School record, personal bests highlight Class L meet for Naugy

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The Greyhounds set a school record, ran personal best times, and crowned a state champion at the Class L indoor track and field state championship meet Feb. 8 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.

At the end of the day, the boys team finished eighth among the 24 teams that competed.

“The kids did well,” Naugatuck head coach Ralph Roper said. “We did have a few mishaps, but aside from that, we did have several personal bests.”

Aren Seeger won the Class L championship in the 55 meter hurdles in 7.81. He also took third in the 300 meters, breaking his previous school record in the process, with a time of 35.83. Seeger will represent Naugy at the State Open on Saturday in New Haven.

“Aren had a great day,” Roper said. “He broke his own school record in the 300 and is the state champion in the 55 hurdles and will be seeded fourth in the State Open in both events.”

Ben Healy also qualified for the State Open with a fifth-place finish in the long jump. Healy beat his personal best with a leap of 20 feet, 4 1/2 inches. Healy also finished 11th in the high jump at 5 feet, 6 inches.

Ross Via placed fifth in the 1000 meters in 2:43.09 — a personal best time — and finished three seconds off the pace to qualify for the State Open.

Zach Koslosky finished fifth in the pole vault at 11 1/2 feet. Matt Pimpinelli was 22nd in the shot put at 38 feet, 7 inches.

The boys 4×400 relay team of Derek Sampaio, Bryce Cegielski, Paul Marsh and Mike Patton was disqualified for a uniform violation, but the 4×200 team of Nick Airall, Koslosky, Seeger and Sampaio finished 11th in 1:38.94, just 2 seconds shy of qualifying for the State Open.

“We did have a couple of athletes medal finishing in the top six,” Roper said. “All in all I think the boys did a good job competing against some top competition.”

The Naugy girls team didn’t manage any team points, but the 4×200 relay team posted a personal best time and finished a little more than 4 seconds out of the top six, which would have netted the squad points.

The team of Brianna Haye, Rachel Huculak, Loren Quarles and Julia Dudek finished the 4×200 in 12th place in 1:56.07.

In the 55 hurdles, Makayla Teixeira finished .08 seconds out of qualifying for the finals, finishing eighth in 9.68. The time to reach the finals was 9.60.

Brianna Soubannarath finished 10th (9.84) and Alyssa Zarrella placed 15th (10.10) in the 55 hurdles.