituted a new rule this season that stated "up to four alternates may be declared for relays."

But the previous rule was still in effect which stated "an athlete shall not compete in more than three events, including relays." What some coaches found confusing was that the events the athletes competed in their class meets carried over to the Open. 

The coach of the Windor girls team, who was eventually announced the winner and was not affected by the rule, sympathized with the athletes that were disqualified.  "There was ambiguity in the rule.  It makes you think you can use the athlete anywhere, like the New England rule."  For relays that qualify for New Englands, they can use any athlete on their roster to fill out their relay as long as the athlete doesn't compete in more than three events. 

Meet director Bill Baron stated, "this is a tournament and competing in one event at the class meet, counts as one of your events."

But once the dust settled, Danbury boys won their 10th indoor State Open title in 19 years with a 56- 50 win over FCIAC rival Brien McMahon while Windsor girls won their first State Open title by a single point 57-56 over Bloomfield.

Danbury boys once again used their relays to score a majority of their points winning the sprint medley, 4 x 400m and taking 2nd in the 4 x 800m.  They were also a high seed in the 4 x 200m but dropped the baton after some incidental contact and did not finish. 

Danbury Coach Rob Murray was "happy the way the guys were able to battle back and overcome the obstacles after not getting the points we expected in the 4 x 200m."

He also noted sophomore pole vaulter Nate Llanos who rose to the occasion and set his personal record of 13'6 to take 3rd place and six unexpected points.  Senior Devonte Clark, who ran a leg of the 4 x 200m also made up some of the lost points by taking runner up in the 55m.   

Brien McMahon has been in the midst of their most successful season in school history, took home their 3rd runner up trophy behind the Hatters after meeting also them in FCIACs and Class LL meets the previous two meets.  They were propelled to their 2nd place performance by sprinter Daniel Linehan and All American distance runner Eric van der Els.  Linehan took runner up honors in the 600m (1:22.42) and 300m (35.58) which were both all- time bests for the senior.  He also ran a leg of the 4 x 200m which took 4th in 1:35.41.

But no individual had a better day than van der Els.  The UConn bound senior sacrificed his body once again for the team by running the 1000m, 1600m and 3200m and winning all three against tough competition.  Even though Class LL 1000m and 1600m champion Randal Neish of Glastonbury did not compete, each scoring athlete knocked 3-4 seconds off their seed times in the 1000m and pushed van der Els to his best time of 2:30.55 in the 1000m. 

He came back about 40 minutes to take the 1600m in 4:21 and was pushed to the wire by Danbury's Jack Adamski, who stuck to the McMahon Iron Man the entire race with both running times of 9:30 and 9:31.

The Windsor girls won by sticking to what they do best- sprinting and jumping.  They started off the day winning the 4 x 200m with season best of 1:42.88 defeating Bloomfield by just over a second and that four- point swing became instrumental by the end of the meet. 

But this wasn't the only time the two CCC rivals battled.  In the 55m, Bloomfield's Erica Belvit and Windsor's Jiana Baker finished in a dead heat with a time of 7.26 which gave both of them 2nd place honors. 

Windsor's Annicka McDonald ran 1:38.58, breaking 1:39 for the first time in 600m and beat Jillian Mars of Bloomfield who ran her fastest time ever with a 1:40.30 and had to settle for 6th. 

The 300m had Sasha Hinds (40.72) and Baker (41.36) finished 2nd and 4th and were split up by Bloomfield's Zaidra James (41.36) who took 3rd in the 300m. 

The Warrior's Kenya Warner also had a great day winning the long jump with a leap of 18'3 on her last jump, which was 2 ½ inches farther than Bloomfield's Jahleah Harris for another four- point swing.

Two big surprises that kept Bloomfield in contention was sophomore Monique Anderson's three- inch personal best in the high jump for the win while Britany Jones unleashed a bomb on her last throw in the shot with a two- foot PR of 44'0 and a 12- foot improvement from last indoor. 

Danae Rivers of Wilbur Cross put on another show for her Connecticut fans running her last races at Floyd Little Athletic Center.  She began the day by immediately pulling away from the pack in the 1000m and pushed herself to a State Open record of 2:50.26 and winning by seven seconds for the 8th fastest time in the country. 

After racing by herself for so many races this season, Rivers once again came up against her biggest in state competitor, fellow All American and state record holder Hannah Debalsi of Staples in the 1600m.  But in a repeat of almost every other time they've raced in other, Rivers, the middle distance specialist just sat on Debalsi, the four- time state open cross country champion for three quarters of the race.  Then with 400m to go the Wilbur Cross senior once again used her superior speed to take another State Open championship with a time of 4:53.88 to Debalsi's 4:58.82 which are the 3rd and 15th fastest time in the country to date.

Once the Staples senior went up in distance to the 3200m, she set the pace and ran her best time of the season (10:44.13) which was 15 seconds ahead of Jenna Gasparrini of Immaculate who broke 11 minutes for the first time.  Debalsi's time is the 10th best time in the nation and Gasparrini's PR puts her 38th on the national 3200m list. 

In probably the closest race of the day, Tolland and Danbury girls battled it out in the sprint medley with Tolland's anchor Julia Sprout barely holding on for the win over Danbury's Leah Sarkisian by .01 seconds.  Both came back from the 600m where they went 2-3 behind Greenwich's Emily Philippides, who won a with a 1.3 second personal best of 1:35.72.  The senior Sprout got the edge over Sarkisian which set the scene for a rematch in the SMR. 

Danbury's 200m legs gave them a lead but Tolland's Maddie Clark ran a two second PR to give a slight lead to the Eagles.  With Morgan and Northwest Catholic in the mix, it was a four team pack. But with 200m to go, the sophomore Sarkisian attacked.  But as Sprout as done so many other times in her decorated career, she battled the entire last lap and into the last straightaway with neither athlete giving an inch.  But when the finish line arrived, Tolland took their first win of the day in one of the fastest times ever in the Open with a time of 4:16.51 to 4:16.52.

In other events, the two state leaders in the pole vault AmyErin Zadroga of Tolland and Katie Seegert of Old Saybrook had no misses through 10'6.  When Zadroga tied her PR of 11'0 feet on her last attempt, that gave the junior and daughter of long time Windham Tech coach Rich Zadroga, her first State Open win. 

Championships are full of performances that push athletes beyond even their own expectations.  In the boys' long jump, only a quarter of an inch separated Bloomfield's Zaheem Anderson and Wetherfield's Julian Campbell going into their last jump.  Campbell saved his best for last with a personal best of 22'3.25 to take over the lead.  But in the last jump of the competition, Anderson got all of the board and sailed to foot personal record with a leap of 23'1 to take win. 

Third seeded Shane O'Connor of North Haven surprised everyone by winning the shot put on his first throw with a 49'10.5 effort. 

State leader Joshua Leffingwell of East Lyme bounced back from his only loss of the season by winning the pole vault with a 14'0 jump to defeat Hand junior Devon McShane on misses after McShane cleared 13'6 and 14 ft for a nine inch improvement on his personal best. 

Trumbull's Tyler Gleen took home two gold medals by leading his team to a State Open record in the 4 x 800m running a time of 8:04.16.  About 90 minutes later, the state leader in the 600m ran the 8th fastest time in the country with 1:20.75 missing Olympian Daundre Barnaby's State Open record by less than half of a second. 

Next up for the Nutmeg State tracksters will be The New England Championship at The Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.  All athletes who finished in the top six in their events (except for the pole vault and SMR) will compete next Sunday.