Girls Class LL
As expected, Glastonbury pushed its winning streak in Girls LL to three as it outdistanced Danbury and Fairfield Ludlowe by a 91.5-63-62 scoring in the team title. The Guardians built the big margin despite getting zero points in two events they were expected to win handily. The winning times, heights, and distances were extremely good, especially considering that some of the seed times going into the meet were set on much faster tracks in NYC. Though the competition mainly went the favorites' way, there was one mind-boggling dark horse shocker thrown in.
All of the running events were captured by the top seed favorites except the 4x400m due to a DQ on Glastonbury, but Newtown dropped their season's best time down by more than 4 seconds to take the win. Alanna Smith was well out in front in the 55m and 300m with times that were just a little off her best marks, and she knocked more than a half second off the meet record in the 300m. Esme Daplyn owned the 600m to win by more than 2 seconds. Freshman Brooke Strauss held off Trumbull's Kali Holden in the 1000m as they both went under 3 minutes, impressive marks for two runners who both took on the 1000-1600-3200 challenge. Anna Keeley powered to wins in the 1600m and 3200m races, withstanding a late charge by Strauss in the 1600m. Zoe Spann-McDonald won the 55 hurdles by a half second.
None of the top seeds in the field events got their expected win, though Tia Stapleton got the long jump title with a 4-inch season's best over the favorite and silver medalist Giuliana Robles of Danbury after finishing 2nd to Audrey Kirkutis in the high jump. Kirkutis got a 2 inch PR for her winning leap that tied a meet record, and she then added on 2.25 inches in the long jump to finish 3rd behind Stapleton and Robles. Grace Gianquinto not only added 6 inches to her pole vault PR but also was spotless through 9-0 to win the competition on fewest misses.
And then for the truly unexpected, Shayna Millard had never thrown further than 28-2 or placed higher than 4th in a major shot put competition, but after huge favorite Layla Spann-McDonald of Glastonbury fouled on her three throws, the 13th-seeded (out of 13 throwers) Millard added 33 inches to her PR to come away with a truly improbable win.
Other than Glastonbury's misstep in the 4x400m after they had already long since clinched the team title, the relays went as expected. Danbury was sparked by Alanna Smith in the 4x200m, Newtown had the 600m 2nd and 3rd place finishers Riley Powers and Hannah Snayd for the 4x400m along with senior Ally McCarthy who opted to do three relays instead of any individual event, while Ava Gattinella scratched from two individual events and took 4th in the 1000m while leading Glastonbury to the win in the 4x800m. Greenwich's sprint medley winner was led by 600m winner Esme Daplyn on the 800m anchor leg.
| event | Champ |
|---|---|
| 55m | Alanna
Smith (Danbury) 7.14 |
| 300m | Alanna
Smith (Danbury) 39.58 |
| 600m | Esme
Daplyn (Greenwich) 1:38.82 |
| 1000m | Brooke
Strauss (Glastonbury) 2:58.32 |
| 1600m | Anna
Keeley (Fairfield Ludlowe) 5:05.21 |
| 3200m | Anna
Keeley (Fairfield Ludlowe) 10:56.24 |
| 55H | Zoe
Spann-McDonald (Glastonbury) 8.76 |
| 4x200m | Danbury 1:46.50 |
| 4x400m | Newtown 4:13.92 |
| 4x800m | Glastonbury 9:41.73 |
| Sprint Medley Relay | Greenwich 4:20.84 |
| Long Jump | Tia Stapleton (Fairfield Ludlowe) 16-11.25 |
| High Jump | Audrey Kirkutis (Conard) 5-6 |
| Pole Vault | Grace
Gianquinto (Amity) 9-0 |
| Shot Put | Shayna Millard (Newtown) 30-11 |