The 2022 track and field season ended last weekend for almost all of the athletes still alive and kicking for later June action. Three meets identifying themselves as Nationals meets -- New Balance Outdoor Nationals (NBON) in Philadelphia, Adidas Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro NC, and NSAF - Nike Outdoor Nationals (NON) in Hayward OR -- were preceded on Wednesday, June 15 by the Brooks PR Invite in Seattle. Some of the athletes made the cut for the high standards in Championship events, while others qualified in Rising Stars or Emerging Elite level events, and a few were also in Freshman or even Middle School races.
Brooks had some of the best times in its compact field with no CT representation while Adidas had a sparse and low-key type of action. The majority of the CT athletes at Nationals were at the closer and biggest meet at NBON, but a substantial group also flew west for NON, and one came away with top performance in his event overall on the weekend while winning a National crown.
The first of the national championships for CT came on Saturday out at Hayward as Simsbury's Timothy Watson who was US #3 in the high jump at 7-0.75 (behind two guys whose seasons habitually end in mid May) went to 6-11, two inches better than the winning height at NBON. Watson also had some fun warming up for or cooling down from the HJ with legs on Friday and Sunday for the Trojans' sprint medley relay and 4x100m squads.
On Sunday Weston's US #4 ranked Shea Greene took home the title in the javelin to go with her CIAC Open and New England crowns as she maybe finished undefeated on the season. Her throw of 160-0 was not quite a PR or state record as she had a 161-6 throw at the American JavFest last July, so she could be again getting set for another big toss at this year's meet on Friday, July 8th.
And then of course on Friday evening at NBON, Manchester's Aidan Puffer capped off his stellar season by taking the lead in the 2 mile with 400m to go to set himself up for a state record of 8:52.04 while taking the bronze medal behind Rocky Hansen and Heath McAllister. Puffer's new mark shaved almost 1 1/2 seconds off Eric Van der Els' mark at Brooks in 2016.
Puffer's SR boosted the tally of marks exceeding previous SRs for the CT boys to five on the season, adding to Watson's HJ mark and Gary Moore Jr's throws in the hammer throw, shot put and discus. Moore's Hillhouse teammate Olivia O'Connor also got one for the girls in the hammer throw.
Although the level of excellence of a performance cannot be meted out simply by place, we will note some other athletes and teams at NBON who finished in the top 6 in Championship events. For the boys, Greenwich's Zachary Carifa and Suffield's Avery Cipcic-- 2nd and 6th in pentathlon, Hillhouse's Gary Moore Jr -- 4th in discus and 6th in hammer throw, Ridgefield distance medley relay -- 2nd, Hall 4x400m -- 2nd, Hall and Greenwich 1600m SMR teams -- 3rd and 5th. For the girls, Danbury's Alanna Smith and Housatonic Regional's Sydney Segalla -- 4th and 6th in 400m, Somers' Rachel St. Germain -- 5th in 5K, Hillhouse's Olivia O'Connor -- 5th in hammer throw, EO Smith 4x800m --6th, Ridgefield DMR -- 5th, Greenwich 1600m SMR -- 2nd, Glastonbury Swedish Relay -- 4th.
It took some time to glean through all the results from mid June, but below is a listing of CT T&F performances that placed in the top 25 at NBON or top 15 at NON. Cheers on another great season, though we may still have a few more treats tossed in.
