Records fall for Hawks at Class M track meet

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By Ken Morse, Citizen’s News

NEW BRITAIN — The Woodland girls and boys track teams both finished in the top 10 at the Class M championships June 2, in what proved to be a record-setting day at Willow Brook Park for the Hawks.

The girls finished third with 56 points. Weston scored 113.5 points to win the title.

The girls 4×400 relay team of Kim Poulos, Rebecca Benoit, Paige Letourneau and Jaden Young placed fourth in 4 minutes, 6.64 seconds — a new school record.

“Our relay team set a new school record and finished fourth,” Woodland girls head coach Jeff Lownds said. “That shows you just how competitive that field was, and we finished 5 seconds faster than our seeding time.”

Two other girls’ records fell. Chloe Poulos broke her own mark in the 1600, finishing second (5:06.23). Young also broke her own record in the 800, placing second (2:16.37).

Chloe Poulos also took second in the 3200 (11:32.16). Benoit placed fourth in the 200 (27.20), Kim Poulos took fourth in the 400 (1:00.38), and Daniella Celotto finished fourth in the 1600 (5:13.68) and eighth in the 800 (2:26.44).

“We had a lot of kids step up,” Lownds said. “Daniella is just a freshman and put up a time in the 1600 that was better than the time Chloe had when she first broke the school record earlier this season.”

The Hawks picked up 14 valuable points in the throws. Sarah Cooley finished fifth in the javelin (99-0), sixth in the discus (96-4) and eighth in the shot put (28-04.25). Amber Rosato finished sixth in the javelin (98-05).

“We scored some important points in our throws,” Lownds said. “All of our throwers have been getting better with every meet and that is due to putting in the hard work.”

The Woodland boys placed tenth with 27 points. Haddam-Killingworth won the title with 90 points.

Colin Slavin broke the school mark in the 3200, racing to eighth (9:55.08).

Eric Meade finished second in the high jump (5-10) and third in the triple jump (40-09). Nathaniel Smith finished fourth in the high jump (5-08), Noah Scott placed sixth in the pole vault (10-06) and Nathan Swercewski placed eighth in the 400 (52.62).

The 4×400 relay team of Smith, Alexander Farr, Nathan Swercewski and Conrad Filippone placed fifth (3:33.42), and the 4×800 team of Smith, Jon Schwarz, Chase Young and Martin Swercewski placed seventh (8:49.01).

“We managed to pick up bits and pieces to score points for the boys team,” Lownds said. “It was a long day on the track, but I’m really proud of our boys and girls teams. They worked hard and gave it the best that they had.”

The State Open is set for June 9. Athletes that finish in the top five at the class meets automatically qualified for the open.

“We are very fortunate to have some dedicated coaches,” Lownds said. “Mario Longo with our long distance runners, Billy Ferrare with the boys team and our throwing coaches, Mark Swanson and Mike Sirowich, have all helped these kids achieve a lot of success this season.”