Sports: Lewis wins three events to lift NFA girls to ECC track and field championship
Senior wins three events, setting meet record in the long jump and tying high jump mark as Wildcats dominate and capture girls’ title
East Lyme — Allyson Lewis was seeded second in the long jump at Monday's Eastern Connecticut Conference track and field championships.
Lewis' seed was 16 feet, 5 inches. She did that in her first meet on her first jump in April. She was only doing it for points, and it was good enough to win, so it was her only jump.
Saturday was Lewis' second practice in the event, but she was working on getting her landing down. It's not like the long jump is her primary event, unlike the high jump.
Lewis sprang 19-1.5in the long jump Monday as she not only won the event — she shattered a 26-year old record and helped NFA to its third straight ECC championship and 10th overall.
“I was not expecting that, honestly,” Lewis said about her long jump. Ah, yeah. “It was a pretty big surprise,” Lewis said. “Honestly, I thought I had a 17-foot jump in me. I wasn't expecting anything over 18. I thought maybe 178, the high 17s, maybe.
“After I saw 18 (during the preliminaries), I was, like, ‘woah!'”
Lewis also won the 200-meter race and high jump, leading Ledyard boys' coach and public address announcer Jose Sanabria to joke, “She jumped longer than three-quarters of my boys.”
Teammate Paige Martin won the triple jump and pole vault.
It was just the third time Martin competed in the triple jump this season.
“I don't really practice it,” Martin said. “I only practice pole vault.”
Martin paused and grinned, “Somehow, I can pull it out. It was a foot below by PR, but I'm not mad. I still won.”
NFA outdistanced Bacon Academy, 119-79.5, to win the team title. East Lyme was third (75), followed by Plainfield (54), Stonington (53.5), and Montville (52).
“I tell the girls I like to see how many can get all-conference,” NFA head coach Kara Kochanksi said.
Kayla Park (second in the 800, third in the 3,200), Jazlynn Touissaint (second, 100 hurdles), Eve Buckridge (fourth, 3,200), Lewis and Martin made all-conference.
“They came together as a team. Kayla, at the back end of the meet, ran the 800, the 3,200, and ended the (4x400 relay), which we ended up third in.”
Killingly's Amy Stuyniski held the previous long jump record, leaping 18-6 in 1993. Lewis was an inch off the record on her first jump in the preliminaries.
“When I got here today, I was like, ‘just do as good as you can. It's your last conference meet. Just try to make it big',” said Lewis, who The Day's 2018 All-Area Girls' Outdoor and Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
“My first jump (in the finals) was big, but it was off (the record) by the tiniest bit. I said, ‘I want this record.' My second jump, I ran down the runway with everything I had and it was 19-1½. I was honestly really surprised. The long jump is not even my
“My first jump was big, but it was off the record by the tiniest bit. I said, ‘I want this record.’ My second jump, I ran down the runway with everything I had it was 19-1 1/2. I was honestly surprised. The long jump is not every my main event.”
NFA SENIOR ALLYSON LEWIS
main event. I was really happy with that.”
Lewis added another championship moments later in the high jump, in which she was seeded first at 5-8.
Lewis won with that same height and tied the meet record she set a year ago, joining another ex-NFA athlete Nicole Kadyszewski, who first set the record in 2000.
“That's my third 5-8 this season,” Lewis said. “I'm pretty happy . ... but I'm chasing 5-10. That's my goal. I want to get it at states or the State Open. That's the one thing I need to get over.”
Lewis won the 200 in 25.74 seconds.
Martin was the top seed in the pole vault and cleared 11-6. She narrowly beat Montville's MacKenzie Clark to win the triple jump, 35-6.5 to 35-6.
St. Bernard's Brigid Kunka was involved in the craziest event of the day as she and Jordan Malloy of Bacon Academy finished in a dead heat for first in the 3,200 (11:54.75).
“That doesn't happen in distance events,” said a happy but exhausted Kunka. “I knew Jordan was fast . ... She just won the mile. She's really good. I knew if I could just stay with her until the last lap and then just try to sprint finish, I would have a good chance, but she also sprints good finishes. I just tried to match her kicks at the end. “It was so hard. It was so fast.” Keegan Donohue, Emma Small, Lindsey Orr and Jessica Detwiller won the 4x800 for Stonington (10:09.76). n.griffen@theday.com