There was some monumental action for CT athletes at Penn Relays, a trio of local weekend invites, and some scattered big performances in dual meets. Fourteen of the CIAC or prep schools from CT headed down to Philadelphia for the three-day Penn Relays Carnival featuring college and high school action, and the CT athletes had some very nice results.
Conard's Audrey Kirkutis got things going on Thursday (the day for HS girls events and some college and Masters action) by placing 2nd in the high jump at 5-6.5. On the same day, Sacred Heart - Greenwich won the girls 4x400m Prep-Independent race and placed 2nd in the 4x100m P-I race. Naugatuck led the CT teams in the open 4x100m by placing 2nd in its heat with a season's best 51.59 time that was 137th overall at the meet. The Greyhounds also led the CT team in the open 4x400m race at 4:05.53 for 47th overall, while Darien ran a 4:10.14 for 95th. Ridgefield ran 9th in the Championship of Americas DMR with a 12:23.26 time for a CT #1.
The guys got going on Friday and into Saturday at the Carnival, and Conard's Callum Sherry led the way with a 2nd in the boys CoA 3000m at 8:25.86. The top two CT teams in the open 4x100m were Hall in 49th at 43.47 and Naugatuck in 78th at 43.90, and the same duo were also tops in the 4x400m with Hall in 25th at 3:50.21 and Naugatuck at 58th in 3:24.59, as Amity ran a season's best 3:30.86. Hall continued to impress in the 4x800m at 7:55.39 for 10th, while Manchester was next up at 8:08.52 for 27th. Ridgefield was 11th in the DMR at 10:36.76. In the Prep-Independent action, Hopkins was 2nd in the 4x400m and 4th in the 4x100m.
A big day of action at the O'Grady Relays at Danbury on Saturday included top performances on the boys side by New Milford's Collin Walsh in the 2K steeplechase with a CT #1 time of 6:21.24 and Jonathan Law's Jackson Warters with a 40.87 in the 300m hurdles, and in the field events such big marks as Simsbury's Timothy Watson's 6-10 in the high jump, Giovanni Vicens of Derby's 152-4 in the discus, Aidan Law of Haddam-Killingworth's 20-11.75 in the long jump, Jack Freyler of Southington's 168-2 in the javelin, Selorm Dogbey of Xavier's 41-0 in the triple jump, and Andre Prince of Windsor's 140-2 in the hammer throw. Windsor had a huge day in the relays as it took the 4x100m in 43.42, the 4x200m in 1:31.74, and the 800m sprint medley relay in 1:35.00. Greenwich captured the 1600m SMR in 3:37.36 and the DMR in 10:30.40. Darien won the 4x400m in 3:27.76, EO Smith took the 4x800m in 8:04.79, and trio teams ran the 4x1600m in the low 19's as Simsbury got 19:03.80, Staples did 19:08.25, and Trumbull was at 19:08.96. Trumbull won the 4x110m shuttle hurdle relays at 1:08.31.
On the girls side at O'Grady, Windsor's Shani Smith took the 300H in 46.28, and Katie Bohlke of Newington got a CT #1 in the 2K SC at 7:26.90. Both Weston and Sheehan had big days in the field events, as the Trojans' Shea Greene won the javelin at 144-4 and Ellison Weiner won the pole vault at 10-0, while the Titans' Darla Jagrosse took the shot put at 36-4 and the discus at 118-2 and Erin Brennan got the long jump at 16-7. Amity's Abigail Ball won the high jump at 5-2, Bloomfield's Laniyah Henderson captured the triple jump at 36-5, and Windsor's Lauren Plummer won the hammer throw at 101-10. Three teams were double winners in the relays as Sheehan won the 4x200m in 1:42.54 and 1600m SMR in 4:11.89, EO Smith got the 4x400m in 4:00.92 and 4x800m in 9:31.86, and Trumbull took the 4x1600m in 21:51.75 and the DMR in 12:30.00. Bloomfield won the 4x100m in 50.20, Newtown got the 800m SMR in 1:53.15, and Windsor won the 4x100m SHR in 1:08.31.
At the inaugural Ellington Invite, Hale-Ray's Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger posted a 9:33.13 to win the 3200m, Ellington's Josh Wilkie ran a 15.24 to take the 110H and 40.90 to win the 300H, Hale-Ray's Loudon Chupas went to 6-4 in the high jump and 159-1 in the javelin, Windham's Jayden Villafane did 20-6 for the long jump and 42-8.5 in the triple jump, East Hampton's Nicholas Rivard-Lentz got to 13-9 in the pole vault, Coventry's Alex Krause tossed out to 151-0 in the discus, 49-9 in the shot put, and 172-4 in the hammer throw.
On Ellington's girls side, Jalena Martin of Ellington got CT #2's of 12.42 in the 100m and 25.73 in the 200m, Calista Mayer of Tolland ran a CT #3 of 2:20.67 in the 800m, Somers' Rachel St. Germain got CT #4's in the 1600m at 5:05.34 and in the 3200m at 11:01.07, and East Hampton's Brylee Montanari was also at CT #4 with a 15.69 in the 100H. Top field event marks included Allison Vigue of Coginchaug's 10-0 in the pole vault, Tristin Oberg of Windsor Locks' 119-10 in the discus, Morgan Hodorski of Watertown's 107-10 in the javelin, and Tommie Barker of Canton's 110-10 in the hammer throw.
The Ledyard invite had some strong throwers results as Keenan Lamontagne of Woodstock Academy won the discus in 158-5 and the shot put in 46-4.5 and Peter Walsh of Bacon Academy claimed the javelin in 154-6, and for the girls Lindsey Reilly of St. Bernard won the discus in 102-10 and Sjodin Fedikovich of East Lyme took the javelin in 100-0. Plus the meet had that old classic 4x100m throwers (aka weight man's) relay, which was won by Daniel Hand on the boys side and Waterford on the girls end.
An upcoming weekend of wetness could put a damper on times and distances in the meets of the next days that include the Lady Titan Relays on Friday and the Marty Roberts \ Coginchaug and Middletown meets on Saturday. The following weekend will be highlighted by the three-day Loucks Games in White Plains NY for which 32 of CT's top teams are registered and which will be broadcast in full by MileSplit. Can't wait.