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06/01/2018 12:00 AMJunior Marzio Mastroianni took first place in the 1,600, finished second in the 800, and ran on a school-record 4x400 relay for the Branford boys’ outdoor track team at the Class MM State Championship. Mastroianni helped Branford post 33 points and finish in eighth place at the state meet, which was held at Willow Brook Park in New Britain on May 30.
Mastroianni ran a time of 4:23.36 to defeat runner-up Timothy Lautenbach (4:24.51) for top honors in the 1,600 at the Class M meet. Mastrioanni had previously won the event at the SCC West Sectional Championship and the SCC Championship this spring. Also at states, Mastroianni ran a time of 1:57.24 in the 800 to finish second behind Manasseh Bekele of Hillhouse (1:56.31). Mastroianni won the 800 at sectionals and SCCs, edging out Bekele by tenths of a second for first place at the latter meet, although he actually ran a faster time at states than in both of those victories.
On top of that, Mastrioanni ran with fellow juniors Matt Alexander, Matt Daley, and Aidan Kropiwnicki on the Hornets’ 4x400 relay that broke a school record while taking fourth place with a time of 3:28.06 at the state meet.
Junior Brandon Perez claimed second place in the high jump at states by clearing 6 feet, matching his height from his win at sectionals. Perez only finished behind Lyman Hall’s Tylor Seamans (6-2).
Branford’s 4x800 relay of senior Ryan McCarthy, Daley, senior Kadir Sahin, and Kropiwnicki finished in eighth place at 8:39.11.
Kropiwnicki finished 11th in the pole vault by clearing 11 feet-6 inches, and fellow junior Justin Dombrowski placed 18th with a height of 10-6. Branford’s 4x100 relay of junior Carlos McCaay, senior Chico Greene, sophomore Nolan Scott, and Alexander finished 19th (59.21). McCaay also placed 41st in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash at 11.93.
Girls’ Outdoor Track
Junior Liante Claude took fifth place in the 400-meter run to score four points for the Hornets at last week’s Class MM State Championship. Senior Leah Pendl-Robinson picked up a point by placing eighth in the pole vault for Branford, which finished in 23rd place.
Claude ran a time of 1:00.95 to take fifth place in the 400 at the state meet. She also took 14th place in the 200 with a time of 27.35 seconds. Pendl-Robinson cleared a height of 8 feet-6 inches to finish eighth in the pole vault.
Molly Zaffino ran a time of 51.55 to take 13th place in the 300 hurdles for Branford. Fellow sophomore Kayla Pollard finished 16th in the 400 (1:04.96) and was 22nd in the 200 (27.87). Junior Mary Nwagboli placed 19th in the preliminaries of the 100 (13.33) and finished 20th in the 200 (27.85). Junior Lily Milici finished 29th in the 100 prelims at 13.60.