Indoor track: Avon girls 5th in Class L; Canton boys 8th in Class S

Avon’s Molly Hamel leads Rachael Rosow in the 3,200

NEW HAVEN, Feb. 15 – Three relay teams set new school records while two individual records were set as the Avon High girls indoor track and field team finally participated in the long-delayed Class L championship meet at the Floyd Little Athletic Center at Hillhouse.

The meet was delayed more than a week after the Blizzard of 2013 dropped over 30 inches of snow across the state, snarling roads and delaying school for days as cities and towns struggled to clear snow from the roads.

Avon finished fifth for its best-ever finish in a CIAC indoor track championship meet. Among the boys, Canton was eight in Class S while the Canton girls didn’t score any points but the Warriors did set a pair of new team records.

AVON GIRLS: Chamiyah Rowland and Molly Hamel each finished third for the Falcons at the Class L championship meet. Rowland took third in the 55 meters with a time of 7.48 seconds that tied her own school record that she set earlier this season at the NCCC championship meet.

Hamel took third in the 3,200 meters with a school record time of 11:33.82, breaking the record of 11:36 that she set earlier this season. Teammate Rachael Rosow was sixth in the event in 12:01.15.

In the 1,000 meters, Avon had two runners in the top six with Sara Stokesbury taking fifth in 3:16.68 and Maddi McHugh finishing sixth in 3:18.10. Amanda Holtzman (600) and Jade Yen (shot) each finished tenth in their respective events.

Avon’s best relay finish came in the 4×800 meters with a school record time of 10:01.05, good enough for second place behind Fairfield Warde in 9:50.73. Running for the Falcons was Holtzman, Hamel, McHugh and Stokesbury.

Avon’s 1,600 meter sprint medley relay was third with a school record time of 4:31.11. Tara Shayler, Stokesbury, Rowland and Holzman comprised the team.

And Avon’s 4×400 meter relay also set a new school record with a time of 4:25.67, good enough for eight place. The four runners for Avon were Jennifer Koo, Shayler, Stephanie Koo and McHugh.

CANTON BOYS: Canton High coach Tim O’Donnell had hoped to build upon a solid performance at the NCCC championship meet. But after a week of delays due to the blizzard and precious few opportunities to train, the Warriors turned in some solid performances at the Class S championship meet but didn’t improve drastically.

Led by a second place finish by the 4×400 relay team, Canton finished eighth overall.

The team of Matt DeMarco, Julian Franklin, Keith Loureiro and Keith Wilson ran a school-record time of 3:37.61 seconds, good enough for a silver medal. North Branford easily won the race in 3:33.43.

Another school record was set by senior Matt Graziano with a throw of 46 feet, 6½ inches in the shot. It was good enough to finish fifth.

Other solid individual performances came from Keith Wilson, who was fourth in the 300 meters (37.47) and James Yost, who took 11th in the 1,600 meters in 4:54.56.

Canton’s 4×800 relay team barely held off Woodland Regional by 0.01 of a second to finish third with a time of 8:41.26. The Warrior team included Dean Yost, Julian Franklin, James Yost and Matt DeMarco.

CANTON GIRLS: Senior Sarah Allen broke her own school record in the 55 hurdles with a time of 9.73 seconds, just 0.01 of a second out of qualifying for the Class S finals and earning the first team points ever for Canton in a CIAC indoor event.

Allen, who finished eighth, broke her own mark of 9.84 seconds that she set several weeks ago at the NCCC championship meet.

Canton’s 4×200 relay of freshman Lucy Tanner, junior Morgan Scafuri, freshman Hannah Bonini and Allen ran a school record time of 1:58.36 to finish 15th in the event, breaking the previous record of 1:58.49 set at the 2007 Class S championship meet.

AVON BOYS: It was a small turnout for the Falcons at the Class M championship meet. No one earned any points but Connor Wise did earn a pair of top 20 finishes with a 14th place in the 3,200 and a 17th place finish in the 1,600 meters.