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Branford Track Represents at West Sectional Championship

The Branford indoor track program sent several athletes from both its boys’ and girls’ teams to compete at the Southern Connecticut Conference West Sectional Championship last week. The Branford boys’ team finished in sixth place by scoring a total of 34 points at the sectional meet, which was held at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Jan. 28. The girls’ squad came in ninth place with 15 points scored. Wilbur Cross took the team title in both the boys’ and girls’ meets.

The Branford girls’ team’s 1,600 sprint medley relay finished in second place at West Sectionals. The Hornets’ quartet of junior Noor Issa, sophomore Katie Laska, senior Rose Lockery, and sophomore Catherine Duffy recorded a time of 4:45.21 to earn runner-up honors.

The boys’ squad was led by four third-place finishes at the meet. Junior Mekhi Barnette took third place in the high jump by clearing 5 feet-8 inches. Senior Andrew Wirtz finished third in the pole vault with a height of 10-6 for Branford.

Branford’s 4x400 relay of senior Julio Tozetto, sophomore Cheng Wu, Wirtz, and senior Nolan Scott came in third place with a time of 3:51.88. The 1,600 sprint medley relay of Wirtz, Barnette, Tozetto, and Scott posted a mark of 3:59.45 to take third place.

Lockery sprinted her way to a fifth-place finish in the 55-meter dash for the girls’ team. First, Lockery ran a time of 7.86 seconds in the preliminaries to advance to the finals. Then in the final heat, she improved her time to 7.75 on her way to finishing in fifth place overall for the event. Sophomore Bella Finta finished fifth in the 1,600-meter run behind a time of 5:47.70. Toste finished eighth at 6:24.39.

The girls’ team saw two other relays compete at the meet. Branford’s 4x800 relay of senior Maya Kyriakides, junior Stephanie Toste, freshman Marina Smiarowski, and senior Julianne Dillon took fifth place with a time of 11:36.35. The 4x200 relay of Issa, Laska, Duffy, and Lockery finished sixth at 1:54.91.

Scott took fourth place in the 600 by running a time of 1:30.40 for the Hornets’ boys’ team. Tozetto placed eighth in the event with a time of 1:32.27. In addition to finishing third in the high jump, Barnette earned fifth place in the long jump by reaching a distance of 19 feet-1.5 inches.

Junior Ryan Hanniford finished fifth in the 55-meter dash at sectionals. Hanniford was sixth in the prelims at 8.82 and then took fifth for the finals by timing in at 8.90. Hanniford also claimed sixth place in the pole vault with a height of 9-6. Senior Sean Jansen also cleared 9-6 and finished seventh for the pole vault.

In the 300, sophomore Cameron Meli clocked in with a mark of 40.31 seconds to take sixth place for Branford. The Hornets’ 4x200 relay of junior Noah Brown, Meli, senior Greg Stone, and Wu finished in seventh place by notching a time of 1:41.96.

Next up for Branford is the SCC Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7. The Class M State Championship is at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, and the State Open takes place at noon on Saturday, Feb. 22 with both events being held at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.