Naugatuck indoor track claims two relay golds; Lopez claims title in 600 meters

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BY KEN MORSE
CITIZEN’S NEWS
The NVL champion Naugatuck indoor track and field program competed in the Class L state meet on Feb. 12 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. The boys finished seventh among the 23 teams that competed, finishing with 25 team points. The girls team placed 10th with 22 points.
The Greyhounds struck gold and set two new school records with the 4×400-meter boys and girls relay teams each winning a Class L state title. The boys quartet of Dan Anderson, Taylor Trowers, Zach McCasland and Lalo Lopez posted a winning time of 3:35.40, almost five seconds faster than their best time.
The girls 4×400 squad of Lily Jason, Julia Kropo, Lauren Sonski and Allison Murphy raced to victory in a record time of 4:09.89, beating their best time by close to seven seconds.
“We had some really good performances,” said Naugy coach Ralph Roper. “Both relay teams set new school records. We also had four athletes qualify for the state open in individual events.
“Nadia Cestari qualified in the shot put in her very first year coming out for the track team. Our young freshman Lily Jason came within one-tenth of a second of breaking the school record in the 55 hurdles.
Roper continued: “Lopez and Murphy will both be in the state open. We are excited with what we have going to the state open and it’s going to be a barn burner.”
Lopez won the 600 meters for the only other gold medal for the Greyhounds, edging out his competitor Connor Sterling of New Milford at the finish line by two-hundreds of a second at 1:26.27.
Murphy had the girls best finish in the individual events, taking third in the 300 meters at 42.76, just seven-tenths of a second out of first place.
Other top 10 finishes for the boys included Trowers (fifth in 300); Cameron Jacobs (sixth in 55 hurdles); McCasland (10th in 600); the 4×200 relay (sixth, team of Trowers, Anderson, Jacobs and Lopez); the 4×800 relay (sixth, team of Shayne Hasipi, Brendan Lyles, Matt Kilmer and McCasland); and the 1,600 medley relay (eighth, team of Tafari Downer, Kilmer, Hasipi and Lyles).
Other top 10 finishes for the girls inluded Jason (fourth in 55 hurdles, eighth in long jump); Sonski (seventh in 1,600); Kropo (eighth in 600); Cestari (ninth in shot put); and the 4×200 relay (fifth, team of Divine Kabongo, Kropo, Sonski and Murphy).
The state open was held on Feb. 19 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. The record breaking 4×400 relay teams are ranked high in the open with the girls team ranked first and the boys team ranked third.
“We didn’t do what we were suppose to do as a coaching staff at the NVLs and we let a couple of relays get away from us,” said Roper. “We went back and ironed some things out and made sure we got the most bang for our buck in the Class L meet. I was very pleased with our effort.”