Hale-Ray’s Kennedy-Wonneberger sets meet record in the 3200
NEW HAVEN — He thought he might slow down, but Sean KennedyWonneberger sped up.
The Hale-Ray senior set a CIAC Class S track and field meet-record Saturday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in the 3200. He burned through the last couple of laps to come in at 9:37.78, breaking a 19-yearold mark.
“I was trying to get consistent paces, because I realized at some point that I was going to start slowing down,” Kennedy-Wonneberger said, “so I had to go out hard, bring it out and just make my way through it.
“The second-to-last lap, I knew I had to go off a little bit, so I brought out a 32second. That’s how I got it. That was my thought process.”
The record had been 9:38.52, set in 2003 by Griswold’s Gavin Coombs. Kennedy-Wonneberger, bound for UMass-Lowell next year, finished more than 22 seconds ahead of second place.
“I didn’t think I was going to be able to” break the record, he said; he’d thought he was pushing record pace earlier in the 1600, but he came up a little over three seconds short.
“I was going to give it my all, I was going to put all of me out there, but I knew it was a hard time, especially running the mile and the 800 before. It’s tough mentally, but I gave it my all, and I ended up doing it.”
He helped Hale-Ray’s 4x800 relay to second place, helping the team finish seventh, behind boys champion Stonington. Bloomfield won the girls title, as it has every contested season since 2010.
The thought going in was that both 3200 races might result in a record. Somers’ Rachel St. Germain’s seed time in the girls 3200 was 14 seconds below a 14-yearold meet record.
She ran an 11:01.08, nothing to sneeze at. She also won the 1600 and helped the 4x800 relay to third.
“I just kind of went out and had some fun didn’t really have a plan,” St. Germain said. “I was feeling good. I was maybe a little tired after my other events, but just got to push through and keep going.”
The Quinnipiac-bound senior said she had the record in mind.
“I was trying to get it,” she said. “It just didn’t happen.”
AGAIN, FOR THE FIRST TIME
The Bloomfield girls won their 19th Class S title and the 12th in a row: The school’s only missing year since 2010 is 2021, when the CIAC didn’t contest winter state championships.
“It was everybody scraping for every point they could get across the board,” coach Anne Burrows said.
Senior D’Jior Delisser won the high jump and the long jump. Bloomfield also won two relays to help the Warhawks finish 50 points ahead of second-place East Hampton, 92-42.
Old Saybrook’s girls were third, and Immaculate was fourth.
This was Stonington’s first boys indoor championship. Its last outdoor title was 1999 in Class M.
“I told the guys, you’re going to have to run season bests to take home the title, and for the most part, they did,” Stonington coach Ben Bowne said.
Juniors Ryan Gruczka (1000) and Josh Mooney (55 hurdles) earned wins and senior Ryan Orr (second in the 1000) and Gruczka were part o the team that won the 4x800 relay.
“It’s about everybody when it comes to the team title, those little points that really add up,” Bowne said.
The Bears’ 4x400 relay was disqualified for interference, losing a secondplace finish, but it still eked out a three-point win over two-time defending champion Bloomfield, winner of seven of the previous 10 Class S meets.
Coginchaug was fourth, Woodland was fifth and Derby was sixth.