By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp

School records, nationally ranked performances and outstanding relay duals took place one after another on Friday night’s Yale HS Classic held at Coxe Cage in New Haven. Teams from all over the Northeast competed on the 200m oval that has witnessed multiple national records over the past 39 years. 

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Weight Throw

In an event that still doesn’t have a state championship event, the Girls 20lb and Boys 25lb Weight Throw championships were held Friday morning. The traditionally talent rich Rhode Island throwers scored the top five medals provided with Woonsocket’s Adelaide Caron winning with a PR toss of 48-9. The top two throwers from CT earned PR tosses as NFA’s Hannah Graham placed 8th with a 41-0 mark and Hall’s Anna Siciliano tossed her PR mark of 40-2 for tenth place.

The Rhody talent also dominated the Boys Weight Throw Championship as US#6 Adam Beaudry of Woonsocket unleashed a toss of 61-0, over a foot less than his PR. Hillhouse’s Devin James placed 7th with a toss of 54-8 while Bloomfield’s Khile Francis launched his PR throw of 53-0 for tenth place.

Check out some of the highlights from the championship races on Friday night. 

Girls Championship 4x200m

Bloomfield always brings the heat in the relays. They already have the 10th fastest 4x200m time in the nation, running 1:42.49 at the Hispanic Games. But even with a different line up, they can still pull out a win. They were down the entire race until their anchor threw down a blazing last lap of 26.52 to Westfield’s 27.45 and pulled away off the final turn and crossed the finish line in 1:46.77 with the New Jersey’s team time of 1:47.04. 

Boys Championship 4x200m

Danbury’s team of Nasir Ricketts, Machai Henry, Julian Farmer Campbell and Tobeas Kelly knocked nearly a second off their season best time they ran in December and became the 3rd fastest team of the season so far in CT. The Hatters shadowed LaSalle Academy the entire way, finishing 2nd in 1:32.25 only a quarter of a second behind the Rhode Island powerhouse. 

Girls Championship 4x800m

People love to be involved with high school sports because of the unbridled enthusiasm of youth. That enthusiasm was on display watching Hall girls 2nd place finish in the 3200m relays. The Titans team of Abigail Sanderson, Julia Zydanowicz, Lauren Moskal and Rylan Priest faced off against defending State Open and New England championships Glastonbury and Bayport-Blue Point who featured 4:44 miler Sophia McInnes. While Hall had no one to match’s McInnes 2:11 split, they held off all others, taking 2nd in a new school record and US #2 time of 9:21.48. Glastonbury also put out a strong team taking 4th in 9:26.35, currently the 5th fastest time nationally. 

View 39th Yale HS Track Classic - Hall Girls 4x800m Championship Relay (Marty Ogden-MSR)

Championship Boys 4x800m

Seven of the top ten times in Connecticut were run in the 4x800m as teams decided to stack their teams to earn strong seed times for the upcoming championships. Staples moved up to 3rd in the CT rankings taking 6th place in a time of 8:17.25, with Hall .4 seconds behind in 7th and Amity another half second behind in 8th place. New Canaan, fresh off their school record in the distance medley earlier in the day, grabbed 8th in 8:21.73 and now has the 6th fastest time in the state. 

Girls Championship 4x400m

Bloomfield had the lead in the 4x400m for the first two legs until New England 600m champion Gabby Hernandez of EO Smith grabbed the baton and blew it out with a 57.25 split. The War Hawks tried to close the gap but the Panthers anchor held them off, crossing the line in 4:01.98, the new state leading time and 13th nationally. Bloomfield’s 4:04.62 is the new CT #2. 

Boys Championship 4x400m

Lyman Hall and LaSalle Academy were battling it out in the fast heat of the championship section and went back and forth for three legs. When Thomas Conklin, the state leader in the 600m got the baton, he pulled away to win the heat by a second. They ran a season best of 3:27.47. While the Trojans celebrated their apparent win, in heat 1, Daniel Hand High was pushed by Westerly, RI in heat 2 and they pulled off a mild upset and took over the state lead with their 3:26.95. 

View 39th Yale HS Track Classic - Lyman Hall 4x400m Championship Relay (Marty Ogden-MSR)

Girls Championships DMR

When you have two of the best distance runners in state history on your team, that gives you a huge advantage when they run a mile and 3/4  of a 2 1/2 mile race. Conard’s Liv Sherry began the race lurking in the pack for three of her six lap leg. Once she made her move, she extended her lead until she handed it off with an eight second lead. Their next two legs kept it close enough so Tess Sherry could set her sights on Columbia, NY who had an 11 second lead. Gradually the Conard junior reeled her in, splitting 4:57.37, almost the same time she ran to get 2nd at New Englands last winter. Their time is 3rd nationally right now and Greenwich, who finished 5th also qualified for both National championship meets with their 12:34.59.

39th Yale HS Track Classic - Conard Girls DMR Championship Relay (Marty Ogden-MSR)

Boys Championship DMR

Fans of basketball might remember Michael Jordan’s “Flu Game” when he became ill before the championship game and still managed to score 38 points and hit the game winning shot with 25 seconds to go. Xavier’s Stylz Mitchell pulled out his own version of a flu race after waking up ill on Friday morning. The senior, who will play football for Central Connecticut next year, showed some real toughness, running a 51.3 split and could barely stand up for over a half hour after his effort. Owen Martin led off the race and finished steps behind the leaders in 3rd place and Mitchell was able to keep them in the front pack. Cameron Nephew pulled the Falcons into the lead with a 1:56 800m leg. Brookline’s anchor was a couple seconds behind and came charging into the lead, but Xavier’s Jack Ouellette remained patient and finally pulled away over the final laps with a 4:21 1600m split and leading his team across the line in 10:22.25, a US #1 performance and breaking their school record by about 1 1/2 seconds. 

39th Yale HS Track Classic - Xavier Boys DMR Championship Relay (Marty Ogden-MSR)

CLICK TO VIEW the freely available photos of many of the events from action on Friday at the 39th Yale HS Track Classic in New Haven CT courtesy of MySportsResults sponsored by Marathon Sports. 

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