New Fairfield Flash Take Girls WCC Middle School Championship

Several years ago, the middle school and club teams in Western Connecticut joined together to form a conference to encourage participation in track and field and competition in local the area.   The season cumulated on Saturday at the WCC middle school championships held at Ridgefield High School.

There were several strong performances that give the indication of future high school success. Two of the most notable were Tess Stapleton of Fairfield Ludlowe and Alana Smith or the Danbury Flyers. 

Stapleton came in as the top seed in the hurdles, but unfortunately, like many championship hurdlers before her, clipped a hurdle and went down to the track.  She gamely got up, but did not qualify for the finals. 

She put the event behind her and won the high jump with an outstanding clearance over 5'0. She then stepped up for her biggest challenge of the meet going against the state middle school 100m and 400m champion, Alana Smith.  The two battled it out with Stapleton setting a PR of 26.06 and taking the win.  But unfortunately in the long jump, she fouled on her first two jumps and only came up with a jump of 15'2 which was good for 2nd. 

Smith, who is in 7th grade has been tearing up the track the past three years.  She won the 100m in 13.03, got 2nd in the 200m in 26.49, won the 400m in 1:01.90 and led off Flyers 4 x 400m to the win. 

While Smith and Stapleton were the stars of the meet, the girls team title went to the New Fairfield Flash who scored 94 points to Roger Ludlowe's 83.5 and the Danbury Flyers 77 points in the 14-team field.

The Flash took wins in the hurlers, long jump, and discus for a third of their points. 7th graders Courtney DaCunha won the long jump with a 15'3 and took 4th in the 200m in 27.50.  Brooke Predham won the discus with a PR of 69'9 and took third in the shot put with a 28'8 and Sam Pomperoy had an outstanding day breaking nine seconds in the 55HH for the first time for 1st place, taking 3rd in the 200m with another PR of 27.41 and earned a 4th in the long jump at 14'8.5

DaCunha and Pomperoy also teamed up with Erin Stroh and Jessica Pejril to get 2nd in the 4 x 100m in 54.91.   

According to New Fairfield Flash coach and meet director Jim Ogden, "this was a total team effort and I couldn't be more proud of these girls."