By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Photos, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
Top two teams in 2024: Windsor, Lyman Hall
Returning Defending Champions and Performance from last year:
600m – Thomas Conklin, Lyman Hall, 1:22.81
1000m – Soheib Dissa, Newtown, 2:33.24
Long Jump – Oliver Guzy, Xavier, 23-2.25
Shot Put – Thomas Matlock, East Lyme, 61-8
Getting your key athletes through to the State Open is tougher than it looks. Season rankings mean nothing if illness sweeps through a team at the wrong time as both Bloomfield and Windsor found out last week. But we will see who has recovered in time after months of races, jumps and throws. The best of the best will arrive at Floyd Little Athletic Center at noon on Saturday to prove for once and for all who are the best individuals, relays and teams in CT for the 2025 indoor track season. Let the games begin.
Who Reigns Supreme?
Lyman Hall, last year’s State Open runner-up has won three of the past four Class M titles. This might be the year they will finally break through to the winner’s circle at the Open level. They had a great day at last week’s Class M meet and advanced almost every top athlete that was expected and have a balanced attack in the sprints, jumps and relays. Defending champion Windsor and Class S champions Bloomfield had strong teams coming into the season but illness definitely hurt them in the Class meet. East Lyme could use their highly competitive distance crew with the addition of Thomas Matlock in the shot to score some heavy points. SCC powers Hillhouse and Xavier also could score highly in certain events to make a real impact on the team standings.
55m Hurdles
Thom Jacobs of Paynes Corner Timing wrote on X (formerly Twitter) “The boys 55m Hurdles will be worth the price of admission at the @ciacsports Indoor T&F Open … event of the year in what has been a tremendous season.” All eyes should be on this event because not only will it be fast, there are a number of boys who can win it. Marvin Escalera of Windsor had the state’s fastest time at 7.45 but was sick at the Class L championships but still ran a 7.61 to take 2nd. Hillhouse’s William Gibson has been dropping times over the past few weeks and tied the state lead as finished in front of Escalera. Both boys have run the 5th fastest time in CT history. If that isn’t enough, three other boys have gone under 7.50. We can see five of the top 14 fastest hurdlers in state history in this year’s finals….
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