NEW HAVEN – Greenwich senior Gianluca Bianchi, Fairfield Warde junior Parker Broderick, and Ridgefield senior Lucas Williams were individual champions at the 2023 CIAC State Open Indoor Track and Field Championships to highlight many of the high finishes by FCIAC athletes at the State Open and state class championship meets.
Bianchi led Greenwich to second place in team scoring in the boys meet when he won the 300-meter dash in 34.89 and he also ran his usual very fast relay legs to help the 4×400 relay team (3:27.04) place second and the 4×200 relay team (1:33.42) finish third.
Hall and Greenwich placed 1-2 in team scoring in both the State Open and the boys Class LL championship meets.
Hall won the State Open by a comfortable margin with 66 points. Greenwich tallied 30 points to nip Xavier by one point for the runner-up spot.
Williams cleared 15 feet to win the pole vault and superb junior distance runner Steven Hergenrother ran a pair of great 800-meter legs on a winning and runner-up relay team to lead Ridgefield to fourth place with 28 points.
Williams vaulted a half foot higher than the Class LL meet when he placed third with a 14-6. Hergenrother anchored the victorious 1,600 sprint medley relay (3:37.35) which included Kieran Boyle, William Diana, and Ethan Walls after he teamed up with Liam Edson, Magnus Manley, and Isaac Graber on the runner-up 4×800 relay (8:03.06).
Broderick won the State Open boys 1,600 in 4:18.32, which was just about four seconds faster than his winning time of 4:22.28 at the Class LL championships.
Three girls from the FCIAC placed second in their individual events at the State Open and three boys were runner-up at the State Open after they won their respective events at the Class LL championship meet,
Greenwich junior Esme Daplyn finished second place in the 1,000 to lead the Cardinals to third place in the team scoring.
Bloomfield was the team champion with 47 points, Glastonbury took second with 41, and the Greenwich placed third with 35 points.
Greenwich High School pulled off the rare sweep of winning the girls and boys team titles at the 2023 FCIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Wilton’s Jill Roberts was runner-up in the 55-meter hurdles (8.27) and fifth in the 300 (41.31). The other girl from the FCIAC who placed second at the State Open was Fairfield Warde’s Meg Barnouw in the high jump (5-4).
A pair of Staples Wreckers placed second in the boys State Open after they were Class LL state champions. Benjamin Lorenz was runner-up in the State Open 3,200 with a 9:20.63 time which was 4.17 seconds faster than when he won the Class LL race with his 9:24.8. Derek Amlicke placed second in the pole vault (14-0) one week have he had a winning vault of 14-6 at the Class LL meet.
Fairfield Ludlowe’s Tyler Bartlett was runner-up in the boys State Open 1,000 with a 2:34.73 and that was a fine improvement from his Class LL winning time of 2:36.14.
Bridgeport Central’s Michael Hemmings was a Class LL champion in the high jump (5-10).
There were six individual state champions from the FCIAC at the girls Class LL meet.
They included Danbury’s Audrey Kpodar in the 55-meter hurdles (8.74), Fairfield Ludlowe’s Tia Stapleton in the long jump (17-3.5), Fairfield Warde’s Zen Blanks in the shot put (35-3.75), Greenwich’s Kaitlyn Fay in the 55-meter dash (7.26), Francine Stevens of Staples in the 300 (41.61), and Trumbull’s Kathryn Marhand in the 3,200 (11:19.52).
Greenwich’s girls and boys teams both placed second in team scoring at the Class LL championships.
Fay helped lead the Greenwich girls to second place in team scoring with 61 points. Glastonbury won with 89 points.
Greenwich led a group of six FCIAC girls teams in the top 10 in the Class LL team scoring. Staples (40 points) and Fairfield Warde (34) placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Fairfield Ludlowe and Darien tied for seventh with 23 points and Trumbull (19) took 10th.
Hall won the boys meet in dominant fashion with 96 points.
Greenwich’s runner-up Cardinals scored 38 as the FCIAC had four teams among the top five and seven teams in the top 10.
Staples (36) placed third, Danbury and Fairfield Ludlowe tied for fourth with 29 points, while Fairfield Warde (26), Trumbull (25) and Ridgefield (18) placed 7-10.