Submitted by Dick Dupuis.
On Saturday Feb. 2, 2019 the Haddam Killingworth High School Boys’ Indoor Track and Field team scored 121 points to overcome Old Saybrook (111). This was the first time in five years that the Cougars were able to pull out a victory having come in a close second for the past several years. Championship meets such as these place a premium on team depth. This favored the boys team, but did not work well for the girs. Nonetheless, in the Girls’ contest a small, but hard working group of girls managed to score 63 points to earn third place.
The HK victory for the boys was, as coaches like to say, a total team effort. HK was able to score in all but one of the fifteen events. Like many track meets, this had an ebb and flow with each team taking the lead at various points in the contest. Early in the meet, HK’s Shot Putters provided a jump start with a first-Colton Lavoie, a second-Wally Sample, a third-Colin Mack and a sixth-Chase Mack providing 27 points. Another early boost was provided by Luke Sodergren who won the 55M hurldes. A huge contribution in HK’s success was provided by Matt Jennings who won the 1000, the 1600 and the 3200 adding thirty more points to HK’s total. In addition a number of distance runners were able to supplement Jenning’s efforts. Included in that group were Christian Uzwiak, Seth Freeman, Fisher Harris, Sean Rutledge, Caleb Freeman and Grayson Merola. Also earning a first was 55 meter hurdler Luke Sodergren. As the meet approached the end, HK was slightly behind. But a great showing in the 3200, where HK was able muster 20 points moved HK back into the lead. Solid efforts in the 4x 400 relay of Dmytri Mallon, Luke Sodergren, Seth Freeman and Owen Howes finishing second along with Tyler Knapp’s third place finish with a personal best of 12’0” allowed the Cougars to hold off a late charge from Old Saybrook. In addition to the aforementioned 4×400, the 4×200 relay team of Dmytri Mallon, Seth Regan, John Kowal and Tyler Knapp placing second and the 4×800 team of Uzwiak, Max Cozean, Rutledge and Owen Howes placed third combined to add 14 points to the Cougar’s score. Finishing HK’s scoring was Eamon Sweeney who placed six in the High Jump.
On the girl’s side, individual scoring was provided by Autumn Coady who placed second in the hurdles narrowly missing the top spot by a little more than 1/10th of a second. The 600M race saw two Cougars, Julia Callis ad Brianna Minervino placing fourth and fifth respectively. In the 1600 another duo, Lauren D’Amico and Meara Bodak finished in the third and fourth spots. Later in the meet, Meara and Brianna came back in the 3200 finishing fourth and fifth. Julia moved from the Track to the Field placing fourth in the long jump. Individual scoring was wrapped up by Kathy Melgar who placed 8th in the 1000. Similar to the boys, relays also played a role in the team scoring. The 4×200 team of Elena Boyington, Autumn Coady, Ly-Linh Criscuolo and Ashley Duncanson placed fourth; the sprint medley relay of Boyington, Ly-Linh, Duncanson and Julia Callis, second; and the 4×400 relay of Boyington, Duncanson, Hailey Cassidy and D’Amico placed sixth. All of the team’s scoring was provided by eleven girls, most of whom did multiple events.
The HK coaches; Dick Dupuis, Sean Gallagher and Leah Pfrommer want to congratulate the HK athletes for their hard earned success.
On Thursday Feb. 7, 2019 the Girls and Boys who have qualified will be competing in the Class S State Championship.
