Woodland girls 3-peat

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Boys take home third place at track championship

Woodland’s Erika Michie finishes the 4x100 ahead of Naugatuck’s Hannah Lauer at the Naugatuck Valley League track and field championship May 27 at Naugatuck High School. The Woodland girls won the title for the third straight year. –LUKE MARSHALL
Woodland’s Erika Michie finishes the 4×100 ahead of Naugatuck’s Hannah Lauer at the Naugatuck Valley League track and field championship May 27 at Naugatuck High School. The Woodland girls won the title for the third straight year. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — The Woodland girls track team showed the kind of depth that galaxies are made of at the NVL championship meet May 27 at Naugatuck High. The Hawks finished in the top three in eight of 15 events and in one of three relays to win their third straight NVL title.

The Hawks made it look easy scoring 135.5 points. Seymour took second at 108 points and Naugatuck finished third at 78 points.

“This is our third straight NVL outdoor title and, including indoor and cross country, our eighth NVL title in a row,” Woodland head coach Jeff Lownds said. “That is a tribute to the girls and the hard work they put into this program.”

Lownds continued, “We have been fortunate to have our jump coach Adam Schultz and boys coach Tim Shea helping our throwers that we have been able to put together teams that have a lot of depth in almost every event.”

It certainly doesn’t hurt the Hawks’ cause to have a multitalented athlete in senior Jazmyn Menzies, who took first place in the long jump (16 feet, 5.5 inches) and second in the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches).

Woodland’s Marisa Macek starts the first leg of the 4x100 at the Naugatuck Valley League track and field championship May 27 at Naugatuck High School. The Woodland girls won the title for the third straight year. –LUKE MARSHALL
Woodland’s Marisa Macek starts the first leg of the 4×100 at the Naugatuck Valley League track and field championship May 27 at Naugatuck High School. The Woodland girls won the title for the third straight year. –LUKE MARSHALL

“It starts with great leadership and we have that in Menzies, Abby Rosato and Haleigh Resnick,” Lownds said. “They have steered this ship in the right direction. Abby is the first Woodland female athlete to qualify for the states in all three throwing events.”

Woodland got started on the road to a title when junior Resnick raced to victory in the 400 in 1:02.4. In the 1,600, junior Clara Drozdowski placed third with an effort of 5:44.78.

Seniors Christine and Michelle Angrand have given the Hawks a one-two punch in the hurdles all season long. Christine Angrand finished third in the 100 hurdles, and freshman Erika Michie was third in the 300 hurdles.

Woodland scored points all over the field, and the pole vault was no exception. Senior Meg Lynch finished second with an 8-foot effort. Rosato took second place in the discus with a heave of 100 feet.

Woodland’s Tom Smith competes in the high jump at the Naugatuck Valley League track and field championship May 27 at Naugatuck High School. The Woodland boys team came in third place. –LUKE MARSHALL
Woodland’s Tom Smith competes in the high jump at the Naugatuck Valley League track and field championship May 27 at Naugatuck High School. The Woodland boys team came in third place. –LUKE MARSHALL

The Hawks pulled away with the 4×400 relay squad of Resnick, sophomore Gianna Polletta, freshman Megan Sirowich and Drozdowski racing to victory in 4:17.69.

“We scored at least two girls in every event,” Lownds said. “The last three or four years we have had good depth that has allowed us to out perform the competition.”

The Woodland boys team put up some solid numbers, but the three-time NVL champs finished third with 99 points. Naugatuck won the meet with 133 points. Derby, the NVL regular season champion, finished second with 108 points.

The Hawks excelled in the pole vault with seniors Pat Hale taking first and Drew Chura finishing second. Junior Brandon Clifford finished third in the triple jump at 41 feet, 7 inches, and junior Sean McAllen finished second in the javelin at 140 feet, 10 inches.

Woodland picked up another first-place finish in the 4×400 relay. The team of seniors Tom Bethin, Jeff Moffat, Dean Conway and junior James Yacavone won the event in 3:34.75.