Records fall, Graziano wins discus at Greater Hartford

SIMSBURY, May 12, 2012 – Canton junior Matt Graziano consistent excellence in the discus throw continued Saturday at the 81st annual Greater Hartford Invitational at Simsbury High.

Graziano exceeded 170 feet for the third time this season with a throw of 170 feet and seven inches to win the event by 32 feet. He is the first Canton athlete to win an event in the Invitational’s long history. In April, Graziano set a new school record with a throw of 175 feet and 10 inches against Ellington and it’s the longest throw of the season by any discus thrower in the state.

Four other Canton athletes set school records at the meet as the boys finished a solid third in the Small Division and the girls took ninth in the Small Division.

Sophomore Keith Wilson set a new school record in the 400 meters with a time of 51.03, good enough for third place. It snaps the old record set by Jasen Watson of 51.72 at the State Open in 2007 in the first year of the program.

Canton’s 4×400 relay of Wilson, Jim Spatcher, Dave Solomon and Tyler Fitzpatrick also set a new school record of 3:31.07, good enough for third place. That broke the old mark set at the Class S championship meet last June of 3:34.78.

On the girls side, Alex Martin set a new school record in the 400 meters with her time of 1:02.48, erasing the mark of 1:04.4 set by Alaina Casioppo set in 2007. Freshman Kiley Loureiro broke the school record in the 300 hurdles for the second week in a row. Loureiro’s time of 51.25 was 0.07 seconds faster than the time she ran a week earlier. She finished ninth in her event.

Bloomfield won the Small Division boys title with 167 points with Northwest Catholic second with 101 points and Canton third with 98 points. Northwest Catholic and Capital Prep of Hartford will likely stand in Canton’s way if the Warriors hope to repeat as Class S champions in a few weeks.

Several other Canton boys finished in the top 10 of their respective events. Jon Cahill was sixth in the 3,200 meters (9:53.84), Tyler Fitzpatrick was eighth in the 800 meters (2:03.37), Jeff Lochner was seventh in the long jump (19-6.25), Mark Solomon was eighth in the 110 hurdles (16.04) and the 4×800 relay of Julian Franklin, Spatcher, Cahill and Fitzgerald was fourth with a time of 8:25.76.