Xavier captures Class L crown

Only nine athletes compete for Falcons; Curran and Cozean get individual wins

NEW HAVEN — Xavier boys indoor track coach Chris Stonier, who only has nine athletes on the team, crunched the numbers before the CIAC Class L track and field meet and figured his team had a shot to win a class title for the first time since 1999.

“Whenever I make a decision I discuss it with my athletes to get their input,” Stonier said. “I told them we had a chance to win the Class L meet and asked them if they wanted to go for it. They wanted to go for it.”

William Curran and Robbie Cozean led the Falcons to individual wins, the team won the sprint medley relay and the Falcons went on to win the Class L boys meet with 64 points. Amity was second with 43 points and East Lyme was third with 40.5.

“We had nine athletes and they all scored points for us,” Stonier said. “It’s incredible. We ran personal bests in almost every event that we finished.

“In addition to William Curran, Peter Schulten and Robbie Cozzean, guys like Ryan Grochowski (fifth, 1000), Eamon Burke (fifth, 1600) and Davon Colon (fourth, shot put) all stepped up for us.” Xavier’s William Curran runs the last leg of the 1600 sprint medley in the Class L indoor track championships on Friday.

Windsor won the girls meet with 69 points, Darien was second with 49 and East Lyme was third with 38.

In addition to Xavier, the Wilbur Cross girls had their share of success, Richard Papa of Amity enjoyed a pair of wins and Shelby Dejana of Wilton couldn’t have been happier with her winning time in the 55 hurdles.

In the boys meet, Curran and Cozean led Xavier. Curran had a win in the 1000 (2 minutes, 37.51 seconds) and teammate Peter Schulten was second in 2:39.57. They stayed behind the leader and surged ahead with two laps to go as Curran took the lead and Schulten second and pulling away.

“We always help other when we race,” Curran said. The plan was to take the lead with two laps to go and that’s what we did. Once we took the top two spots we just went as hard as we could the rest of the way.”

“We had nine athletes and they all scored points for us. It’s incredible. We ran personal bests in almost every event that we finished.”

Xavier boys track coach Chris Stonier

Cozean chipped in for the Falcons with a win in the 3200 (9:26.18) and third place in the 1600 (4:32.114).

Papa started his day by running a leg of the boys 4x200 relay that Amity won in 1:35.86. Paul Johnson, Joe Dibenedetto and Ariel Gordon also ran the relay.

Papa followed up the relay win with a win in the 55 hurdles in a school record 7.69.

“That was a great time for me in the hurdles,” Papa said. “I had a slow start but I took the lead going over the second hurdle. Our guys have had a lot of great results today and contributing to the team mean a lot.”

In other events, Michael Browning of Rham, who was ranked in the top five in the nation in the shot put earlier this season, won the shot put with throw of 59 feet, 0.75 inches. Messiah Harling of Wilby won the long jump (21-1.25).

In the girls competition, contributing to Windsor’s team title was a sweep of the top four spots in the 300 led by Cori Richardson who won in the 300 in 41.87.

Grace Adolphe won the girls 1000 and Susie Okoli won the shot put to lead the Wilbur Cross girls team.

Adolphe took the lead going around the first turn and pulled away to win in 3:01.92.

“I really wanted to break 3 minutes today, but I’ll take 3:01, I’m happy to get the win,” Adolphe said. “I’ll focus on that goal the next race at the State Open.

“Last year didn’t go that well for me in this race. I made a lot of mistakes. Now I’m a year older and wiser and learned a lot. That’s why I won today.”

Okoli won the shot put with a distance of 38 feet, 11.25 inches.

Dejana came through with an individual win for Wilton by taking first in the 55 hurdles in 8.61.

“That was a personal best time for me in the hurdles, so I am very happy with that,” Dejana said. “I was second in this event last year as a freshman. Getting this win means so much to me. I came out of the starting blocks hard, took the lead at the first hurdle and just pulled away.”

In other events, Grace Stephen of Masuk won the high jump (5-0, height made on first attempt)) and Chelsi Chevannes of Darien was second (5-0). Claire Daniels of New Milford won the 1600 in 5:13.38 and Mairead Clas of Darien was second in 5:14.36.

Erica Marriott of North Haven won the long jump with 16 feet, 4 inches and Abigail Williams of Bunnell was second with 16-0.