By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
A few rain-storms delayed competition on the first day of the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Track and Field Championship held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Thursday but several Connecticut athletes came away with All American honors in the first two days of competition along with two CT state records.
CT Throwers Display Talents on National Stage
The rain ended the boys discus early and meet organizers opted to not continue the first day of the NBNO event on Thursday. Luckily, Simsbury’s Marshall Potter unleashed a lifetime best of 194-4 on his first throw which not only made the finals, it broke Gary Moore’s CT state record by just over a foot. According to Bloomfield coach Damian Larkins, Potter had a sector foul in the finals that was around 200 feet and was looking forward to getting a legal throw in that range but lost that opportunity. The UConn committed senior has earned his second New Balance Nationals medal after taking 5th in the shot put the recent indoor season.
Connecticut throwing is certainly making an impact on the national scene. It wasn’t just Potter in the discus. In the shot put, the Constitution State put three in the top ten with East Lyme’s Thomas Matlock and Chris Amy of Norwich Free Academy earning All American status. Matlock, who is heading to Mississippi State University next year, had the greatest series of his life with five of his six throws going over 62 feet with his last throw of 64-8 taking the bronze medal. Amy, who will attend Southern Connecticut, was 4th with his outdoor PR of 64-0.5 to give CT two All American finishers. Potter, fresh off his All American performance in the discus, was 10th at 60-5.25.
Girls Championship Heptathlon
D’Asia Duncan has been competing in track since 2nd grade and competed in her first multi-event competition while only in 3rd grade. After all these years she has already earned All American last year and competed internationally in Bahrain. On Friday and Saturday she competed in seven events to finish 5th in the heptathlon with 5,065 points which broke 26-year old CT state record by Hillhouse’s Nicolette Chambers by 31 points.
The Bloomfield junior ran 14.14 for the 100m hurdles, high jumped 5-1.75, tossed the shot put 28-1.5 and ran 25.26 for 200m to hold the 6th spot on the first day. During Friday’s competition she long jumped 18-1, threw the javelin 100-2…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at RunnerSpace News…