By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
Race Videos on MSR YouTube Channel
The 17th Danbury Dream Invitational, held at Danbury High School on Saturday night with the vast majority of athletes setting personal records and many earning national qualifying marks. It was a small, but high quality meet that lasted just over two hours with a casual, party-like atmosphere.
Right off the bat, the first events saw state leading and national qualifying performances. The Naugatuck girls 4x200m team of Keryn Thomas, Mijonia Hart, Cynthia Singleton and Lauren Kropo faced Danbury. Both teams were locked together through the halfway mark and by the time State Open champion Kropo grabbed the baton for the anchor with a slight lead, she pulled away even more to run a state and New England leading time of 1:42.27 with Danbury also earning a ticket to New Balance Nationals Outdoor with their time of 1:44.11. The Greyhounds not only broke their school record, they now have the 8th fastest school record in CT history.
The Naugatuck boys must have been motivated by their girl’s team success and did them even better. They were pushed to the wire by Greenwich with both teams breaking 1:28. The Greyhounds team of Eliezer Pena, Jaiden Roach, Runner Anur and Ryan Deitelbaum ran 1:27.62 which is not only the meet record and the New England lead, it is the 3rd fastest time in state history. Only Windsor’s All American team from last year and Hartford Public Golden West championship team from 1972 have run faster. The Cardinals now have the 2nd fastest time in the state, New England and the 4th fastest time in CT history. Another feather in their cap is that they took down Danbury’s 10-year old FCIAC record.
The most thrilling race of the evening was the boys 800m. There was a star studded field that included New England champions and All Americans and the top 15 boys broke their PRs. Danbury’s Alexander Hannon handled pacing duties toeing the field through 54 seconds the first lap with Ridgefield All Americans Charles Lovett and Magnus Manley about a second behind. They pair grabbed the lead and went through 600m with a 10-meter lead. But lurking in the pack was the defending State Open champion Thomas Conklin of Lyman Hall charging quickly on the final turn. He passed Manley with 80m to go and didn’t get around Lovett until the final steps of the race. Conklin took over the state lead and ran the 2nd fastest time in New…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at RunnerSpace News…