Naugy boys, Woodland girls a step ahead

0
51

One track meet doesn’t make a season, but early indications are that the Naugatuck boys are back in the hunt and the Woodland girls are gearing up for another title run.

The Naugy boys swept Torrington, 106-40, and Woodland, 91-48, last Thursday to begin the season 2-0.

The Woodland girls earned their own sweep of the meet with wins over Naugatuck, 118-33, and Torrington, 104-45, as they look to defend the NVL crown they’ve worn for the past five seasons.

“The girls put themselves in a position to score some points and fortunately for us it worked out,” Woodland girls track coach Jeff Lownds said. “We have a very tough early schedule.”

The Hawks will play Watertown and Wolcott on Wednesday and will face Seymour and Crosby on Saturday.

“It’s really too early to tell how good we are but we are going to find out after this week,” Lownds said.

For the season-opener, the Woodland girls were more than good enough. Seniors Erika Michie (100, 200 meters) and Kristen Persico (discus, javelin) led the way earning victories in two events.

The Hawks’ three relay teams also picked up wins.

The 4×800 team of Emilie Noreika, Victoria Gugliotti, Sydney Grillo and Jaden Young took first in 11:25. The 4×400 foursome of Julia Accetura, Karly Laliberte, Gugliotti and Jade Brennan put up a winning time of 4:42.9, and the 4×100 squad made it a sweep in the relays in 53.5.

Brennan took first in the 400 meters (1:05), Megen Sirowich won the 800 (2:39.6), and Emma Slavin finished first in the 1600 (6:07.4).

Jasmine Michie won the shot put (33-10), Alexandra Cianciolo won the long jump at 14 feet, 3 1/2 inches, and Emily Cipriano was first in the high jump at 4 feet, 8 inches.

The Woodland boys picked up a win over Torrington, 82-64, to start 1-1.

Woodland’s 4×400 team of Matt Luxeder, Edit Krivca, Mike Falcone and Ryan Swanson ran to first in 3:51. The Hawks also had first-place finishes from Luxeder in the 800 meters (2:10.5), Maciej Lewicki in the 110 hurdles (17.3), and Joe Kmetz in the discus (97-5).

For the Naugatuck boys, Aren Seeger led the way with victories in the 100 (11.5), 400 (51.5) and the long jump (19-10).

Ross Via ran to a pair of first-place finishes in the 1600 (5:13.9) and the 3200 (11:49). Zach Koslosky also picked up a pair of wins in the 300 hurdles (45.0) and the pole vault (12 feet).

Ben Healy won the triple jump at 39 feet, 3 inches, and Matt Pimpinelli won the shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 5 inches. The 4×800 relay team of Bryce Cegielski, Jonathon Volpe, Ross Via and Elliot Via ran to victory in 9:11.5.

The Naugy girls started the season 0-2, dropping a 97-50 decision to the Raiders. Alyssa Zarrella won the 100 hurdles in 18.1 for the Greyhounds.

“We are still moving some of the pieces around to get the most bang for our buck,” Naugatuck head coach Ralph Roper said. “Obviously, having Seeger, Koslosky, (Ross) Via and Healy out on the track puts us in a good position to win those events. But we are still working on some things to develop a balance and some depth.

“We are trying to develop an identity for the girls team. We are young for the most part. We do have some experienced girls but we are looking to develop our relays so then they can branch out into other events.”

Naugatuck will host Crosby and Kennedy on Wednesday and St. Paul and Derby next Tuesday.