By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp

The New Balance National Outdoor Track and Field Championships started out with a bang for Connecticut athletes. In the first evening of the four day competition, Danbury Track Club, the State Open champions in the 4x800m earned All-American honors with their 5th place finish overall in the 4x 1 mile relay. Their time of 17:39.29 was short of their school record of 17:33.73 set at the Arcadia Invitational in 2008. That was the same year they won the national crown at the National Scholastic Indoor Championship.

Danbury High’s graduation was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday due to thunderstorms which caused seniors Ryan Pereira and Josh Roos to make a decision. The pair chose to compete and help sophomore Michael Komisky and junior Devon Rosemark also earn All-American honors.

Danbury Boys 4x1m (#10) on Podium After 4th Place Finish (Rob Murray)

Xavier, running as South Farms Track Club, just missed out on All American status with a 10th place finish in 17:43.07. Owen Martin, Nick Cassarino, Cameron Nephew and Jack Ouellette could take consolation in the fact that they broke their 36-year-old school record by about a quarter of a second. Their previous school record was also the state record for twenty years until Glastonbury broke it in 2007. 

In the Girls 5000m Championship race freshman Chase Gilbert of Old Lyme and junior Alexa Ciccone of Cheshire were never more than a few steps away from each other. Both broke their school records with Gilbert coming home in 12th place in a time of 17:30.22 and Ciccone only three places back in 17:32.72. Their times made them the 9th and 10th fastest performers in state history. Gilbert also has the distinction of being the fastest 9th grader in the field. Earlier this year at the CT Distance Festival, Katherine Bohlke of Newington and Greenwich’s Esme Daplyn battled it out and are now the 15th and 18th fastest 5k runners on the track in state history. All will be returning in the fall, plus Katie Marchand, last year’s Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year. The junior who ran 17:23.51 at NBNO last year finished in 23rd place with a time of 17:54.59. 

In the Girls 4x1mile Championship, several school records were set. The Glastonbury team of Lila Garbett, Kelley MacElhiney, Jacqueline Dudus and Jacqueline Caron broke their six year old school record by 12 seconds, running 21:15.48, good for 10th place. They are about a minute behind Tolland’s state record, but remain as the 5th fastest time all time in CT history. New Milford, running as the Green Wave Track Club put together a team of Kat Taborsak, Isabel Greene, Amelia Sabatino and senior Sydney Kelleher to finish 14th in 21:43.97, good for 7th in state history. New Canaan’s team of Eliana Savelli, Radea Raleva, Shawna Ferraro and Charlotte Moore finished in 21:59.79, good for 19th place and 11th best in state history.

MySportsResults will try to include as many of our state finishers at the three national championships over the next few day. Check out how the rest of the Nutmeg contingent fared on Thursday. 

Boys Freshman 1 Mile Run Final on Time

13th heat (34)  Matteo Chiesara              9 Greenwich TC   4:37.59

16th heat (42)  Luke Cushing                 9 Amity Spartans 4:39.28

14th heat (55)  Lorenzo Lopes                9 Immaculate Mustangs 4:42.77  

Girls Freshman 1 Mile Run Final 

8th heat (23)  Annecy Vlieks        9 Unattached- Daniel Hand   5:21.75  

Boys Championship 4 x 1 Mile

5th  Danbury Track Club      17:39.29  

     1) Ryan Pereira 12                 2) Devon Rosemark 11              

     3) Michael Komisky 10              4) Joshua Roos 12           

8th  South Farms Track Club Xavier                     17:43.07    

     1) Owen Martin 10                  2) Nick Cassarino 12              

     3) Cameron Nephew 11               4) Jack Ouellette 10  

15th Hall T.C.          17:58.18       

     1) Isaac Mahler 11                 2) Colin Goldschmidt 12           

     3) Ethan Striff-Cave 12            4) Avery Allen 12                 

25th Ridgefield          18:23.52        

     1) Liam Edson 12                   2) Trevor Fuller 10               

     3) Sullivan Dunn 10                4) John Humphrey 11      

26th Green Wave Track Club New Milford      18:23.88            

     1) Benjamin Daniels 11             2) Andrew Taborsak 12             

     3) Ben Schipul 11                  4) Collin Walsh 11  

Girls Championship 4 x 1 Mile

 Glastonbury TC-CT                                            

     1) Lila Garbett 10                 2) Kelley MacElhiney 12           

     3) Jacqueline Dudus 11             4) Jacqueline Caron 12            

 Green Wave Track Club- New Milford                                        

     1) Katherine Taborsak 10           2) Isabel Greene 11               

     3) Amelia Sabatino 11              4) Sydney Kelleher 12             

  New Canaan                                                   

     1) Charlotte Moor 10               2) Eliana Savelli 9               

     3) Radea Raleva 10                 4) Shawna Ferraro 12    

Girls Championship 5000m Run

12th   Chase Gilbert               9 Unattached- Old Lyme  17:30.22

15th   Alexa Ciccone              11 Unattached- Cheshire 17:32.72

23rd   Kathryn Marchand           11 Trumbull Track  17:54.59        

Nike Outdoor Nationals

At the University of Oregon 

Thursday Track Events

Girls Freshman 100m Dash Prelims

23rd Hope Obremski 13.17                26 Sheehan, Wallingford, CT 

Girls Freshman Mile Final

32. 26 Calista Nephew 5:36.60S South Farms TC-CT

40. 26 Beatrice Perrault 5:43.20a Mercy, Middletown, CT

41. 26 Kaelyn Gonzalez 5:44.79aPR Bristol-CT

REMINDERS:

We want to make sure to recognize every athlete that qualified and competed in the national championship meets.

Please contact both Marty Ogden at [email protected] and Ron Knapp at [email protected] if an athlete or relay sets a school record or some other noteworthy accomplishment that isn’t apparent in the results. Please remember to include in your email the name of the meet and the day of your athlete’s performance.

You can also send us photos as long as you provide the name of the athlete, their event and who to credit as photographer.