By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
Amid some disappointments and some surprises there were many exciting competitions overall at the 77th Annual New England Interscholastic Outdoor Track & Field Championships held on Saturday in Wildcat Stadium at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH.
After two weeks of record breaking performances at the CIAC Class meet and State Open, many of the top athletes and teams were not able to improve upon their performances but still came away with medals, many of them gold; eight on the boys side and seven on the girls.
State Running Network Live Stream Replay
Girls Championship
We are witnessing one of the greatest female distance talents to ever come through Connecticut and we should take a moment to appreciate Newington’s Kate Bohlke. She has already won countless Class and State Open titles, earned All American in track twice and on Saturday, won her 4th New England title in the 1600/mile. She battled Lyme Old Lyme sophomore Chase Gilbert who led most of the race but like so many other runners before her, could not match the Newington senior’s final finishing kick. Her time was not only a New England meet record, it also edged Chloe Scrimgeour’s CT Record by .03 seconds with her time of 4:46.43. Scrimgeour just finished 5th at the NCAA DI National championships in the 10k for Georgetown to earn All American honors on Saturday. Bohlke will next head to the Brooks PR 1-mile Invitational in Seattle on Wednesday before traveling to the New Balance Nationals Outdoor to compete in the 2000m steeplechase on Saturday night where she currently has the top time in the nation.
Gilbert hung on for 2nd place, setting a PR of 4:50.02, which is now 83rd nationally and 13th fastest time in Connecticut history.
The 3200m was equally exciting with a quartet of runners going through the halfway point in 5:14 led by State Open runner-up Hannah Andrejczyk of Shelton with New England cross country runner Teanne Ewings of Maine up right on her heels, with Sacred Heart Academy’s Juliette Forstrum and three time New England cross country champion Ruth White of Orono, ME tagging along as well. White tried to grind it out for the next two laps, but nobody dropped. With 800m to go Andrejczyk took charge with a 77 second lap and finally a 72 second lap to give her the win in 10:24.39, the CT season best and 7th best time in state history. CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at RunnerSpace News…