NFA boys, girls repeat as ECC outdoor track and field champions
NFA boys, girls hold off Stonington to win ECC track & field title
East Lyme — All the moments of brilliance — and really, brilliant was no exaggeration Wednesday for these athletes and these performances — came down to this.
Norwich Free Academy's boys' and girls' track and field teams were gathered in one big circle, singing their alma mater. And that happened just moments after NFA hurdler David Osagie went somersaulting across the turf at East Lyme High School, bringing a grin to the face of NFA boys' coach Tom Teixeira.
For the second straight season, NFA swept the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship, with both teams edging Stonington. The NFA girls, who lost the ECC Division I regular season title to East Lyme, came back to edge Stonington 101.25-98 on the sport's marquee day. NFA finished with 131.5 points on the boys' side to Stonington's 112.
"We graduated 19 scoring seniors from this track meet," NFA girls' coach Kara Kochanski-Vendola said. "On paper, Stonington was ahead of us ... that's why I love this. I love this meet. I was happy (all day)."
"They're a good team. They're a more balanced team than we are," Teixeira said of Stonington. "We had to dominate a couple events."
The highlights from the day — the meet was postponed from Saturday due to weather — came from a variety of sources.
Stonington's Cam Whalen completed an impressive sprint double, winning the 110-meter hurdles in a school-record 14.53 seconds, then dashing back to the starting line to run the 100, in which he finished second. Whalen added a victory in the 300 hurdles in 40.50, turning mid-race to shout encouragement to friend and teammate Shane Smith, who finished second.
Windham's Alex Korczynski swept the 800 (1:56.31), 1,600 (4:26.62) and 3,200 (9:47.20) and East Lyme's Dylan Hatajik won the 100 (11.34) and
200 (22.74), ahead of a high-caliber field in both.
Meanwhile, Stonington's 4x400 relay team of Joey Hinckley, Chase Flynn, Blake Edwards and Rhys Hammond turned in a meet record-setting performance of 3:25.33.
Madison Powe of Fitch and Kate Hall of Stonington shared a title in the girls' 100, coming across the finish line with identical times of 12.93 seconds. Hall later captured the 200 (26.30) and Powe was a part of the 4x100 relay team which set a meet record of 49.56 seconds, joining Janaya Burley, Lily Johnson and Abby Rogers.
NFA's Allyson Lewis tied a meet record in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 8 inches, and Waterford's Sophia Podeszwa avenged a loss to Griswold's Kalli'ana Botelho in the 100 hurdles by beating Botelho in the 300 hurdles in 45.25, the first ECC title of her career.
NFA also got wins from freshman Kayla Park in the 3,200 (11:56.34) and from Paige Martin in the pole vault (106), who led a contigent which scored 28.5 points in the event, flipping things around on Stonington.
"I was always tall. I'm 5-10. But I didn't like any tall people sports," said Martin, who along with sisters Madison and Sydney form a set of triplets who all compete for NFA. "My dad said, 'If you want to try track and field ...' There's good support together (among the pole vaulters). We make each other stronger."
East Lyme's girls rolled past NFA 9752 in the season-opening dual meet on April 11.
"I told Carl (Reichard, East Lyme coach) that day, 'We have so many freshmen, we don't even know what a track meet is run like,'" Kochanski-Vendola said. "They learned. They developed every day. They dug down deep."
Other local girls' champions were Montville's Mady Whittaker in the 1,600 (5:26.87), East Lyme's Jamie Foster in the javelin (117-01) and the Stonington 4x800 team of Emma Small, Liz Gray, Lindsey Orr and Jess Detwiler (10:02.69).
The NFA boys got victories from Brenden Sholes in the high jump (6-4), Jahiem Spruill in the long jump (22-5) and Chris Hebert in the javelin (179-9).
Teixeira said he put pressure on Sholes and Spruill to score as many points as possible in the jumps, the Wildcats' forte. Spruill added a second in the triple jump and a third in the high jump, while Sholes was also third in the long jump and anchored the fourth-place 4x400 team.
"It was like, 'We kind of have something here,'" Teixeira said. "Only we needed it to be a little more exaggerated."
"I knew, 'We're gonna need the points,'" Spruill said. "(When the coach talks), I kind of just sit there. I don't say anything. I just listen. I give it all I've got."
Other local boys' winners were Ledyard's Collin Wiltshire in the triple jump (44-6), Fitch's Thomas Joyner in the discus (140-6) and Stonington's Smith in the pole vault (13-0). Montville's 4x100 team of Gennaro Davis, Greg Clark, Daltyn Butler and Nik Angell won in 43.32 and the East Lyme team of Ryan McCauley, Matthew Kung, Rob Avena and Chris Abbey took the 4x800 in 8:20.53.
"We couldn't ask for better performances," Stonington coach Ben Bowne said of both teams. "We did absolutely everything we absolutely could. We can't have kids do four events. It's crazy. It's a great day, but it's a little sting. For a Class S or Class M school, it's easier to win the class meet." v.fulkerson@theday.com