Cardin powers NFA to 3rd straight indoor track title
Norwich Free Academy’s Dan Cardin cringed when coach Chad Johnson told him what he needed to do.
After winning the 1,000- and 1,600-meter races on Saturday at the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division indoor track championship at the Coast Guard Academy, Johnson told him he had one more assignment, the 3,200-meter race.
“When I first heard that, I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to run the two-mile,” Cardin said.
There were a couple of reasons why Johnson wanted Cardin to run the event. First, teammate Derek French was battling illness and wasn’t ready for another race, and second, Johnson thought Cardin still had plenty left in the tank after he won the 1,600 meters.
Cardin proved Johnson right. He easily won the two-mile event and his 30 points helped carry the Wildcats to their third consecutive ECC championship, 168-117, over Fitch.
Like Griswold in the ECC Small Division championship, NFA swept the boys and girls titles as the Wildcats downed East Lyme, 184-124 1/2.
