Printer Friendly Version - Mastroianni Takes the 800 as Branford Places 5th in States

Senior Marzio Mastroianni continued his remarkable run at Branford by winning the 800 and running on a first-place 4x800 relay to help the Hornets finish in fifth place at the Class MM State Championship last week. Mastroianni also placed second in the 1,600 at the meet. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Sound

Senior Marzio Mastroianni finished first in the 800-meter run, placed second in the 1,600-meter run, and also ran on a victorious 4x800 relay to help the Branford boys’ outdoor track team take fifth place at last week’s Class MM State Championship. The Hornets scored 51 points as a team at the Class MM meet, which started at Middletown High School on May 29 and was completed at Willow Brook Park the following day due to rain.

Mastroianni ran a time of 1:56.05 to win the 800 at states, defeating runner-up Tobey Bill of Weston (1:58.57) by more than two seconds for the top spot to score 10 points for Branford. Mastroianni also scored eight points by placing second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:24.62. He had previously finished first in the 800 at both the SCC West Sectional Championship and the SCC Championship for second-straight season by posting times of 1:57.64 and 1:56.42, respectively.

In the 4x800 relay, the Hornets’ team of junior Nolan Scott, Mastroianni, junior Andrew Betzig, and senior Matt Daley scored 10 points by claiming first place with a time of 8:07.40, well-ahead of the second-place quartet from Avon (8:12.09).

Senior Derek Tratnyek had a big day in the distance events for Branford. Tratnyek finished second in the 3,200 by running a time of 9:41.47, scoring eight points. He also picked up four points with his fifth-place performance in the 1,600 behind a time of 4:36.00. Tratnyek had finished first in the 3,200 at West Sectional meet with a 9:56.17.

Senior Aidan Kropiwnicki cleared a height of 12 feet-6 inches to take third place in the pole vault and score six points in the event. Branford’s 4x400 relay of Daley, Scott, freshman Cheng Wu, and Kropiwnicki posted a time of 3:27.97 to place fourth and score five points.

Senior Brandon Perez finished 10th for the high jump (5-10) and came in 21st place in the long jump (18-2) for Branford. Senior Matt Alexander finished 14th in the high jump (5-8), while Daley came in 15th place for the 800 (2:06.31).

Branford’s 4x100 relay of junior Andrew Wirtz, senior Carlos Mccaay, sophomore Kamryn Holmes, and Wu finished 14th with a mark of 46.52. Junior Sean Jansen finished 18th in the pole vault (11-0), and Kropiwnicki came in 18th place for the preliminaries of the 110 high hurdles at 17.68 seconds. In the prelims of the 100-meter dash, Holmes finished in 41st (12.13), and Mccaay placed 43rd (12.17) for the Hornets.

Junior Andrew Betzig ran on the Hornets’ triumphant 4x800 relay when they took fifth place as a squad at the Class MM Boys’ Outdoor Track State Championship. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Sound

Junior Nolan Scott joined forces with Marzio Mastroianni, Andrew Betzig, and Matt Daley to post a time of 8:07.40 and win the 4x800 relay at the Class MM State Championship last week. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Sound