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Guilford Girls’ Track Primed for Postseason After Finishing 4th at Sectionals

The Guilford girls’ outdoor track team had to battle its way through a rough and rainy regular season this spring. However, like many solid track squads do, the Indians used that experience as a training ground to prepare for the postseason. Now, they’re heating up as the championship meets get going.

Last year, Head Coach Jon Rivera’s squad finished as the runner-up at the SCC East Sectional Championship, placed fourth at the SCC Championship, and then tied for fourth place in the Class MM State Championship.

This year, Guilford posted a record of 4-7 for the regular season, although the Indians capped it off by sweeping a meet against Foran and Mercy on May 8. Last week, Rivera’s team began postseason action by competing at the SCC East Sectional Championship at Amity and scored 101 points to come in fourth place on May 14. Guilford only finished behind champion Sheehan (128 points), runner-up Hillhouse (123), and third-place Shelton (114) at the meet.

After seeing his team weather the storm during April, Coach Rivera said the Indians are ready to perform to their full potential now that the stakes are at their highest.

“The weather wasn’t the greatest at the start of the season, but the girls are now running and performing a lot better, so we should be starting to peak,” said Rivera. “Many people are starting to come around in certain events. You always want your kids to run their best at the end of the season, and we are grooming them to do that.”

The Indians’ 4x800 relay of senior Julia Esposito, junior Kelsi Putnam, fellow junior Meredith Bloss, and senior Jacqueline Guerra won their race with a time of 9 minutes and 46.85 seconds at sectionals, defeating runner-up Hillhouse (9:57.57) for the top spot. Guerra (5:13.31) and Bloss (5:25.61) finished 1-2 in the 1,600 to score several points for Guilford, while freshman Gianna Siciliano took fourth place (5:29.55) in that event.

Bloss and Guerra switched places for the 3,200 with Bloss winning the event in 11:52.13 and Guerra clocking in at 11:59.8 to take second place. Also in the 3,200, sophomore Clara Wiesler finished sixth (12:26.22), and right behind her was Siciliano in seventh (12:27.87).

Senior Christina Nault took first place for the high jump by clearing a height of 4 feet-10 inches to defeat second-place Sam Nowak of Cheshire (4-8).

Elsewhere for Guilford, senior Elissa Strand ran a time of 2:24.19 in the 800 to place second behind Shelton’s Heather Garrett (2:21.39). The 4x400 relay of Putnam, senior Meg Reynolds, senior Jess Bohan, and senior Chloe Shaw finished third (4:13.43). Nault placed third for the 300 hurdles (49.11), Shaw finished fifth for the 400 (1:00.97) and Reynolds followed in seventh (1:03.53), sophomore Sofia Migani finished fourth for the triple jump (33-2) and came in sixth in the long jump (15-3.5), and senior Julia Hyman finished eighth in the javelin (84-4) for the Indians.

Guilford features a pair of senior runners leading the way as its captains this year. Guerra has continued to display her dominance in distance events by notching several first-place showings, while Esposito brings a big boost to the Indians’ relays.

“Jacqui has been a captain before, and she is a natural leader with her work ethic. She is one of our top athletes and does and says all the right things. She does a good job of having people follow her lead,” Coach Rivera said. “Julia is always team-first, and she is a very organized person and has done well this season. Both girls have done great jobs as captains and leaders and have been a big help.”

w“Gianna is a solid runner who has had a consistent year and really come into her own in distance. Sofia has done excellent in the jumps,” said Rivera. “Chloe and Elissa have had great relay and individual success. Meredith is unbelievable and is getting better and working harder. Christina is having a strong year in the hurdles.”

For the rest of the way this spring, the Indians would like to equal, if not top, their postseason placements from 2017. Coach Rivera added that he wants to advance as many athletes as possible to the biggest meets that postseason competition has to offer.

“We want to stay in the top five at the SCC Championship, which would be a big accomplishment. We would also like to stay in the top five at states,” said Rivera, whose team moves up to Class L for this year’s State Championship meet. “We want to get as many people possible into the State Open and maybe even the New England Championship. We just have to take it one step at a time and do the best we can.”

• This is Jon Rivera’s 10th season as Guilford’s head coach.

• Jim Ford and Stephanie Phillips serve as the Indians’ assistant coaches.

• The Class L State Championship will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29 at Middletown High School.