The Class L boys and girl's championships came down to the wire with Middletown boys and Simsbury girls squeeking out the wins at Manchester High School.
Middletown boys claimed their 16th class title with a win over Daniel Hand by scant 2.5 points with a score of 80-77.5.
The Blue Dragons were led by junior Deshaun Bradshaw who defended his title in the 100m with a time of 1.24, finished 4th in the 200m (22.80) and ran legs of the 4 x 100m which ran 42.26, the fastest time in the state this year.
Fellow junior Deaaron Lawrence also won the high jump with a leap of 6'2 and took 6th in the long jump with a personal record of 20'5.
But this championship took a truly team effort. Middletown scored in 10 events and 59 of their 80 points came from the 400m and down. Their 4 x 400m also won with a state leading 3:23.13.
In probably the best race of the day, junior Jevin Frett of Manchester led two other runners under 49 seconds in the 400m. Frett ran a New England leading time of 48.15. Right behind him, Wilton's Christopher Colbert ran the 4th fastest time in the region with a 48.73, with Hand's Max Veth running 48.90 good for 7th and Justin McMillian of Middletown also cracking the top 10 in New England from this race.
Daniel Hand, only had one win but scored 12 of 18 events to take the runner up trophy. Mike Burchell won the discus in a personal best of 152'10 and also took runner up in the shot with a 48'9.5. Devon McShane had a productive day clearing 15 ft in the pole vault for the first time and taking 3rd and 5th in the high jump and javelin respectively. Otherwise, they kept in close by taking multiple third, fourth and fifths.
Simsbury girls were able to deny Windsor a repeat of their win last year by winning two events and taking 2nd in four others. Vickie Milledge, the Georgetown bound senior continues to have an impressive year and won her specialty, the 100HH with a time of 15.49. Her teammate Grace Sullivan won her first state championship with a triple jump of 35'2.
Maeve Daily helped her team's effort by a 2nd place finish in the 3200m and a 4th place in the 1600m and running a leg of the 4 x 800m. Claire Boughton took 2nd in the high jump and their 4 x 100m also took 2nd.
In a displace of sprinting dominance, Caroline O'Neil of Hand swept the 100m, 200m and 400m in convincing fashion. On top of that, Hand came from behind and won the 4 x 400m in 4:06.16 without their superstar to give them five girls to win state championships.
The Class L All State picture will be a pretty small group this year. Besides O'Neil taking the three sprints, Mia Nahom won both the 1600m and 800m. Nahom's 4:59.27 takes over the state lead in the 1600m and her 800m, while off her best of 2:12 was still a respectable 2:18.76
Check back later for more observations of the Class L meet later in the day.
35 performances met the MileSplit US Second Team standard.
HS GIRLS |
MARK |
ATHLETE |
TEAM |
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
4:59.27 |
||
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
5:01.54 |
||
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
5:12.77 |
||
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
5:13.45 |
||
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
5:14.20 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
10:59.65 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
11:14.82 |
||
400 Meter Dash Finals |
57.00 |
||
800 Meter Run Finals |
2:18.76 |
||
800 Meter Run Finals |
2:19.74 |
||
Shot Put Finals |
37-4 |
||
HS BOYS |
MARK |
ATHLETE |
TEAM |
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
4:19.94 |
||
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
4:24.34 |
||
1,600 Meter Run Finals |
4:24.59 |
||
200 Meter Dash Finals |
21.82 |
||
300 Meter Hurdles Finals |
38.73 |
||
300 Meter Hurdles Finals |
39.14 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
9:23.51 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
9:26.13 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
9:33.72 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
9:37.32 |
||
3,200 Meter Run Finals |
9:38.42 |
||
400 Meter Dash Finals |
48.15 |
||
400 Meter Dash Finals |
48.73 |
||
400 Meter Dash Finals |
48.90 |
||
400 Meter Dash Finals |
49.11 |
||
4x800 Meter Relay Finals |
8:01.10 |
Relay Team |
|
4x800 Meter Relay Finals |
8:09.29 |
Relay Team |
|
800 Meter Run Finals |
1:57.68 |
||
800 Meter Run Finals |
1:57.73 |
||
800 Meter Run Finals |
1:57.74 |
||
Discus Finals |
152-10 |
||
Pole Vault Finals |
14-0 |
||
Pole Vault Finals |
15-0 |
||
Pole Vault Finals |
15-0 |