| New Balance outdoor nationals top 25 results by event | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys Events | Performance | Girls Events | Performance | |
| Championship | Championship | |||
| 400m | Andrew O'Donnell (Greenwich) -- 11th in 48.45, Samuel Sandler (Hall) -- 19th in 43.86, Gianluca Bianchi (Greenwich) -- 20th in 48.94 | 200m | Alanna Smith (Danbury) -- 8th in 24.38 (24.23 in pre), Sydney Segalla (Housatonic Regional) -- 15th in 24.68 | |
| Mile | Steven Hergenrother (Ridgefield) -- 16th in 4:12.24 (PR) | 400m | Alanna Smith (Danbury) -- 4th at 54.46 (from third of 6 heats), Sydney Segalla (Housatonic Reg.) -- 6th at 54.52 | |
| 2 mile | Aidan Puffer (Manchester) -- 3rd in 8:52.04 (SR), Callum Sherry (Conard) -- 19th in 9:14.59 | 800m | Gabriella Hernandez (EO Smith) -- 14th at 2:10.84, Olivia Birney (Simsbury) -- 24th at 2:13.20 | |
| 5K | Eamon Burke (Xavier) -- 11th in 15:02.97, Michael Bohlke (Newington) -- 13th in 15:08.99 | Mile | Kali Holden (Trumbull) -- 16th at 4:55.50 PR | |
| 110m hurdles | Joshua Mooney (Stonington) -- 18th in pre at 14.35 and DQ in semi, Michael Johnson -- 25th in pre and then 15th in semi at 14.36 | 5K | Rachel St. Germain (Somers) -- 5th at 17:04.77, Kathryn Marchand (Trumbull) -- 9th at 17:23.51 | |
| 2K steeplechase | Luke Stoeffler (Tolland) -- 7th at 5:59.04, Collin Walsh (New Milford) -- 15th at 6:23.62 | 400m hurdles | Allison Murphy (Naugatuck) -- 9th at 1:03.01 | |
| 4x400m | Hall -- 3rd at 3:16.56, Greenwich -- 17th at 3:23.72 | 2K steeplechase | Katherine Bohlke (Newington) -- 10th at 7:14.72, Peyton Bornstein (Tolland) -- 13th at 7:17.39 | |
| 4x800m | Greenwich -- 12th at 7:58.50, Hall -- 13th at 7:58.70, EO Smith -- 14th at 7:59.97 | 4x200m | Sheehan -- 12th at 1:43.56, Danbury -- 21st at 1:45.48 | |
| 4xMile | Hall -- 15th in 18:14.26, Ridgefield -- 17th in 18:21.38 | 4x400m | Glastonbury -- 15th at 3:59.27 | |
| SMR 800m | 4x800m | EO Smith -- 6th at 9:17.18, Glastonbury -- 8th at 9:20.61, Weston -- 12th at 9:23.59, Guilford -- 17th at 9:37.76, Simsbury -- 18th at 9:39.29, Bethel -- 21st at 9:48.99 | ||
| SMR 1600m | Hall -- 3rd at 3:28.45, Greenwich -- 5th at 3:30.72 | SMR 800m | Naugatuck -- 12th at 1:51.58, Bloomfield -- 16th at 1:52.54, Danbury -- 17th at 1:53.25 | |
| DMR | Ridgefield -- 2nd at 10:08.89 | SMR 1600m | Greenwich -- 2nd at 4:07.64, Sheehan -- 7th at 4:13.07 | |
| Swedish Relay | Coginchaug -- 11th in 2:03.99 | DMR | Ridgefield -- 5th at 12:08.36, Glastonbury -- 10th at 12:25.20 | |
| Triple jump | Ese Onakpomo (Naugatuck) -- 17th at 45-0.75 | Swedish Relay | Glastonbury -- 4th in 2:17.32, Bloomfield -- 8th in 2:20.70, Coginchaug -- 12th in 2:22.83, EO Smith -- 18th in 2:25.91 | |
| Discus | Gary Moore Jr (Hillhouse) -- 4th at 190-0 | High Jump | Audrey Kirkutis (Conard) -- 9th at 5-7, Tia Stapleton (Fairfield Ludlowe) -- 12th at 5-5.75, Shaelyn Murphy (Maloney) -- 17th at 5-4.5 | |
| Javelin | Joshua Mooney (Stonington) -- 22nd at 166-2, Jack Freyler (Southington) -- 23rd at 164-8 | Long Jump | D'Jior Delisser (Bloomfield) -- 13th at 18-8.5, Audrey Kozak (Shelton) -- 20th at 17-9, Saryah Winborne (Capital Prep) -- 24th at 16-10.75 | |
