LeDuc, Kucia win two events each as Canton
captures NCCC championship meet
ENFIELD, May 25 – By the letter of the law, the Canton High outdoor track and field team isn’t Tim O’Donnell’s squad. But these are his athletes. And he knows what they are capable of achieving.
O’Donnell coached many of the Warriors on the boys cross country team that won a NCCC championship last October and on the indoor track team that won a NCCC title in February – the first league championships for both programs.
So with the blessing of track coach Mike Hughes, O’Donnell held a meeting with the Warriors in the days leading up to the NCCC championship meet. He was vocal, outspoken and blunt. Canton, which went 8-4 in the dual meet season, was capable of so much more and O’Donnell wanted to see that from the Warriors.
David Kucia focuses after jumping the final hurdle in the 300 hurdles.
O’Donnell was all smiles in school the next morning. For the first time, Canton won the NCCC championship meet with a 20-point win over league champion Ellington, 122½ to 102. David Kucia swept the 110 high hurdles and 300 hurdles, setting school records in both events while Mike LeDuc won the 1,600 and 3,200 meter races.
Brian Lochner won the long jump with a season-best leap of 20-3½ feet as the Warriors swept the top three spots in the event. Dylan Smith finished second in the shot with a school-record throw and Connor Smyth was second in the long jump and javelin and took fifth in the high jump.
“We were a little upset with our dual meet season,” LeDuc said. “We didn’t perform to our abilities. We wanted to show what we could do as a team. Everyone put in the extra effort.”
The four losses in the dual meet season cost Canton a shot at the league championship. With one point for every dual meet win and one point for every team they beat at the championship meet (12), the Warriors finished with 20 points, good for second place overall. Ellington, 12-0 in the dual meet season, finished first with 23 points.
Avon (10-2, 10-2 NCCC) was seventh in the championship meet with 44 points and finished tied for fifth overall in the league. Ross McDonald took third in the 200 meters for the Falcons while teammate Rob Carver was third in the javelin. The 400 meter relay team (Talal Siddiqui, Dan Dlugolecki, Tom Brisco, Noah Gilmore) also finished third.
Many of Canton’s athletes participated in the maximum three events – even if they normally just ran two like LeDuc.
“We all feel we should have won the conference but we didn’t deserve it with how hard we have been working all season,” LeDuc said. Canton lost four dual meets, including an eight-point decision to Avon, because some athletes weren’t that serious about competing or working as hard as they needed to in preparation.
Hughes said, “This was the day to rise to the occasion and show that we’re a team capable of winning a conference championship.”
It started early. In the 400 meter relay, Lochner surged in the final 50 meters to slip past Avon’s Dave Doebler to pick up a few key points as Canton finished second behind Enfield. Tyler Matt, Kyle Hall and Jeff Lochner ran the first three legs for the Warriors (46.29).
Kucia held off Enfield’s Hugh Lindo in the 110 high hurdles, earning a measure of satisfaction with the league title. In February, Kucia was leading in the finals of the NCCC indoor championships when he hit a hurdle, fell and broke his arm.
Kucia’s race in the 300 hurdles was even closer. He was a step behind Ellington’s Matt Stephian at the final hurdle but he surged to the finish to win by 0.29 of a second in 42.35. Kucia also finished sixth in the long jump.
In the 800 meters, Nick Chekas finished third with LeDuc in fourth place. Hall was third in the long jump and grabbed a fifth in the 200 meters. Jon Melite was sixth in the 800.
In the shot put, Dylan Smith’s throw of 42-9 feet snapped the old record set by Colin Glasson a year ago by 2.5 inches. Canton’s 4×400 meter relay team of Greg Cole, Melite, Chekas and Brian Lochner finished fourth.
The victory gives Canton a unique sweep for the season. The Warriors also won the NCCC cross country championship and the NCCC indoor track and field championship meet.
The Warriors will compete in the Class S championship meet on Thursday, June 3 at Willowbrook Park in New Britain while Avon will compete in the Class MM meet on Tuesday, June 1, also at Willowbrook Park.
Canton’s Mike LeDuc (1) starts out in the 3,200 meters race.
