Farmington Valley athletes shine at Jack Long Invitational
Gerry deSimas Jr. | January 10, 2014
All of the area's four indoor track and field teams were in New Haven last week competing in the Jack Long Invitational. No team scores were kept but several individuals did very well.
Avon's Maddi McHugh and Molly Hamel won individual events while the Falcons' 1,600 meter sprint medley won. For Canton, Keith Wilson won a pair of events, taking the 55 hurdles and 300 meter dash.
Simsbury's Sarah Mattison won the 1,600 meters while the girls 4×800 meter relay came up with a victory. For Granby, Katie Pinson led the Bears with a second place finish in the 3,200 meters.
All four teams are working toward their respective conference and state championship meets in just a few weeks. Simsbury's boys and girls teams will be looking to build upon last year's fifth place finishes at the upcoming Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) meet on Jan. 25.
In the North Central Connecticut Conference, the Avon girls are looking to defend their league title while the Canton boys are seeking to contend for a championship. Granby's girls hopes to improve on last year's third place finish. The NCCC championship meet is in just 10 days on Jan. 20 at Hillhouse's Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.
CANTON: Wilson is the defending NCCC champion in the 300 meters. At the Jack Long Invitational, Wilson won the 300 in 36.02 seconds, winning the race by 0.26 of a second. He also won the 55 hurdles in 8.06 seconds.
Other top performances for the Warriors came from James Yost, who was sixth in the 3,200 meters in 10:28.93, the Canton boys 1,600 sprint medley relay (Ryan Pickett, Nate Hansen, Wyatt Campbell, Dean Yost), which finished eighth and the Canton girls 4×400 meter relay (Abby Briggs, Eliza Chekas, Lindsey Mulligan, Deidre Kronschnabel).
GRANBY: Pinson finished second in the 3,200 meters at the Jack Long Invitational in 11:59.49. Other top performances from the Bears came from Cindy Jones, who was sixth in the 1,600 meters in 5:29.83, and Alexa Cipkas, who was 11th in the 1,600. Granby's 4×800 girls relay (Pinson, Abby Schtekler, Cipkas, Cailin Tennis) finished sixth).
AVON: The Avon girls were sharp at the Jack Long meet. Maddi McHugh won the 600 meters in 1:42.93 while Molly Hamel easily won the 3,200 meters by 19 seconds in 11:40.03. Avon's 1,600 sprint medley relay (Tara Shayler, Jennifer Koo, Shilip Donde, McHugh) was also first in 4:28.96, winning by over six seconds.
Other top performances came from Chamiyah Rowland (4th, 55 meters), Sara Stokesbury (8th, 1000), Hamel (4th, 1600), Shayler (8th, 300 meters) and Jade Yen (8th, shot put).
On the boys side, Christian Salhany was ninth in the 55 meters and Daniel Renwick was tenth in the high jump.
The Avon girls also participated in the 12th annual New Haven Invitational a week earlier, taking fifth. McHugh won the 800 meter race by nearly eight seconds in 2:18.62 and was seventh in the 400 meters. Hamel was third in the 3,200 meters and sixth in the 1,600 meters. The girls 4×400 meter relay (Shayler, Koo, McHugh, Donde) finished fourth.
SIMSBURY: The Trojans had a balanced effort at the Jack Long Invitational with strong performances on the track and in the field. Sarah Mattison won the 1,600 meters in 5:11.50 and teammate Caroline Smith was fifth. The girls 4×800 meter relay (Smith, Sarah Joja, Abby Hotaling, Mattison) was first in 10:10 while the girls 4×200 relay (Alexa Guglielmino, Kolu Wynne, Jada Jenkins, Julia Dowd) was second in their race in 1:56.80.
Simsbury had four runners in the top 10 of the 55 hurdles, led by Stefenie Mueller taking second in 9.11 seconds. Megan Goodwill (fourth), Malena Torres (fifth) and Vickie Milledge (ninth) also ran well. Mueller was second in the high jump (4-10) while Julia Dowd was sixth in the long jump.
On the boys side, Simsbury's 4×400 relay team (Chris Soja, David Sparks, Conall Hughes, Will Rice) finished second in 3:51.82 while the 4×800 relay (Nick Albergo, Tommy Newton, Ryan Taylor, Rice) finished third.
Newton was sixth in the long jump, David McDonald took sixth in the high jump and Riley Brayton and Jacob Delorme were third and sixth, respectively, in the pole vault.
At the New Haven Invitational a week earlier, Mattison was second in the 1,600 meters for Simsbury while the boys 4×800 relay finished fourth (Joe Adorno, David Kratzer, Philip Brown, Hughes). Smith was sixth in the 800 meters in 2:29.32.
About Gerry deSimas Jr.