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Key meets approaching for Canton track squads

CANTON, Feb. 1 — The indoor track and field season isn’t long and drawn out. Canton will compete at the NCCC championships on Monday (Feb. 7) at the New Haven Athletic Center and three days later, they will return there to compete in the Class S championships next Thursday (Feb. 10).

The Canton boys are in good position to repeat as league champions. The Warriors looked sharp in winning its first-ever indoor invitational by winning two relays and Dylan Smith capturing the shot at the Haddam-Killingworth Invitational.

In the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay at the H-K Invitational, Nick Chekas, Dave Solomon, David Kucia and Kyle Hall raced to an easy nine second victory in 3:50.25, which qualified the team for the Class S meet.

Canton also won the 400 meter relay (Kevin Kurnat, Solomon, Jon Melite and Tyler Fitzgerald) with another state qualifying time of 3:43.65. Smith won the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, five inches, winning by nearly two feet over his nearest competitor.

The key to winning a NCCC title is depth and teammates finishing in the top eight to score points.

For example at the H-K Invitational, David Kucia was third in the 55 hurdles with a school-record time of 8.19, Chekas took sixth in the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:56.54 while Melite was eighth in the 600 meters in 1:32.32. Peter Leduc was 10th in the 3,200 meters in 10:21.32, earning a spot in the Class S championships. Canton will be challenged by Ellington and Suffield in the NCCC.

On the girls side, Canton’s team isn’t as competitive and there will be athletes shooting for individual bests. Lindsey Phelps, who was seventh in the 55 meters hurdles at the H-K Invitational, should be contender for a medal along with Deanna Nappi in the 1,000 meters.

At the Class S meet, the challenge will be if Canton can muster up the strength for another big performance in just a few days. A year ago, the Canton boys finished third behind Weston and Bloomfield.

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Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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