It was a thrilling weekend for both the boys and girls indoor track teams! Check out the recap of the Connecticut State Open as told by MySportsResults below:
Bloomfield boys and girls swept the CIAC State Open titles, becoming the first team to accomplish this feat since Danbury accomplished the feat in 2002. Both teams had to overcome challenges and faced stiff competition from the best of the best track and field athletes throughout the state who descended upon Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven on Saturday afternoon.
The Bloomfield boys had to wait until the final event, the 4x400m relay, to clinch the title by defeating defending champion Lyman Hall by a single point, 41-40 with Windsor finishing in third with 32 points.
It was expected to be closer for the Bloomfield girls but they hit all their markers and then some to defend their title by scoring 76 points, over 20 points more than projected. Greenwich girls scored 55 points to grab the runner-up spot, their highest finish since they won in 2018. Class L champions Windsor was 3rd with 33 points.
Bloomfield Boys Earn Third Open Title
Bloomfield coach Garfield White is usually a man of few words but sang the praises of his athletes who won their first title since 2020 and their third Open title overall. “They did a great job. They didn’t let the meet beat them. Today was a test and they passed with flying colors. Just to watch it was amazing.”
The Warhawks came in as a slight favorite but were wary of Lyman Hall and Windsor coming into the meet. “For the first time we controlled the competition. To win, you had to go through us. We weren’t sitting on the sideline watching. We could control the outcome by doing what we did against them. I think we executed to almost perfection.”
After five hours of competition, like all great meets, it came down to the last event, the 4x400m relay. Bloomfield needed a fifth place finish to tie or fourth to claim the title to themselves. When Jessie Singleton Jr., Edgar Jimenez-Torres, Shaun Lazenby and Javonni Reynolds lined up White was concerned because his final two runners, Lazenby and Reynolds had the flu on Thursday and were just recovering. But the pair moved them into the needed 4th spot and held them, finishing in a season best of 3:27.87.
The one area Bloomfield and Lyman Hall went head to head was the high jump. Lyman Hall brothers Ethan and Aaron Rich were tied with Bloomfield’s Ethan Rowe for the state lead at 6 feet 8 inches. Jessie Singleton Jr was tied with the 4th best jump this season, two inches behind. Ethan Rich was the only one to clear 6-8 in the competition but Rowe had no misses through 6-6 and Aaron Rich had two misses throughout the competition and came away with a third place medal. Singleton took three attempts at 6-6.0 and earned 4th place. This gave Lyman Hall 16 points in the event and Bloomfield 12 which was enough to keep it close until the 4x400m.
“We split them in the high jump. It could have gone either way”, White observed. “Those two Lyman Hall boys are just amazing.”.
Despite being sick only two days ago, Lazenby and Reynolds finished where they were expected in the 55m hurdles taking 3rd (7.52) and 4th (7.62) to claim ten points for Bloomfield.
But it was in the shot put that provided more points than expected. Khile Francis was seeded 2nd with Mason Gray expecting to take 5th place. But the boys both found their “A” game with Francis setting his PR on his 3rd toss, reaching a distance of 58-02 to become the 17th best thrower all-time in CT history. Gray didn’t even score in the Class meet last year, also set a PR, reaching a distance of 53-02.
Singleton, seeded 8th, wasn’t expected to score in the boys long jump but finished 6th with a distance of 22-00.25 to add that all important final point for Bloomfield.
Bloomfield Girls Speed to 5th Open Title
Anne Burrows, the longtime Bloomfield coach who has guided the WarHawks to 16 straight Class S titles and five State Open championships in the past nine years, was serene at the beginning of the meet.
“They said they had it and I had to put my trust in them”, she said after receiving the team plaque. “They are the most talented team I’ve ever had and I had to rely on them to get it done and they got it done. They all showed up. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, it doesn’t matter if there is an injury, they are sick, they are hurt; they are going to do what they have to do. These kids know how to compete.”
With eight girls scoring, they earned points in seven events and had multiple scorers in both the long jump and hurdles. Just like last year, they took the top three in the long jump to score 24 points in this one event. Vanessa Agyemang defended her title, tying her season best of 18-11. But just like she did in the Class S championships, she fouled on her first two jumps before getting a safe jump of 17-5.5 to reach the finals. Once she did, she let it fly on her 5th jump to claim the victory. Saphyr Brown, won the Open as a freshman and took 2nd last year behind her teammate. On Saturday she made a season best of 18-8.75 on her final jump for second place.
April Nathaniel did not even qualify for the Open last winter, but stepped up in outdoor track to finish fourth at the Open. She had a goal of breaking 18 feet for some time and Burrows said “I just kept telling her to trust the process and you will peak at the right time.” On her first jump, she finally reached her goal and improved on her second jump to land at 18-3.5 which held up for third place.
Another big event for Bloomfield was the hurdles. D’Asia Duncan had the top ranked time in the state this winter with a time of 8.15 and Agyemang was the defending champion. Everyone was surprised by Brien McMahon’s Gabby Rivera who knocked .18 seconds off her PR and ran 8.06, the 19th best time nationally and the 3rd best time all-time in CT history. Duncan, despite an injured ankle the past two weeks, still excelled running 8.16 only .01 off her best which is 6th CT all-time. Agyemang finished 3rd in 8.21, the 9th fastest time in CT history.
Payton Sirdine was 2nd last year but was only seeded 6th in the shot put on Saturday. She stepped up, putting two tosses over 38 feet and had a best of 38-04.75 to finish 2nd once again.
The 4x200m relay of Jahniya Barclay, Saphyr Brown, Deanna Spears and Duncan faced a stiff challenge from Windsor but lived up to expectations claiming the title in a season best of 1:42.33 to move them up to #41 in the US.
There was supposed to be a huge showdown in the 55m dash between defending champion Samiya Eady of Manchester and Bloomfield’s Brown who was 2nd last year. But unfortunately, Eady was called for a false start and was disqualified in the finals which gave Brown a clear path to victory. But the junior didn’t just cruise to victory, she ran her PR of 7.05 which tied her with Eady for the state lead and the 5th fastest time in state history. Her time is also a US #35.
The 1600m sprint medley as expected held a lead after the two 200m legs and the 400m leg. Duncan, who is multi talented but comes from mostly a sprinters background, found herself running against three of the best middle distance runners in the state for the 800m leg. She led almost the entire way until Greenwich’s Eliana Daplyn, running her first event of the day, ran a 2:15.65 split, just nipping Duncan at the line. Greenwich won in 4:13.26 with Bloomfield taking second only .24 seconds behind.
Like last year Soleigh Dixon finished 5th once again in the high jump, this year with a height of 5-2 to earn two more points for her team.