State elite will compete at Meet of Champions
While high school sports like football and wrestling have been the hardest hit by the pandemic this past year, the virus has impacted boys and girls indoor track, forcing teams this indoor season to find creative ways to host dual meets indoors and outdoors in Connecticut.
Not every league has the fortune of being the Southern Connecticut Conference and having a Floyd Little Athletic Center in its back yard to host league dual meets. There is no statewide postseason this year with no New England or National indoor meets.
While there isn’t a high school postseason national indoor meet this season, Jim Spier and the National Scholastics Athletic Foundation have organized an elite national track event — the NSAF USA Meet of Champions at Doug Shaw
Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It is a boys and girls outdoor event held Thursday-Sunday with freshmen and middle school athletes competing Thursday and all high school athletes competing Friday-Sunday.
“We have created this meet to give kids from around the country an outstanding late-winter, earlyspring championship-style opportunity,” Spier said, the executive director of NSAF. “The city of Myrtle Beach, VisitMyrtleBeach.com (the local visitors center) and RunnerSpace.com are fantastic partners who have helped this come into fruition.
“Since we were not able to have the NSAF Nationals Indoor meet, we decided to replace it with an outdoor event and are very happy with the facility and the turnout. We expect about 600 athletes. There are athletes from 42 states, DC (District of Columbia), Barbados and Puerto Rico.”
Nearly 40 Connecticut boys and girls combined have committed to compete in the event in the Championship Division and Emerging Elite Division combined. The Emerging Elite Division is for athletes with outstanding qualifying times and distances but typically just under the Championship marks.
“The distance fields are particularly strong, thanks in no small part to the great Connecticut kids who have entered,” NSAF spokesman Steve Underwood said. “Thanks to the size of the stadium and facility (15 acres), we are able to accommodate 1,000 fans each day. Everyone who enters the facility will be (COVID-19) tested with a rapid 15-minute test.”
Among those strong field athletes going are Tess Stapleton (long jump) of Fairfield Ludlowe, Leah Moore (shot put, hammer throw) and brother Gary Moore Jr. (shot put, hammer throw) who are both from Hillhouse.
On Monday at a dual meet at Floyd Little Athletic Center, Gary Moore Jr. won the shot put with a throw of 60 feet, 8 inches. According to Hillhouse coach and dad Gary Moore Sr. the throw ranks fifth all-time in Connecticut and is No. 6 nationally.
“That 60 feet, I’ve been waiting for that,” Gary Moore Jr. said. “I did 60 feet before and I even had a throw of 62-3 on Monday, but I stepped out of the circle and fouled on those throws. FInally getting 60 feet officially really has me excited for the meet in South Carolina because I know I can throw farther. There will be a lot of talented kids there and that elite competition always pushes you to be your best.”
Other top athletes headed for the event include some of the state’s best distance runners including Gavin Sherry (Conard), Aidan Puffer (Manchester), Nick Bendtsen (Wolcott) and Chloe Scrimgeour (Conard). Stapleton is one of the state’s top hurdlers.
“The Myrtle Beach event is a great opportunity for many Connecticut athletes,” Conard track coach Ron Knapp said. “It’s an opportunity for these athletes who have been training and competing in this very different indoor season. I know several Connecticut athletes are slated to compete.”
For more information, for live results each day and to access a live webcast of events go to the meet website at https://nsafmeetofchamps.runnerspace.com. Completed results will be found at pttiming.com, RunnerSpace.com and Athletic.NET.
“These athletes will be competing against exceptional talent in both the Championship and Emerging Elite divisions,” Gary Moore Sr. said. “Becuse it is an outdoor meet it’s a great opportunity to prepare for the upcoming outdoor season.”