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05/05/2019 12:00 AMThe Branford boys’ outdoor track team captured the Southern Connecticut Conference Oronoque Division title by earning a 116-34 home victory versus North Haven on April 30. With the win, Hornets improved their overall record to 8-2 and also finished with a mark of 4-0 in the Oronoque Division this season. Later in the week, senior Marzio Mastroianni recorded a major milestone by setting both the meet record and a school record in the 3,200-meter run at the Middletown Invitational.
Head Coach Rich Biondi’s squad claimed first place in nearly every event on its way to securing the Hornets’ first division title since 2015. Senior Aidan Kropinwicki finished first in both hurdling events and two field events, Mastroianni paced his way to victory in three distance events, while fellow senior Brandon Perez won a pair of jumping events and also ran on a victorious relay to highlight a huge day for the Hornets.
Branford will complete its regular season this week and then begins the postseason by competing at the SCC West Sectional Championship at Bowen Field on Monday, May 13 at 2 p.m.
“I am really proud of the athletes. As a team, they stepped up and competed at a high level,” Coach Biondi said. “The seniors, led by Aidan Kropiwnicki, Marzio Mastoianni, and Brandon Perez, really wanted to win this meet. As a group, the seniors are our most talented class since 2015, and they provided leadership and the will to win. It was a great day for the program, however, the kids realize that we have to work hard to continue to improve as we progress into the larger championship meets.”
Kropiwnicki took first place in four events to lead Branford to its win over North Haven. The senior finished first in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.4 seconds and won the 300 intermediate hurdles by clocking in at 43.0 seconds. On top of that, Kropiwnicki placed first in javelin by throwing 134 feet-4 inches and also finished first in the pole vault with a height of 11 feet-6 inches.
Mastroianni put forth a dominating performance for the Hornets in the distance events. Mastroianni won the 800-meter run in a time of 2:03.6, took first place in the 1,600 with a 4:57, and finished first in the 3,200 at 10:31.
Perez won the high jump by clearing 5 feet-10 inches for Branford. He also hit a distance of 19 feet-3.5 inches to grab top honors in the long jump. Perez also joined forces with junior Andrew Wirtz, sophomore Mekhi Barnette, and sophomore Kam Holmes to take first place in the 4x100 relay with a time of 46.1 seconds.
Branford’s 4x400 relay of freshman Pat Zdunek, freshman Cheng Wu, freshman Wyatt Reynolds, and junior Nolan Scott came in first place by posting a time of 3:47.7. The Hornets’ 4x800 relay of Reynolds, junior Andrew Betzig, Scott, and senior Matt Daley finished first with an 8:43.1.
Branford was bolstered by four more first-place finishes in its division-clinching victory. Holmes took first in the 100-meter dash (11.7), Wirtz won the 200 (24.8), Wu finished first in the 400 (54.6), and senior Hunter Giordano claimed first in the discus with a toss of 108-3.
The Hornets also received second-place showings from Barnette in the triple jump (38-8), junior David Tedeschi in the javelin (120-0), senior GianCarlo Giannini in the discus (105-8), and Daley in the 800 (2:06) at the meet.
On May 4, Branford sent several athletes to compete at the Middletown Invitational that was held at Middletown High School. Mastroianni took first place in the 3,200 by running a time of 9:25.39 at the meet. With this performance, Mastroianni set the meet record in the event and also broke Branford’s school record of 9:27.10 that had been set by Robbie Dextradeur in 2009.