DANBURY – Tia Stapleton won all three jumping events to rack up 30 points and lead Fairfield Ludlowe to its first conference team title ever at the 2023 FCIAC Girls Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Danbury High School.
Wilton senior Jill Roberts was also a triple winner in individual events. Roberts won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.56 seconds, and she swept both hurdles races, winning the 110 hurdles in 14.81 and the 300 hurdles in 46.62.
Stapleton defended her triple jump title when she went 36 feet, 3.5 inches. The senior also won the high jump when she cleared 5 feet, 4 inches, and she won the long jump (16-11.5) by exactly one foot.
Fairfield Ludlowe scored 102.5 team points to finish 14.5 points ahead of runner-up New Canaan (88). Greenwich placed third with 69 points and Staples had 66 to nip Ridgefield by just one point for fourth place.
Fairfield Ludlowe junior sprinter Caroline Spengler also scored big points for the Falcons by winning the 200-meter dash in 25.78 and placing second in the 100 dash (12.67).
Also contributing to Ludlowe’s championship, Colleen Halliday cleared 10 feet to win the pole vault, while Madison Roman was runner-up in the javelin (114-4), fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus.
New Canaan’s senior thrower Gabriela DeFelice and Greenwich’s strong junior distance runner Esme Daplyn joined Stapleton and Roberts as multiple winners of individual events.
DeFelice and her sophomore teammate, Lauren Smith, racked up big points for the Rams in the field events. DeFelice won the discus (131 feet, 7 inches) and shot put (38-9), and she was also third in the javelin 113-11. Smith won the javelin (116-7) and was runner-up behind her teammate DeFelice in both the discus (112-5) and shot put (34-0).
Daplyn won the 1,600 (2:15.52) and 800 (2:15.52), and she also toughed it out for her team by running the 3,200 and placing seventh with an 11:38.36.
Two more athletes who were winners were Ridgefield’s Regan McGrath in the 400 (59.15) and Darien’s Cam Meyer in the 3,200 (11:02.81).
Meg Barnouw of Fairfield Warde placed second in both the high jump (5-2) and 100-meter hurdles (16.03), and she was fourth in the long jump.
Darien’s Julia Blake also had a pair of runner-up finishes. She took second in the 800 (2:18.73) and 1,600 (5:03.11).
Francine Stevens and Gabriella Gerig of Staples each placed second and third in individual events. Stevens was runner-up in the 400 (59.15) and third in the 200 (27.12). Gerig placed second in the long jump (15-11.5) and third in the high jump (5-0).
Trumbull’s Katie Marchand placed second in the 3,200 (11:09.83) and fifth in the 1,600 (5:13.75). Wilton’s Anna LaBant was runner-up in the 300 hurdles (47.8) and fifth in the 100 hurdles (16.67).
Stamford’s Paige Wilks took second in the 200 (26.96) and eighth in the 100.
Two more athletes who had runner-up finishes in individual events were Manar Abis of Staples in the pole vault (10-0) and Bridgeport Central’s Casondra Caldwell in the triple jump (34-11).
Leigh Foran of Staples placed third in both the 800 (2:20.7) and 1,600 (5:08.63). Danbury hurdler Olivia Robles took third in both the 100 hurdles (16.35) and 300 hurdles (48.4).
Norwalk’s Layla Roberts placed third in the long jump (15-11) and fifth in the high jump (4-10). New Canaan’s Charlotte Moor was fourth in both the 1,600 (5:09.96) and 3,200 (11:29.86).