| Hammer Throw | Gary Moore Jr (Hillhouse) -- 6th at 211-0, Alex Krause (Coventry) -- 10th at 190-4 | Triple Jump | Saryah Winborne (Capital Prep) -- 19th in 37-2.25 | |
| Pentathlon | Zachary Carifa (Greenwich) -- 2nd at 3221, Avery Cipcic (Suffield) -- 6th at 3147, Connor McCue (Suffield) -- 10th at 2774 | Discus | Olivia O'Connor (Hillhouse) -- 13th in 134-4 (PR) | |
| Javelin | ||||
| Hammer Throw | Olivia O'Connor (Hillhouse) -- 5th at 147-10, Layla Spann-McDonald (Windsor) -- 17th at 125-1 | |||
| Rising Stars | Rising Stars | |||
| 100m | Nolan Freeman (New Milford) -- 5th in 10.97, Dangelo Aristilde (Norwich Free Academy) -- 15th in 11.05 | 100m | Kaitlyn Fay (Greenwich) -- 11th in 12.33, Jalena Martin (Ellington) -- 15th in 12.35, Nancy Inthasit (Stonington) -- 19th in 12.42 | |
| 200m | Evan Belabe (West Hartford) -- 9th in 22.11, Ralphael Hawkins (Hillhouse) -- 12th in 22.14 | 200m | Kaitlyn Fay (Greenwich) -- 23rd at 25.36 | |
| 400m | Vincent Sivo (Ellington) -- 3rd in 49.66 | 400m | Molly Harding (Glastonbury) -- 10th at 58.27 | |
| 800m | Ryan Orr (Stonington) -- 5th in 1:55.97, Tyler Bartlett (Fairfield Ludlowe) -- 11th in 1:56.35 | 800m | Lucy Moran (Branford) -- 4th at 2:13.67, Calista Mayer (Tolland) -- 10th at 2:15.11, Bria Benigni (Maloney) -- 17th at 2:16.62, Julia Blake (Darien) -- 25th at 2:18.85 | |
| 2 mile | Brody Santagata (Xavier) -- 23rd in 9:47.49 | Mile | Elizabeth Bigelow (EO Smith) 11th at 5:06.71, Bria Benigni (Maloney) -- 19th at 5:16.20 | |
| 110m hurdles | Joshua Wilkie (Ellington) -- 3rd in 14.75 | 100m hurdles | Leonaya Knox (Hillhouse) -- 1st at 14.43 (PR), Amanda Castaldi (Sheehan) -- 5th at 15.13 (14.92 pre) | |
| 400m hurdles | Michael Johnson (Lewis Mills) -- 8th in 56.23 | |||
| 4x100m | Windsor -- 7th in 43.70 (3rd in pre at 43.22), East Hartford -- 9th in 43.39, Xavier -- 16th in 43.74 | 4x100m | Old Saybrook -- 2nd at 48.92 | |
| 4x200m | Windsor -- 4th in 1:29.73, Shelton -- 16th in 1:31.93 | 4x200m | East Hartford -- 3rd at 1:43.53, Bloomfield -- 7th at 1:45.55, Windsor -- 8th at 1:45.60, EO Smith -- 17th at 1:48.55 | |
| 4x400m | Ellington -- 11th in 3:25.21 | 4x400m | East Hartford -- 4th at 4:01.08, Bloomfield -- 8th at 4:02.79, Weston -- 10th at 4:02.92, EO Smith -- 11th at 4:03.04, Naugatuck -- 17th at 4:06.27, Windsor -- 24th at 4:09.45 | |
| SMR - 1600m | Stonington -- 1st in 3:34.16 | 4x800m | Glastonbury -- 3rd at 9:32.94, Windsor -- 5th at 9:34.15, Darien -- 13th at 9:42.14, Conard -- 18th at 9:47.93, Immaculate -- 24th at 10:02.02 | |
| High Jump | Dar Jankovic (EO Smith) -- 1st at 6-4.75, Zyair Wall (Hillhouse) -- 3rd at 6-4.25 | SMR 1600m | Windsor -- 3rd at 4:15.45, Bloomfield -- 12th at 4:24.44, Berlin -- 15th at 4:25.27 | |
| Pole Vault | Steven Ditelberg (Fairfield Ludlowe) -- 6th at 14-5.25 | DMR | Immaculate -- 3rd at 12:45.23, Somers -- 9th at 13:31.85 | |
| Long Jump | Aidan Law (Haddam-Killingworth) -- 8th at 21-6.75, Avery Warshaw (Haddam-Killingworth) -- 10th at 21-4, Morgan Veth (Daniel Hand) -- 20-0.5 | High jump | Kayla McCullough (Suffield) -- 1st at 5-4.5 (PR), Avery Pitts (EO Smith) -- 11th at 5-0.5 | |
| Triple Jump | Zyair Wall (Hillhouse) -- 4th at 44-11.75, Mekhi Tyson-Slaughter (Capital Prep) -- 10th at 44-1.25 | Pole vault | Ellison Weiner (Weston) -- 11th at 11-3.75 | |
