WILTON – Alanna Smith won two races in dominant fashion to lead Danbury to the team title at the 2022 FCIAC Girls Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 23 at Wilton High School’s Tom Fujitani Field.
Audrey Kpodar and Ahlanna Glasgow were also individual champions while Giuliana Robles scored 14 individual points and Corinne Whelchel contributed 13 points to help Danbury cop the conference crown for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
Danbury won four consecutive FCIAC championships from 2016-19. There were no spring sports in 2020. Last year Staples dethroned Danbury’s Hatters, who were runner-up.
Danbury scored 120 points, 40 more than runner-up Ridgefield’s 80 points. Trumbull placed third with 73.5, Greenwich (68) was fourth and New Canaan (62) took fifth.
Smith, a senior who swept the 100, 200 and 400 last year at the CIAC State Open, was the only athlete to set a new conference record in the meet. Smith won the 400-meter run by 3.87 seconds with her record time of 55.64 which broke the old record of 55.75 that Darien’s Anna Sulger set eight years ago at the 2014 Loucks Games.
Smith won the 200 by 1.39 seconds with a 25.52 and that was just 0.12 off the FCIAC record of 24.4 which Danbury’s Teyanna Green set a dozen years ago.
Kpodar jumped two inches higher than her previous-best high jump when she was one of four high jumpers who cleared the winning height of 5 feet, 2 inches. Kpodar won the event via fewest misses because she was the only high jumper who cleared every height until she and the other three had the three misses at 5-4.
Glasgow won the javelin by 12 feet, 1 inch with her personal-best throw of 118-10.
Robles scored her 14 individual points by placing second in the long jump (16-4½) and third in the triple jump (34-8½).
Stephanie Queiroz Corinne Whelchel contributed to Danbury’s title with runner-up finishes – Queiroz in the 3,200 (11:24.45) and Whelchel in the 110 hurdles (16.69).
New Canaan’s junior thrower Gabriela DeFelice and Trumbull’s senior distance runner Kali Holden both won two events.
DeFelice won the discus with a personal-best throw of 123-4 and the shot put with a 35-8½.
Holden won the 1,600 with a 4:56.24 and the 800 in 2:14.61.
Trumbull distance runners won the three longest races as sophomore Elaine Mathews won the 3,200 in 11:06.75 after she placed third in the 1,600 (5:06.72).
Kaitlyn Fay won the 100-meter dash in 12.48 and was runner-up to Smith in the 200 (25.91) to lead Greenwich to fourth place with her 18 individual points.
Tia Stapleton of Fairfield Ludlowe and New Canaan’s Eliana Bukai each scored 18 individual points for their teams with a victory and a runner-up finish in jumping field events.
Stapleton won the triple jump (36-1) and placed second in the high jump (5-2).
Bukai won the long jump (16-4 ½) and was runner-up in the triple jump (34-11).
The meet’s other individual champions included Fairfield Warde’s Meg Barnouw in the 110 hurdles (16.06) and Jessica Queiroz Amaral in the pole vault (9-6), and Ridfgefield’s Elaine Mathews in the 300 hurdles (47.85).
Serenity Mayhew of Norwalk was runner-up in both the shot put (35-7) and discus (103-7).
Francine Stevens of Staples placed second behind Smith in the 200 (26.14) and 400 (59.51).
Brien McMahon’s Jade Ferdinand was runner-up in the 100 (12.55) and she ran the anchor leg on McMahon’s winning 4×100 relay team which included Sofia Aguilar, Shaniya Young and Emily Legere.
The other runner-up finishers in individual events were Wilton’s Emily Mrakovcic in the 800 (2:18.01), Isabelle Blend of Staples in the pole vault (9-0), Greenwich’s Haley Townsend in the 300 hurdles (48.18).
Ridgefield’s Grace Hooker placed third in the 300 hurdles (48.41) and was a member of two winning relay teams. She teamed up with Elaine Mathews, Grace Tomesetti and Maya Rubio on the 4×400 relay team (4:08.34). Hooker was joined by Elizabeth Buonocore, Regan MGrath and Georgia Keller on the victorious 4×800 relay team (9:38.13).