Naugy boys finish fifth, girls seventh at NVL meet

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Naugatuck’s Brandon Thomas runs the final leg of the 4×800 relay during the NVL track and field championships May 23 at Seymour High School. –LUKE MARSHALL

SEYMOUR — Not putting points on the board in all 18 events at the NVL outdoor track and field championships Tuesday at Seymour High School took its toll on Naugatuck.

The boys team finished fifth out of 15 teams with 61 points and went scoreless in eight events. The Seymour boys ran away with the title with 142 points, well ahead of regular-season champion Derby, the runner-up with 106 points.

The girls team finished seventh as a team with 42 points and missed out on scoring in six events. Woodland won the girls’ title for the fifth straight year with 121.50 points.

“What it comes down to is finishing and we didn’t finish well today,” Naugatuck head coach Ralph Roper said. “I don’t think the competition was any better than in other years. It depends on who wants it the most. But you can only enter three athletes per event and an athlete can only compete in three events. So that narrows our chances, and we need to put athletes in events where we can get the most bang for our buck.”

Naugatuck had some solid performances.

Junior Aren Seeger took second in the 110 hurdles (15.99), 300 hurdles (39.65) and the 200 (23.02).

“Every team here has their go-to guys,” Seeger said during the meet. “If I do what I know I can do I should be able to stay in the top three in my events.”

Luis Garces ran to second in the 3200 (10:24.90), and Zach Koslosky took third in the pole vault (11-6) for the only medal winners for the boys. David Kerns took fourth in the 3200, and Bailey Mortensen finished fifth in the long jump.

“I thought we would do better,” Mortensen said. “Everyone needs to give it all they got, and I’m not sure we are seeing that.”

For the girls, Erin Schofield took first in the javelin (122-9) and defended her NVL title.

Renell Clarence ran to fifth in the 200, Makayla Teixeira finished fifth in the 100 hurdles, and Brianna Soubannarath took fifth in the pole vault. The 4×100 relay team of Clarence, Loren Quarles, Rachel Huculak and Brianna Haye finished fifth, as well.

Clarence also made the finals for the 100, where she took sixth.

Naugatuck’s Alyssa Zarrella clears 6 feet in the pole vault during the NVL track and field championships May 23 at Seymour High School. –LUKE MARSHALL

“It feels good that I made the finals for the 100 meters,” Clarence said. “It also qualified me for the states, so all the hard work is paying off.”

Naugatuck did have several other athletes score points by finishing in the top eight.

Jayden Anderson finished seventh in the 110 hurdles and Kerns was fifth in the 1600. Lauren Stankiewicz finished sixth in the 3200, and Macie Best took sixth in the high jump.

The 4×400 team of Jade Lima, Haye, Huculak and Best finished sixth, and the 4×800 team of Lima, Brianna Lennon, Abigail Lombardi and Stankiewicz finished seventh. Best also finished seventh in the 300 hurdles, and Huculak was seventh in the 400 meters.

The boys’ 4×100 foursome of Nick Airall, Rammi Ammar, Xavier Lewis and Andrew Dempsey turned in a sixth-place performance. The 4×800 team of Bryce Cegielski, Joe Dempsey, Grady Beasley and Ross Via posted a sixth-place finish, and the 4×400 team of Andrew Dempsey, Airall, Ammar and Beasley took seventh.

Next up for the Greyhounds is the Class L state meet on May 30.