| Shot put | Jordan Ribeiro (Norwich Free Academy) -- 2nd at 54-10.25 (PR), Jquan Athis (Hillhouse) -- 6th at 52-6 | Long jump | Willa Hock (Loomis Chaffee) -- 8th at 18-2.25, Shalisha Robertson (Hillhouse) -- 14th at 17-8 | |
| Javelin | Gage Rovelli (Cognchaug) -- 1st at 171-1, Alex Herron (Enfield) -- 2nd at 157-0, Mark McLaughlin (Stafford) -- 3rd at 156-8, Kyle DiRienzo (Amity) -- 4th at 143-5, Jake Martino (Colchester) -- 15th at 139-5 | Triple jump | Laniyah Henderson (Bloomfield) -- 17th at 35-4.5, Audrey Kozak (Shelton) -- 22nd at 34-2.75 | |
| Hammer throw | Nick Canora (East Windsor) -- 2nd at 168-2, Chakour Biao (Hillhouse) -- 9th at 144-3, Andre Prince (Windsor) -- 10th at 142-0 | Discus | Layla Spann-McDonald (Windsor) -- 4th at 126-1 (PR), Madison DiPasquale (Sheehan) -- 5th at 125-0, Hannah Graham (Norwich Free Academy) -- 118-2 | |
| Javelin | Julia Krapo (Naugatuck) -- 4thh at 111-10, Makenzie Marek (Southington) -- 6th at 109-10, Phoebe Werling (Stonington) -- 7th at 108-6, Emily Miller (EO Smith) -- 11th at 102-9, Hailey Zembrzurski (Southington) -- 20th at 95-9 | |||
| Hammer throw | Lauren Plummer (Windsor) -- 22nd at 117-0 | |||
| Freshman | Freshman | |||
| 100m | Cameron Williams (Greenwich) -- 14th in 11.60, Nysir Harris (Hillhouse) -- 17th in 11.62 | 100m | Caleah Baker (New Britain) -- 20th in 12.88 | |
| 200m | Cameron Williams (Greenwich) -- 9th in 23.10 | 800m | Avery D'Amour (Somers) -- 8th in 2:27.72 | |
| Mile | Owen Martin (Pomperaug) -- 2nd in 4:24.95, Ben Lewis (Hall) -- 18th in 4:39.64 | Mile | Tess Sherry (Conard) -- 3rd in 5:06.90, Liv Sherry (Conard) -- 4th in 5:07.03 | |
| 2 mile | Tess Sherry (Conard) -- 6th in 11:07.95, Liv Sherry (Conard) -- 7th in 11:08.04 | |||
| 400m hurdles | Macie Salado (Amity) -- 9th in 1:03.01 | |||
| Shot put | Lauren Plummer (Windsor) -- 7th at 36-7.5 | |||
| Triple jump | Lily Jason (Naugatuck) -17th at 31-4.75 | |||
| Nike Outdoor Nationals Top 15 Results by event | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys Events | Performances | Girls Events | Performances | |
| Championship | Championship | |||
| 2k Steeplechase | Francis Porrini (Bristol Central) -- 5th at 6:03.42 | SMR 800m | Derby -- 2nd at 1:55.40 | |
| SMR 800m | Immaculate -- 3rd at 1:37.37 | |||
| SMR 1600m | Simsbury -- 5th at 3:35.85 | |||
| Swedish Relay | Derby -- 3rd at 2:05.82 | |||
| High jump | Timothy Watson (Simsbury) -- 1st at 6-11 | |||
| Discus | Keenan Lamontagne (Woodstock Academy) -- 21st at 158-0 | |||
| Emerging Elite | Emerging Elite | |||
| 100m | Kyle Patterson (Simsbury) -- 12th in 11.19 | 400m | Cassandra Silkoff (Derby) -- 12th at 1:03.61 | |
| 800m | Francis Porrini (Bristol Central) -- 9th in 1:56.98 | Discus | Magdalena Myslens (Woodstock Academy) -- 113.5 | |
| 4x100m | Simsbury -- 5th in 44.60 | |||
| SMR 800m | Derby -- 2nd in 1:37.08 | |||
| SMR 1600m | Fitch -- 5th in 3:33.99 | |||
| Hammer throw | Dylan Sheehan (Old Lyme) -- 4th at 170-2 | |||
| Freshman | Freshman | |||
| Mile | Jack Ouellette (Westbrook Academy) -- 11th in 4:33.15 | 2 mile | Natalie Crocker (Suffield) -- 12th at 11:51.83 | |
| Middle School | ||||
| 2 mile | Nathan Lee (Greenwich) -- 5th in 10:01.69 | |||
