NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck indoor track team has taken big steps lately as the Greyhounds gear up for the NVL Championship.
The Greyhounds will look to hunt down a league title Feb. 3 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven after putting a strong showing together last week at a NVL Developmental meet.
The Greyhounds captured eight first-place and five second-place finishes as they faced off against league opponents last week at Wesleyan University.
“It was more about getting athletes qualified for the state meet than it was to see which team finished first, second or third,” said Naugatuck head coach Ralph Roper about the developmental meet. “We have quite a few athletes who have the times and distances already and qualified for the states. This developmental meet was to try and get as many athletes as we can to qualify and on that point we did quite well.”
The Greyhounds lived up to their namesake in the boys’ long distance races.
Mark Zamani crossed the finish line first in the 1,000 meters at 2:46 with Brody Hale right behind in second place at 2:51. The Naugy tandem did it again in the 3,200 — Zamani took first in 10:17 and Hale finished second in 10:25.
Brian Reilly left his mark winning both the 300 in 38.4 and the 600 in 1:31.6. Reilly concluded his chores for the day finishing fourth in the 55 hurdles in 8.8. Yan Silva put up strong numbers with a fifth-place showing in the 600 in 1:34.6.
“We have some athletes right on the bubble,” Roper said. “Silva is only a freshman but still dropped two seconds off his time in the 600 just missing the qualification time.
“Mike Huzier dropped a second and a half in the hurdles and Hale was 2 seconds off the pace from qualifying in the 1,000. Mike Popescu is only 7 inches away from qualifying in the long jump. I expect all these athletes to reach their marks as they are all hitting their stride heading into the league championship.”
Popescu showed his wares racking up two second-place finishes in the high jump at 5 feet, 8 inches and the long jump at 18 feet, 1 inch. Mike Nanaduam finished fifth in the high jump at 5 feet, 4 inches, and Marcus Ruff was fifth in the long jump at 17 feet, 6 inches.
Will Paul took seventh in the shot put at 36 feet, 5 inches, with Kevin Stephansen right behind in eighth place at 36 feet. The 4-by-200 relay squads both hit qualifying times with the A squad (Reilly, Mark Zamani, Silva and Mike Zamani) finishing third in 1:41 and the B squad (Popescu, Hale, Joe Dempsey and Kevin Okifo) finishing ninth in 1:45.
“We still have some challenges with our throwers,” Roper said. “Will Paul is our strongest thrower, but we need some of these other guys to step up to give us some depth.”
The girls team made a statement with the 4-by-200 relay team of Heyi Cheng, Jasmine Grey, Ariana Alvarado and Carla Soares leaving the opposition in the dust. They claimed a 5-second victory with a blistering pace of 1:55.
Soares ran to first in the 55 hurdles in 9.9 and Makayla Teixeira finished third in 10.5. Harmony Sturdivant raced to a third-place finish in the 600 in 1:52.2 and Cheng placed seventh in 1:57.6.
“Makayla is only a freshman and still hasn’t qualified, but she beat the Woodland girl who already qualified, so it’s only a matter of time for her to get those numbers,” said Roper.
Roper said the girls are working to get their footing back in the distance races. Last week marked just the second meet back for Courtney Morin, who has been out sick. Lauren Stankiewicz has battled injuries, but she continues to get her times down, he added.
Roper added the team shows strength in the 300, though.
“We had a strong showing in the 300 with four of our girls finishing in the top seven and three of them qualifying,” he said.
Morin ran to fifth in the 3,200 in 13:35 and placed sixth in the 1,000 in 3:36. Stankiewicz was seventh in the 3,200 in 14:02. Naugatuck will also be keeping an eye on Briana Lennon, who placed ninth in the 3,200 and tenth in the 1,000.
Lexie Paul finished ninth in the shot put at 23 feet, but it was in the jumps that Naugy excelled. Grey won the high jump at 4 feet, 8 inches and Sturdivant won the long jump with a distance of 14 feet, 4 inches.
With the NVL meet on the horizon, Roper is pleased with the effort of his team.
“The effort is there,” Roper said. “We have a lot of athletes that are close to qualifying for the states and hopefully that will pay dividends come championship time. It’s just a matter of making it happen.”
