CIAC Open Championship Recap: Event-by-Event Blowout

Feb 25, 2020

New Haven, CT - If nothing else, Saturday's CIAC Open proved that no state has a sophomore distance duo that can come close to matching the pair of US #1 Gavin Sherry and US #6 Aidan Puffer in the 3200m. Both ran times under 9:00 that shattered existing state records. But a lot of other big truths became evident as Rhys Hammond and Matt Jennings ran US top 10 times in the 1000m and Sherry and Puffer's fellow sophomore Jack Martin closed in on the US top 25 in the 1600m. Mike Campbell took the shot put and resides in the US top 20.

The girls too had their share of glory as Tess Stapleton defended her title in the 55m hurdles and sits at US #8 while also throwing in a winning long jump that earned her a US #6 ranking, still a little behind Open runner-up and 55m champ Chelsea Mitchell who is at US #3. Elsa Martin moved into the top 20 in the 600m, and both Kate Hedlund in the 1600m and Chloe Scrimgeour in the 3200m won with times in a deeply competitive US top 30. High jumpers Sydney Garrison and Tianna St. Louis are also hanging out in the US top 30, while the shot put trio of Open winner Alliya Boothe, Leah Moore, and Trinity Cardillo are all in the US top 25. That just leaves as always the pole vault, which is usually the last event to finish, and Paige Martin made a stab in the Open at the US top 30 and sits fairly close with her winning 12-6 mark.

At the team level there was a changing of the guards. Last year Bloomfield's girls dominated, but this year Glastonbury won with two 1sts and a 2nd in the relays along with two individual 2nds that helped boost the Tomahawks to a 54 score. Weston was 2nd at 34 with the big help of Julia Rosenberg's win the 1000m along with an SMR victory, and Greenwich, Fairfield Ludlowe, and Canton were 3rd at 22, Bloomfield 6th at 22, and Hall and Simsbury 7th at 20.

It was Bloomfield's boys' turn for a title as they were far ahead at 56 thanks in part to Mike Campbell's win in the shot put, Sean Dixon-Bodie's 1st in the high jump and 2nd in the long jump, and the 4x400m squad's 1st and 4x200m team's 2nd from unseeded sections. Bristol Central got a 1st in the 4x800m and 2nd in the 4x400m to finish at 20 in a tie with Wilbur Cross, which got its points off Caleb Owen's victory in the 300m and a win in the 4x200m. Glastonbury, Haddam-Killingsworth, and Conard tied for 4th at 18.

An event-by-event breakdown of the happenings at the Open follows.

The full listings beyond the top 10 finishers at the Open can be found on the Event Results tab at: