By Bob Greeney
The 2022 outdoor track and field season now enters the homestretch of its regular season, and many FCIAC athletes have turned in some strong performances as they continue to compete and train hard in their quest to deliver peak performances in postseason championship meets.
Danbury senior Alanna Smith and Greenwich senior Andrew O’Donnell have both been dominant in the sprints. Smith and O’Donnell have clocked in with the fastest girls and boys times, respectively, in the 100-meter dash, 200 and 400.
Smith is the only girl from the FCIAC who has run the 400 in under a minute and she did that in a home dual meet against Norwalk on April 25 when she was 3.33 seconds under a minute with her time of 56.67.
Smith more recently achieved the conference’s fastest times when she won the 100 (12.21) and 200 (24.7) in Danbury’s home dual meet against Trumbull on May 3.
Smith is now following up on an excellent indoor season in which she won many FCIAC, state and New England championships. Smith swept the 55-meter dash and 300 at the New England Interscholastic Boys and Girls Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston on March 8. She set a new meet record time of 38.22 when she won the 300 and she won the 55 dash in 7.03. Two weeks later Smith placed sixth in the 55-meter dash (7.01) at the New Balance Nationals Indoors at The Armory in New York.
Last year at the 2021 CIAC State Open, Smith pulled off the amazing feat of sweeping the 100 (12.05), 200 (24.49) and 400 (56.78).
O’Donnell won the 400 (48.31) by more than one second and he placed fourth in the 200 (22.39) at the State Open last spring. This regular season O’Donnell got his best 400 time of 48.68 in a home dual meet on April 4 and a week later in another home dual meet he got his best times in the 100 (10.9) and 200 (21.92).
New Canaan junior Gabriela DeFelice is another athlete who has the top FCIAC performances in multiple girls events. DeFelice has thrown the javelin 107 feet, 8 inches, which is the farthest throw in the conference by more than 11 feet, and she also has farthest shot put of 34 feet, 11.5 inches.
Smith, O’Donnell and DeFelice lead the list of the FCIAC’s best regular-season performances thus far this spring – either the fastest times in races, or the best distances and heights in the field events.
There are a few more athletes who have the best performances in one event and either the second- or third-best performances in other events; and there are many more girls and boys who are among the top three in multiple events.
The top three performances in the respective events are listed below.
The results are from track and field meets as recent as May 7 and they were accumulated from the www.athletic.net website.
FCIAC’s Top 3 Outdoor Track and Field Performances
GIRLS
100 – 1. Alanna Smith, Danbury, 12.21; 2. Kaitlyn Fay, Greenwich, 12.47; 3. Florence Dickson, Danbury, 12.69.
200 – 1. Alanna Smith, Danbury, 24.7; 2. Kaitlyn Fay, Greenwich, 26.1; 3. Ida Moczerniuk, Fairfield Warde, 26.2.
400 – 1. Alanna Smith, Danbury, 56.67; 2. Francine Stevens, Staples, 1:00.07; 3. Esme Daplyn, Staples, 1:00.46.
800 – 1. Anna Keeley, Fairfield Ludlowe, 2:22.27; 2. Esme Daplyn, Greenwich, 2:23.42; 3. Julia Blake, Darien, 2:23.76.
1,600 – 1. Kali Holden, Trumbull, 5:02.63; 2. Anna Keeley, Fairfield Ludlowe, 5:03.49; 3. Esme Daplyn, Greenwich, 5:13.66.
3,200 – 1. Katherine Rector, Ridgefield, 10:50.06; 2. Kali Holden, Trumbull, 10:53.18; 3. Anna Keeley, Fairfield Ludlowe, 10:55.7.
100 Hurdles – 1. Audrey Kpodar, Danbury, 16.68; 2. Meg Barnouw, Fairfield Warde, 17.03; 3. Corinne Whelchel, Danbury, 17.15.
300 Hurdles – 1. Corinne Whelchel, Danbury, 48.91; 2. Haley Townsend, Greenwich, 48.96; 3. Elaine Mathews, Ridgefield, 49.29.
4×100 Relay – 1. Danbury (Florence Dickson, Giuliana Robles, Kimberleigh Williams, Lynae Kovacs), 50.0; 2. Ridgefield (Elaine Mathews, Anna Gillan, Maya Rubio, Julia Bragg), 50.73; 3. Brien McMahon (Sofia Auilar, Shaniya Young, Emily Legere, Jade Ferdinand) 59.79.
4×400 Relay – 1. Danbury (Mariana Sousa, Abigail Munoz, Dayle Hamed, Victoria Andrade), 3:55.86; 2. Darien (Julia Blake, Alexis Lyons, Brooke Doland, Camilla Lash), 4:10.14; 3. Ridgefield (Julia Bragg, Maya Rubio, Grace Hooker, Elaine Mathews), 4:13.42.
Shot Put – 1. Gabriela DeFelice, New Canaan, 34-11.5; 2. Serenity Mayhew, Norwalk, 34-5; 3. Madison Roman, Fairfield Ludlowe, 30-6.
Discus – 1. Gabriela Defelice , New Canaan, 107-8; 2. Mecca Ford, Westhill, 96-3; 3. Serenity Mayhew, Norwalk, 90-3.
Javelin – 1. Ahlanna Glasgow, Danbury, 108-0; 2. Maya Marin, Trumbull, 105-2; 3. Lauren Smith, New Canaan, 103-7.
High Jump – 1. (tie) Meg Barnouw, Fairfield Warde, and Tia Stapleton, Fairfield Ludlowe, 5-4; 3. Kailey Wackerman, Fairfield Ludlowe, 5-2.
Pole Vault – 1. There is a 3-way tie among Isabelle Blend, Staples; Jessica Queiroz Amaral, Fairfield Warde; and Kiera Henry, Brien McMahon, for the highest vault of 8-6.
Long Jump – 1. Giuliana Robles, Danbury, 16-11; 2. Kimberleigh Williams, Danbury, 16-5.5; 3. Kayla Egan, Greenwich, 16-3.
Triple Jump – 1. Eliana Buka, New Canaan, 36-2.5; 2. Tia Stapleton, Fairfield Ludlowe, 36-2.25; 3. Giuliana Robles, Danbury, 35-0.
BOYS
100 – 1. Andrew O’Donnell, Greenwich, 10.9; 2. Kyle Thomas, Danbury, 11.13; 3. (tie) Roberto DaCosta, St. Joseph, and Maxwell Warren, St. Joseph, 11.26.
200 – 1. Andrew O’Donnell, Greenwich, 22.92; 2. Maximo Rivano, Fairfield Warde, 22.43; 3. Kyle Bloomer, Darien, 22.54.
400 – 1. Andrew O’Donnell, Greenwich, 21.92; 2. Kyle Bloomer, Darien, 48.88; 3. Gianluca Bianchi, Greenwich, 49.19.
800 – 1. Jalen St. Fort, Staples, 1:57.28; 2. Tyler Bartlett, Fairfield Ludlowe, 1:57.63; 3. Zachary Jelinek, Greenwich, 1:58.32.
1,600 – Nick Yoo, Darien, 4:31.46; 2. Zachary Taubman, Staples, 4:31.67; 3. Zachary Jelinek, Greenwich, 4:31.69.
3,200 – 1. Steven Hergenrother, Ridgefield, 9:15.96; 2. Matthew McDonough, Ridgefield, 9:33.59; 3. Mohammed Abunar, Trumbull, 9:46.49.
110 Hurdles – 1. Zachary Carifa, Greenwich, 16.19; 2. Evan Dadson, Trumbull, 16.48; 3. Christian Jolly, Danbury, 16.71.
300 Hurdles – 1. Matthew Taylor, Darien, 43.08; 2. Christian Jolly, Danbury, 43.1; 3. Jonas Varnas, Staples, 43.53.
4×100 Relay – 1. Greenwich (Logan Galletta, Gianluca Bianchi, Michael Phillips, Andrew O’Donnell), 43.42; 2. Danbury (Kyan Cazorla, Kyle Thomas, Victor Costa, Scott Gersten), 43.65; 3. St. Joseph (Matt Morrissey, Dhallas Morgan, Roberto DaCosta, Maxwell Warren), 44.95.
4×400 Relay – 1. Darien (Jason Rideout, Luke Riordan, Owen Wagner, Kyle Bloomer), 3:27.76; 2. Staples (Samir Mott, Charles Fitzpatrick, Alex Harrington, Jalen St. Fort), 3:28.22; 3. Trumbull (Elliott Miller, Freud-Williams Maignan, Varujan Edwards, Liam O’Keefe), 3:31.57.
Shot Put – 1. Marques Singleton, Brien McMahon, 46-4; 2. Sebastien Pierre, Norwalk, 45-1; 3. Ryan Bona, Brien McMahon, 44-2.
Discus – 1. Sebastien Pierre, Norwalk, 143-7; 2. Joseph Addotta, Ridgefield, 132-10; 3. Mike Prizio, Trumbull, 126-6.
Javelin – 1. Scott Gersten, Danbury, 156-0; 2. Matt Morrissey, St. Joseph, 144-0; 3. Javier Perez-Soto, New Canaan, 140-8.
High Jump – 1. Brian Rose, Stamford, 6-1; 2. There is a 4-way tie among Elliot Miller, Trumbull; Evan Lukacs, Staples; Zachary Carifa, Greenwich; and Duke Quermorllue, Norwalk, for the second highest high jump of 6-0.
Pole Vault – 1. (tie) Steven Ditelberg, Fairfield Ludlowe, and Derek Amlicke, Staples, 13-0; 3. Lucas Williams, Ridgefield, 12-6.
Long Jump – 1. Ryan Johnson, Wilton, 21-10; 2. Miles Bradley, Fairfield Ludlowe, 21-6; 3. Zachary, Greenwich, 21-0.5.
Triple Jump – 1. Ryan Johnson, Wilton, 42-1; 2. Chance Teel, Norwalk, 39.65; 3. Kyan Cazorla, Danbury, 39-4.5.