By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
With the holiday season over, meets are coming fast and furious with Connecticut track and field athletes competing in nearly 20 meets all over the northeast. With all this action, MySportsResults.com would like to congratulate Annika Paluska of Glastonbury and Ben Lorenz of Staples who have been chosen as our Week 3 2023-24 HOKA Female and Male Athletes of the Week. In addition to the recognition each week, award recipients will receive a commemorative t-shirt in recognition of their performance.
Running fast is one thing, it’s another thing to beat a quality field. Annika Paluska did just that, taking over the state lead in the 1000m at the Elm City Coaches Meet on Saturday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center defeating Tess and Liv Sherry of Conard in the process. Her time of 2:55.29 is now ranked 4th nationally. The Glastonbury senior was Class LL champion 600m champion and part of the winning 4x800m that won New Englands in a state record time last year. On Saturday she faced off against CCC rivals Tess Sherry (2:56.76-US#7) who was New England runner up in the mile last year and her sister Liv Sherry who was 3rd at the same meet in the 1000m (2:58.06-US#11).
RESULTS: Elm City Coaches Meet
Ben Lorenz has been one of the top runners in the state for the past two years but an injury curtailed his cross country season this fall. He finished 34th at the State Open after a 12th place finish as a junior. Well, it seems he is back on top after not only setting a personal record in the mile at the The Armory Hispanic Games, he took over the state lead in the event with his time of 4:22.12. Lorenz’s time was good for 11th place in the highly competitive field and also cracks into the top 20 nationally.
RESULTS: The Armory Hispanic Games
Other notable performances this week included:
Bryon McLean of Derby easily won the 55m hurdles at the Elm City Coaches Meet in a new state leading time of 7.75. The senior won the Class S 110m hurdles last spring and now leads a group of nine hurdlers already under eight seconds in the event.
Thomas Matlock, our week one winner of the Hoka Athlete of the Week continues to impress in the shot put. The East Lyme junior unleashed another PR on his 4th throw, finally breaking the 60ft mark with a distance of 60-4.5 at the URI Indoor Track Classic. The distance moves him into the top six nationally and he is now ranked 7th all time among CT shot…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at RunnerSpace News…