Avon’s sprint medley relay takes 2nd at Class M indoor track championships

NEW HAVEN, February 7 – Avon High’s sprint medley relay team finished second at the Class M girls indoor track and field championships Friday night at the Floyd Little Athletic Center at Hillhouse High.

The sprint medley relay team of Tara Shayler, Chamiyah Rowland, Jennifer Koo and Maddi McHugh ran the race in 4:30.58, the second fastest time in school history. Tolland, which won its first Class M indoor track title, won the race in 4:23.02. The sprint medley relay consists of legs of 200, 200, 400 and 800 meters.

The team’s silver medal was the highlight of the day for the Falcons, who finished 10th in Class M with 17 points. 

Molly Hamel (1,600 meters) and Amanda Holtzman (600) each finished fourth in their respective events while the 4×800 relay team was sixth.

Hamel broke her own school record in the 1,600 for the third time this season with her time of 5:24.99, which was about two seconds behind Tolland’s Caitlin Swanson in third place and about 12 seconds behind the winner Chrissy Bendzinski of RHAM. Hamel also finished seventh in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:49.36.

The 4×800 relay (Sara Stokesbury, Koo, Kristin Goldie, Holtzman) ran its fastest time of the season (10:18.38). Holtzman’s time of 1:42.78 was less than a second slower than her school record performance (1:42.35) earlier this winter.

McHugh finished ninth in the 1,000 meters while Caroline Rendiero was 12th in the high jump and Jade Yen was 19th in the shot.

The sprint medley relay team may qualify for next Saturday’s State Open championships in New Haven. After the champions from the respective Class LL, L, M and S meets, the top 14 remaining times or performances qualify for the State Open. The Falcons will know Sunday after the conclusion of Saturday’s Class S and LL championship meets.

The Avon High boys didn’t score a point in the meet. Evan Edgar had the top individual performance, finishing 14th in the 300 meters in 39.00 seconds. Avon’s 4×200 relay team (Edgar, Zach Zweibel, Jack Kostal, Frank Campanelli) finished eighth in 1:40.06. It was their fastest time of the season.