2010 NCCC championships
At Enfield
BOYS
Team results – 1. Canton 122½, 2. Ellington 102, 3. Enfield 88, 4. Coventry 80½, 5. Granby 68, 6. Suffield 54, 7. Avon 44, 8. Somers 39½, 9. Stafford 36½, 10. East Windsor 29, 11. Windsor Locks 17, 12. East Granby 11, 13. Bolton 10
BOYS 4x800m Relay:
1. Ellington A, (David Bergeron, Brian Kelleher, Cameron Waters, Dan O’Donnell), 8:29.75; 2. Granby A, (Glen Calder, Dylan Chicoine, Rob Richards, Trevor Corallo), 8:30.28; 3. Coventry A, (Taylor VanN, Michael Wilk, Matt Marchand, Corey VanN), 8:30.84; 4. Suffield A, (Dj Labarre, Conner Gates, Dan Moroney, Nick Rigby), 8:43.45; 5. Avon A, (Tom Brisco, Jameson Neseralla, Dan Dlugolecki, Jeff Wang), 8:55.72; 6. Canton A, (Sean Murphy, Ned Furtney, John Cahill, Tyler Fitzpatrick), 9:00.78
BOYS 4x100m Relay:
1. Enfield High School A, (Travis McNulty, Kyle Casey, Jared Casey, Andrew Buanno), 44.72; 2. Canton A, (Brian Lochner, Tyler Matt, Kyle Hall, Jeff Lochner), 46.27; 3. Avon A, (Robert Carver, Zac Zambrello, Ross McDonald, Dave Doebler), 46.43; 4. Windsor Locks A, (Robert Williams, Eric Jones, Chase Dargie, Jose Maldonado), 46.73; 5. Granby A, (Kyle Tanguay, Josh Yankauskas, David Hollm, Brian Rust), 47.78; 6. Stafford A, (Kainen Moscato, Jesse Scroggins, Shawn Cummins, Tucker Fontanella), 47.90
BOYS 110m High Hurdles:
1. David Kucia, Canton 15.65; 2. Hugh Lindo, Enfield High School 15.71; 3. Matt Stephan, Ellington 16.74; 4. Greg Hilson, East Windsor 17.01; 5. Dan Clark, Granby 17.05; 6. Sean Witte-Meredith, Granby 17.91;
BOYS 100m Dash:
1. Andrew Buanno, Enfield High School 11.44; 2. Travis McNulty, Enfield High School 11.55; 3. Kainen Moscato, Stafford 11.56; 4. Eric Jones, Windsor Locks 11.61; 5. Joe Pelligrini, Somers 12.12; 6. Jehandrae Grant, East Granby 12.24;
BOYS 1600m Run:
1. Mike Leduc, Canton 4:33.31; 2. Stevan Crouse, Ellington 4:35.49; 3. Dan Moroney, Suffield 4:38.77; 4. Tim Buell, Avon 4:40.91; 5. Alex Smith, Ellington 4:43.71; 6. Adam Polinski, Coventry 4:45.28;
BOYS 400m Run:
1. Jared Casey, Enfield High School 52.10; 2. Dan O’Donnell, Ellington 53.01; 3. Thomas Bailey, East Granby 53.32; 4. Adam Seften, Bolton High School 53.56; 5. Dave Doebler, Avon 53.81; 6. Dan Clark, Granby 54.12;
BOYS 300m Hurdles:
1. David Kucia, Canton 42.35; 2. Matt Stephan, Ellington 42.54; 3. Hugh Lindo, Enfield High School 44.19; 4. Shane Wilson, Coventry 44.32; 5. Peter Zaffetti, Suffield 44.89; 6. Eric Strba, East Windsor 46.09;
BOYS 800m Run:
1. Adam Polinski, Coventry 2:03.21; 2. Nick Rigby, Suffield 2:06.37; 3. Nick Chekas, Canton 2:07.36; 4. Mike Leduc, Canton 2:08.14; 5. Jameson Neseralla, Avon 2:08.78; 6. Jon Melite, Canton 2:08.90;
BOYS 200m Dash:
1. Travis McNulty, Enfield High School 23.10; 2. Andrew Buanno, Enfield High School 23.19; 3. Ross McDonald, Avon 24.31; 4. Cody Gneiting, Somers 24.41; 5. Kyle Hall, Canton 24.49; 6. Joe Pelligrini, Somers 24.75;
BOYS 3200m Run:
1. Mike Leduc, Canton 10:06.63; 2. Dan Moroney, Suffield 10:09.66; 3. Stevan Crouse, Ellington 10:21.63; 4. Dj Labarre, Suffield 10:31.15; 5. Adam Seften, Bolton High School 10:32.34; 6. Tim Buell, Avon 10:34.97;
BOYS 4x400m Relay:
