Weston Boys and Girls Pull Out Another SWC Title

SWC Indoor TF Championships
Marty Ogden

For the 8th time in the past 13 years, Weston boys and girls swept the SWC indoor track and field championships together for a combined 23 championships under head coach Matt Medve. 

The obviously pleased Medve stated after the meet, "every year we have a good group of young girls and boys who rise to the occasion and just try to keep the tradition going."

"We always strive to be the best, not just in the league but in the state" Medve continued.  "Are we as good as Greenwich for the girls?  Are we as good as Staples and Danbury for the boys?  There is always another level."

The Weston girls, who have won the past six straight titles, did it by scoring in 12 of 15 events behind the effort of Kathleen Murphy, who pulled off the tough 1000m, 1600m 4 x 400m triple, Elise Russell's win in the pole vault, Sophia Rico's long jump victory and their 4 x 800m team of Michelle Gutowski, Natalie Haythorn,  Ava Ascher and Eliza Kleban crossing the line first. 

The Lady Trojans also had multiple scorers in the 1000m, 600m, high jump, long jump and pole vault to add to their point total.

The boys were led by senior captain Tim Lautenbach who came home with gold medals in the 1000m and 3200m events.  Baruch Goodman was the defending 300m champion but came in as the second seed in the event and was able to defend his title in the event and anchor their 4 x 400m team to another victory. 

A big part of the boy's win was the emergence of a strong core of jumpers.  Weston was able to score three of the top six in the pole vault and high jump with a third place in the long jump good for 29 team points.  Medve credited their jumps coach Doug Pregman and their new pole vault coach, Tim Murray who recently competed for Southern Connecticut in the event for much of their success. 

Meet records were set in the girls 300m and the boys 600m.  Carly Swierbut of runner up Newtown High won the 300m with a time of 40.91, breaking Djenne Parris of Brookfield's five-year-old record of 41.53.  Charles Osborne of New Milford ran 1:24.02 to break former New Milford runner Richard Grudzwick's time of 1:24.54.  Osborne now has Connecticut's 5th fastest time in the event.

One of the biggest surprises of the meet was in the boys 4 x 200m where Bunnell ran a 1:33.56 good for 5th fastest time in the state.  The Bulldogs had a big lead over top seed Masuk from the first leg and never looked back to claim a new school record in the event.   

The most anticipated event of the night was the girls 1600m which featured Weston's Murphy and Immaculate's Angela Saidman.  While Saidman has had more success in head to head match ups over the years, Murphy has been tearing up the track this winter.  After winning the 1000m, Murphy was looking for more team points.  Saidman took the early lead with Murphy right behind until about two laps to go when Murphy made her move.  Saidman chased her until the very end but ended up about a second behind  Murphy.  The pair ended up running 5:09.07 and 5:10.05 respectively which are ranked 2nd and 3rd in Connecticut this season.

The often overlooked shot put was one of the highlights of the night.  Newtown senior Marley Marston, was able to claim the 3rd best throw in the state with a heave of 39'1, a three-foot personal record. It was especially exciting since she broke Newtown boys coach Becky Osborne's 20-year-old record.

There was a mild upset in the boys shot when 2nd seeded Khaled Elmady of Brookfield set a three-foot PR with a throw of 51'2.75. He broke the Brookfield High School record of his summer coach Ryan Pacific and moved up to the 3rd best throw this year in CT.  Right behind him was top seeded Jacon Meadows of New Milford who also set a personal record and improved to a 48'11.

In the boy's pole vault, Zach Matson of New Milford had a best vault last winter of 10 ft and finished 8th at the conference meet.  A year later, the senior has improved to 12'6 and won his first major meet. 


Boys Highlights