Casey Clifford
Reporter
The winter indoor track and field season came to a close with two championship meets for both the girls and boys teams. At the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) senior Devaun Bovell placed first in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.15 seconds, and at States, juniors Elizabeth Gordon, Isabel Hetherington, Maureen Schott and Emily Wood took third in the 4×800 meter relay with a time of 10:02.32, shaving off 13.42 seconds from the preliminary qualifier.
On Jan. 31, the boys and girls teams headed to New Haven for FCIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The boys placed seventh overall with junior Austen Deery coming fifth in the boys 300 meter dash with a time of 37.21. The 4×800 meter relay took home gold with sophomore Spencer Lyman, seniors Kalan Lysenko and Kevin McEneaney and junior Sam Reynolds, with a time of 8:28.51.
Photo contributed by Kalan Lysenko
Entering the season with the loss of many key seniors, the boys did not know what to expect. “Going into the season we didn’t really know how we were going to do because people change all the time,” Kalan said. “It was great because we had a lot of people qualify for championship meets.”
The girls also had a very successful meet at FCIACs. Sophomore Beth Kelly came in an impressive fifth place in pole vault with a height of 9-06.00 feet. In the shot put, junior Tess Decker took sixth place throwing a distance of 29-05.00 and senior Sydney Czech took seventh place with a distance of 29-00.75. The 4×800 meter relay team of juniors Elizabeth Gordon, Isabel Hetherington, Alex Naughton and Emily Wood, had a time of 10:17.46 and took fourth.
At the class L CIAC Connecticut State Championships, the boys team was greatly affected by the mission trip. Many of the athletes were not able to participate due to prior commitments. Bovell placed third in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.1 seconds, and the 1600 meter took sixth with seniors George Bennett, Kalan Lysenko and sophomores Spencer Lyman and Zach Smith with a final time of 3:53.86.
Photo contributed by Linda Gordon
For the girls, the state meet was a great experience and successful event. Senior Isabelle Herde took fifth place in the shot put with a distance of 32-01 feet. The team took eighth place overall. “I think that the team was great as it always is,” senior captain Molly Joyce said. “It’s full of dedicated and hard-working girls who perform well and they still want to do better. We are fortunate to have so many dedicated coaches and girls involved in such a fantastic program.”