1. Coventry A, (Taylor VanN, Joshua Sparveri, Matt Marchand, Adam Polinski), 3:39.23; 2. Ellington A, (David Bergeron, Dan O’Donnell, Shane Dryburgh, Brian Kelleher), 3:40.88; 3. Enfield High School A, (Jared Casey, Kyle Casey, Hugh Lindo, Dylan Zimmerman), 3:41.20; 4. Canton A, (Brian Lochner, Nick Chekas, Gregory Cole, Jon Melite), 3:43.15; 5. East Windsor A, (Jracarr Johnson, Eric Strba, Nick Parker, Ramis Saleem), 3:43.33; 6. Granby A, (Glen Calder, Dylan Chicoine, David Hollm, Dan Clark), 3:45.08;
BOYS Long Jump:
1. Brian Lochner, Canton 20’03½”; 2. Connor Smyth, Canton 19’08½”; 3. Kyle Hall, Canton 19’03.75″; 4. Alex Hernsdorf, Granby 19’03.75″; 5. Tyler Brennan, Enfield High School 18’06”; 6. Jracarr Johnson, East Windsor 18’04”;
BOYS Shot Put:
1. Gary Feldman, Ellington 46’09”; 2. Dylan Smith, Canton 42’09”; 3. John Ratcliffe, Windsor Locks 40’06½”; 4. Patrick Lowndes, Granby 40’01”; 5. Brandon Stinson, Somers 39’10½”; 6. Ross McDonald, Avon 39’09”;
BOYS Pole Vault:
1. Matt Stephan, Ellington 13’05”; 2. Damon Rummel, Stafford 11’06”; 3. Bruce MacKay, Suffield 11’00”; 4. Matt Graham, East Windsor 10’06”; 5. Mitch Kucia, Suffield 10’00”; 6. Chris Mitta, Stafford 10’00”; 6. Matt Marchand, Coventry 10’00”;
BOYS High Jump:
1. Tom Myers, Coventry 5’10”; 2. Brendan Dutton, Granby 5’08”; 3. Sean Kellarson, Stafford 5’08”; 4. Jracarr Johnson, East Windsor 5’06”; 5. Connor Smyth, Canton 5’03”; 5. Levi Peterson, Coventry 5’03”; 5. Mike Brown, Coventry 5’03”; 5. Evan Woicik, Somers 5’03”;
BOYS Discus Throw:
1. Gary Feldman, Ellington 129’07”; 2. Rob Nye, Coventry 109’09”; 3. Brandon Stinson, Somers 109’02”; 4. Kevin Merker, Enfield High School 108’10”; 5. Leo Zaffetti, Suffield 106’06”; 6. Tyler Murray, Stafford 104’10”;
BOYS Javelin Throw:
1. Tom Myers, Coventry 158’04”; 2. Connor Smyth, Canton 148’04”; 3. Robert Carver, Avon 148’00”; 4. Patrick Lowndes, Granby 143’09”; 5. Tyler Murray, Stafford 133’00”; 6. Evan Skowronek, Coventry 132’06”;
BOYS Triple Jump:
1. Brendan Dutton, Granby 41’03”; 2. Evan Woicik, Somers 39’04½”; 3. Cody Gneiting, Somers 38’08”; 4. Mike Brown, Coventry 38’05”; 5. Gary Feldman, Ellington 38’04½”; 6. David Kucia, Canton 38’03”
Overall league standings
Dual meet NCCC Pts
Ellington 12-0 11 23
Canton 8-4 12 20
Coventry 10-2 9 19
Granby 9-3 8 17
Avon 10-2 6 16
Enfield 6-6 10 16
Stafford 8-4 4 12
Suffield 5-7 7 12
Somers 4-7 5 9
East Windsor 4-8 3 7
Windsor Locks 1-11 2 3
East Granby 0-11 1 1
Bolton 0-11 0 0
Teams earn one point for each dual meet victory and one point for each team they beat the league championship meet
NCCC championship meet
Recent winners of the NCCC championship meet, which isn’t necessarily the league champion, determined by dual meet wins and teams beaten at the league meet
Year: Team Points
2010: Canton 122.5
2009: Tolland 140
2008: Tolland 124
2007: Tolland 156
2006: East Windsor 136
2005: Ellington 155
2004: Ellington 194
2003: Ellington 202
2002: Ellington 126
2001: Ellington 126
2000: Ellington 98.5
1999: Ellington 128.5
1998: E.O. Smith 141
1997: Tolland 135
1996: Ellington 167
1995: Ellington 177.75
1994: Avon 177.75
1993: Tolland 137
1992: Ellington 140
1991: Ellington 138
1990: Tolland 134.25
1989: Tolland 129
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