Danbury boys and girls swept the team titles at the
Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference meet for the second year
in a row. This was the boys fourth straight win and 18 over the past 25 years. fourth straight win and 18 over the past 25 years.
The Hatter boys won it as usual with their relays. But this year they swept all four relays for forty of their 130 points. Other wins for the Hatters were senior Terrell Cunningham in the 600m with a time of 1:24 and junior Nate Llanos with a jump of 12'0 in the pole vault.
Danbury boys also had multiple scorers in the 55m, 55H, 300m, 600m and long jump.
Staples had a strong second place showing led by University of Pennsylvania bound senior Zakeer Ahmad who anchored the 2nd place 4 x 800m, won the 1600m in 4:22.13 and came back for 2nd in the 3200m.
Tyler Gleen of Trumbull, who recently announced he will be attending UConn, continued his outstanding season by winning the 1000m in 2:33.20, taking the 300m from the second fastest heat in 36.61 and helping his teammates take a 3rd place finish in the 4 x 400m.
New Canaan took 1-2 in the shot put behind the efforts of brothers Jack and Will Conley. Will, a senior has consistently been getting the better than his younger brother Jack, but the sophomore has slowly been getting closer all season. On Jack's 3rd throw of the competition, he tied his brother's personal record of 48'3. Will was able to come within a half inch of his best throw ever, but it wasn't enough and the family's first FCIAC championship went to younger brother Will. The brothers now have the 2nd best throw in Class L so the rivalry will continue next week and into the rest of the season.
Junior Sean Knight of New Canaan made his way into the elite of the state with a win in the 55HH. His time of 7.86 is currently tied for 3rd best time in Connecticut.
While Greenwich only finished 6th in the team title, they scored most of their points off three big wins. Tyler Farris was the only non- Ridgefield/ Danbury runner in the final and managed to pull off the win with a 6.58, the 4th best time in the state.
Another potential State Open scorer for the Cardinals is Isaac Floyd who fouled on his first two jumps but popped off his best jump of 21-4 on his 3rd to take the win which is the 5th best jump in the state.
Scott Safir continued his dominance in the high jump. The senior has already cleared a state leading 6'10 and has gone over 6'6 three times this season. He again attempted 6'6 but fell short but still took the win with a best of 6'2.
Danbury girls matched the efforts of the boys and took the FCIAC trophy north for their 2nd straight win. Last year it came down to the 4 x 400m and the Hatters managed to pull out a one-and-a-half-point victory over Ridgefield. This year, they had it clinched before the last event and defeated the Tigers once again 122-93 with Greenwich taking 3rd place with 88 points.
Danbury was led by Bridget Chiaravalle who swept the sprint events. She started the day running the fastest times in the trials of both the 55m and 55HH and came back shortly after to defeat all challengers in the finals with a personal best of 7.51 in the 55m. In the hurdles where Chiaravalle already has the fastest time in the state, she led her teammate Jayme Cole to 1-2 finish in the event and ran 8.67. The senior who has already committed to run for Boston University finished off the day running another PR of 42.21 to defeat her Ridgefield rival Alexandra Damron by just under two tenths of a second.
Danbury started off the day with a victory in the 4 x 200m. Rackell Souza, Zyniah Bunn, Natalee Seipio, and Jessica Glowacki combined to run a 1:49.21 which was just over a second faster than 2nd place Ridgefield.
Leah Sarkisian pulled out a win in the 600m with a season best time of 1:38.48. She then came back to anchor the sprint medley to a 4th place finish and the 4 x 400m to 2nd place.
Ridgefield had a solid performance all around and took three victories and eight other top three finishes. They were led by Brianne McGill who improved on her own school record with a throw in the shot put of 37-5.75
Ridgefield, known for its 4 x 800m relays, took another win with a meet record of 9:33.14 in the event. The team of Gabriella Viggiano, Tess Pisanelli, Anna Landler and Katherine Jasminski combined to run the 3rd fastest time in the state. Also breaking the old meet record was Greenwich with a time of 9:35.46 and Fairfield Ludlowe running 9:41.50
Long jumper Anna Landler, after coming back from the 4 x 800m had four jumps over 16 feet with a best of 16-4 to take the win in her specialty.
Individually, the day (and the season) belonged to Emily Philippides of Greenwich. The junior, who has previously set FCIAC records in the 600m, 800m and 1000m pulled off a tough triple by winning the 1000m, 1600m and anchored the 4 x 400m. Philippides set meet records in the 1000m (2:58.11,) and 4 x 400m relay (4:06.02).
Philippides wasn't the only record setter for Greenwich. Fellow junior Lia Zavattaro defended her title in the pole vault. She improved two feet over her winning height last year and tied Maddie Schneider's meet record with a jump of 11'6.
Greenwich's sprint medley relay of Katherine Gallagher, Maggie O'Gorman, Caeleigh Santini and Genevieve DeWinter came within less than a second of the meet record to win in 4:20.33.
Olivia DiLascia also contributed points to Greenwich with a two-inch PR in the high jump. The junior leaped 5'2 to take their sixth win of the day.
On Friday, three FCIAC athletes will compete in the Armory Track Invitational in New York City. Emily Philippides will compete in the 800m, Tyler Gleen is entered in the 600m and the Staples 4 x 800m is looking for a fast time in the relay.