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05/26/2016 12:00 AMOld Saybrook’s boys’ and girls’ outdoor track teams both claimed victory at the Shoreline Conference Championship at Coginchaug on May 25. The boys ran away from the competition for the third-straight year by posting a total of 191 points. The runner-up was Haddam-Killingworth, which scored 147.2. Meanwhile, the Rams’ girls trailed host Coginchaug by 7.5 points heading to the last event in the pole vault, but senior captain Katie Seegert took first place and gained 10 points for the Rams with a height of 10 feet-6 inches, while sophomore Tyra Finkleday placed second for eight points with a vault of 10 feet to push Old Saybrook (156.6) past the Blue Devils (146).
“This is something we worked really hard for and, team wise, I’m really beyond excited that we won because we haven’t won the Shoreline championship in a while. We practice every day together and we’re all great friends, so this is special,” Seegert said. “Individually, I worked really hard and I’m happy with the way I performed in my events today.”
The Old Saybrook boys didn’t have to sweat out the final events as the Rams won handily, led by senior captain Lucas Sumby, who continued his postseason dominance after having a tremendous indoor campaign. Sumby took first place in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.95 seconds, in second place was fellow senior captain Alex Van Vliet (16.45), while James Vukovinsky finished eighth (18.68). Sumby also prevailed in the 300 hurdles at 43.23, won the pole vault by clearing 13-6, and was second in the long jump (19-9) with Van Vliet winning that event with a jump of 20 feet-9 inches. Mitch Bruehwiler came in 10th for the long jump (18-0.25) and Austin Smith took fourth in the pole vault at 12 feet.
“It’s amazing to win three-straight [outdoor track conference titles] and five-straight Shoreline Conference championships overall [including the last two indoor titles]. It’s an amazing feeling to come this far as a team with a great group and to go out senior year with another championship,” Sumby said. “As far as my day today, I had to be smart with my routine because I knew I couldn’t spend too much time at every event. So I did the bare minimum to conserve energy, but I’m happy and I’m extremely happy to win overall with my teammates.”
In terms of other victories for the Old Saybrook boys, sophomore Eric Sultini took first place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.19 with Jeffrey Dicker (2:08.90) and Hunter Stuart (2:08.91) finishing ninth and 10th, respectively. The Rams went 1-2 in the shot put as senior Wil Babbidge won with a throw of 43-6.25 and senior captain Carl Anderson took second (42-1.5). Also, senior Austin Goodhue finished first in the discus behind a throw of 125-5, plus Anderson grabbed top honors in the javelin at 150-8. Old Saybrook had four top-10 finishes in the triple jump with Van Vliet claiming first with a leap of 41-feet 11.25 inches. Mitch Bruehwiler took second at 40-10, Reynolds was fourth by finishing at 40-2.5, and Xavier Rios placed 10th behind a jump of 37-3.75.
Elsewhere for the boys, in the 100-meter dash, senior captain Aaron Jiang was third (11.57). For the 1,600-meter run, Shane Henderson finished in third. Austin Reynolds (54.27) was seventh in the 400. In the 200, Jiang grabbed third (23.88) and Max Thomas (24.30) was ninth. In the 3,200, Shane Henderson placed ninth in a time of 10:47.47, while Dan Baldi was 10th at 10:47.99. Old Saybrook placed second in the 4x400 relay as Jiang, Sultini, Austin Reynolds and Quin Earles went a 3:34.98. Van Vliet (5-8) and Vukovinsky (5-6) took third and fourth, respectively, in the high jump. Babbidge was sixth in the javelin at 110-2.
“I was extremely proud we won the title today. So many people came up to bat today with personal records—just overall a great team performance,” said first-year Head Coach Jan Merrill-Morin. “All the relays, every individual event did well. We got points where we didn’t expect to. Alex and Lucas did great in all their events and it was just a positive performance by all.”
The Old Saybrook girls’ team also did a tremendous job to pull out the victory and got contributions from all areas. Junior Devyn King, junior Holly Coppes, sophomore Vika Stoltz, and Finkleday took first place in the 4x100 relay with a school record time of 50.76. King starred in the field events by taking first in the long jump at 17-feet 1.50 inches, which also marked a school record. Annea Thaci grabbed seventh (15-5) and Julia Ludwiszewski took 10th at 15-3 in the that event.
Additionally, Jessica Stratton, Meghan Delaney, Jael Givehand, and Alison Bruehwiler took third place in the 4x800 relay with a time of 9:56.10. In the 100 high hurdles, Seegert was second (16.50), Isabela Donahue finished third (16.71), and Coppes took fifth (17.01). For the 100-meter dash, Stoltz took third (12.84). Givehand was sixth (5:31.74) in the 1,600, while senior captain Meghan Delaney came in 10th (5:41.48). Old Saybrook had three top-five finishers in the 300 as King was second at 48.40, Finkleday third in 49.32, and Donahue placed fifth at 51.53. In the 800-meter run, Stratton claimed ninth (2:34.28). Stoltz was second in the 200 (26.74). Delaney was eighth (12:26.51) and Givehand finished ninth (12:28.17) in the 3,200. Also, King, Finkleday, Coppes, and Bruehwiler placed third (4:14.87) in the 4x400 relay. In the shot put, Alyssa Parker (28-9.5) and Alyssa Layte (27-6) took fifth and sixth, respectively. In the high jump, Seegert was second at 4-8 and Ludwiszewski tied for fifth (4-6). Senior captain Meghan McAvoy placed second in the discus by throwing 94-8 with Layte taking seventh (74-2) and Parker in eighth (71-5). Old Saybrook also placed three athletes in the top 10 of the triple jump as Ludwiszewski was second (33-5.50), Coppes was fourth (32-6.25), and Annea Thaci finished sixth (31-5).
“It’s pretty awesome. We scored it out and told each kid what they had to do and, to be honest with you, most of them did what they had to do, so we knew we had a chance to win,” said Head Coach Pete Capezzone. “Everyone was battling the heat today and our kids came up strong in a complete team performance. Katie in the vault, hurdles, and high jump; Tyra had an unbelievable day, Devyn had a new school record in the long jump and won the 4x100 with another school record, and that is what you live for and work hard for and we beat a really good team [Coginchaug] and we overcame a lot of obstacles to get here and win the championship.”