By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
In one of the last weekends to qualify for the upcoming conference championship season, Connecticut indoor track and field athletes put up several significant performances that should have post season implications.
SCC Coaches Invitational
Hillhouse HS, New Haven CT
The SCC Coaches Invitational is one of those meets where teams earned event points for an overall team score, much like the upcoming championships meets. In the first half of the meet where only girls competed across the full range of events, EO Smith squeezed past Conard by a score of 40 to 38 with Glastonbury and Career Magnet taking the next two places. Gabby Hernandez once again led the way for the Panthers taking 2nd in the 1000m and 300m races and running a leg of the 2nd place 4x400m behind Hall’s winning time of 4:11.70. Avery Pitts was also a part of a highly competitive high jump competition. She tied Conard’s Lizzy Bidwell and Sacred Heart’s Victory Baker’s height of 5-4 but took 2nd based on misses with Bidwell claiming the win.
In the boys team battle in the matinee section, Lyman Hall continued its outstanding season and defeated conference rivals Xavier by a score of 76 to 60 with Hilhouse taking 3rd with 38 points. The Trojans took five individual and one relay wins. They started off the meet with a strong win in the 4x800m, finishing in a time of 8:18.00. Gabriel Toppin unleashed a four-foot PR of 46-10.50 to claim the shot put title and the Rich brothers, Ethan and Aaron went 1-2 in the high jump with Ethan clearing 6-4 and Aaron setting a PR of 6-2.
Thomas Conklin returned from the 4x800m relay, winning the 600m in 1:24.49. Michael Fisher won the 300m in 35.84 and Owen Rich was part of one of the most competitive non championship 55m hurdle races in many years. Four of the top five hurdle times in CT were run in this race. Rich won in a PR of 7.69 and Hillhouse’s Khalil Antoine, Daniel Anderson of Naugatuck and William Gibson of Hillhouse all finished in 7.73 seconds.
In the boys 1000m Owen Martin and Jack Ouellette went 1-2 with Martin not only taking over the state lead, he ran the 2nd fastest time in school history (2:31.84) with only JT Burke’s former state record time of 2:29.71 in front of him on the Xavier all time list.
Armory Officials Hall of Fame Invitational
Nike Track & Field Center at The Armory, NY
The third time was the…
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