Local Athletes Place High at New Haven Road Races

Loomis Chaffee's Matt Farrell, a rising junior took the win in 15:19 with Robert Dillion of Shelton finishing second 19 seconds behind. This race was a minor bit of revenge for Farrell as he finished two places behind Dillion last year at the Footlocker Northeast Regional meet. They both return as two of the top 10 Footlocker returners this year with a chance to make the National Championships in San Diego.

Another rising star is Azaan Dawson, who took 3^rd breaking 16 minutes for the first time, finishing in 15:51. The sophomore was the top 9^th grader at the State Open last year and runs for the Fairfield Prep's Bob Ford who has taken boys to Footlocker Nationals six times in the past 20 years.

Travis Martin of Wilbur Cross has made huge improvements since last fall and has been a New England qualifier during indoor and outdoor track. The senior finished 12^th in the Class L meet last year in a season best time of 17:27. After an obvious big summer of training, his track times have converted to the 5k on Monday with a time of 16:00, good for 4^th place.

Another runner with a shot at Footlocker Nationals is Mustafe Dahir of Choate Rosemary Hall who took 5^th in 16:17. The senior is the 6^th returner from the regional meet last year, where he finished between Dillon and Farrell.

Senior Meredith Bloss of Guilford won the girls 13-19 year old age group in a time of 19:21. She is one of the top returners from the State Open.

Dillon brought four of his Shelton teammates down to New Haven and all finished in the top 33 with either personal best or near personal best times for 5k.

Pl Name Town School Gun Pace Chip

6 Ethan Puc Naugatuck (Chase) 16:27 5:18 16:25

8 Brendan Mellitt Cheshire 16:35 5:21 16:33

14 Harry Harwood Woodbury (Gunnery) 16:54 5:27 16:53

17 Tyler Pineau Shelton 17:10 5:32 17:09

19 Matthew Richard Shelton 17:14 5:33 17:11

20 Nicolas Burtson Westport (Hopkins) 17:18 5:34 17:16

26 Francis Simpatico Cheshire 17:44 5:43 17:42

28 Matthew Cristiano Shelton 17:52 5:45 17:49

31 Ian Staines Watertown (Taft) 18:05 5:49 18:02

32 Michael Loschiavo Milford (Law) 18:08 5:51 18:07

33 Owen Corbett Shelton 18:08 5:51 18:06

1104 Barbara Hedden Cheshire (Track Coach) 29:34 9:31 29:01 3rd F60-64 Age Group

1305 Tom Butterfield Windsor (Former Hall Coach) 30:54 9:57 30:45 1st M80-89 Age Group

Click here for complete results of the 5k

The 20k race is the USATF National Championships for the distance and several former Connecticut High School runners and coaches did quite well.

Two time steeplechase Olympian Donn Cabral of Glastonbury raced his longest distance ever and finished 13^th in 1:03.17 to be the first Connecticut finisher.

Katie Mathews, formerly of Rocky Hill, continuing her professional career with the Boston Athletic Association, finished 4^th overall female to earn $1700 in prize money.

Annmarie Tuxbury, the Northwestern Regional star runner, has already qualified for the Olympic Trials in the marathon and finished 9^th overall took home $700 in total.

Below are some of to the top finishers from the 20k race, who have competed for Connecticut High Schools and have continued to race in their post college years.

Pl Name Residence (High School) Gun Time Pace Chip Time

13 Donn Cabral Hartford (Glastonbury HS) 1:03:17 5:06 1:03:17

25 John Busque Manchester (Manchester HS) 1:05:41 5:18 1:05:40

26 Everett Hackett Hartford (Hall HS) 1:05:41 5:18 1:05:41

27 John Raneri New Fairfield (New Fairfield HS) 1:05:45 5:18 1:05:45

29 Sam Montclair North Haven (Cheshire) 1:06:34 5:22 1:06:34

33 Nicholas Lemon Brighton (Xavier) 1:07:22 5:26 1:07:21

41 William Sanders Wethersfield (Northwest Catholic) 1:09:25 5:36 1:09:24

42 Jon Krell Farmington (Farmington) 1:09:32 5:36 1:09:31

48 Chase Pizzonia New York (Darien) 1:10:55 5:43 1:10:54

49 Tom Weston Middletown (Middletown HS) 1:11:54 5:48 1:11:51

50 Katie Matthews Belmont (Rocky Hill) 1:11:55 5:48 1:11:55 4^th