Ellington beats Canton by three to earn a share of the NCCC championship

Canton’s Nico Turillo won the NCCC championship in the 200 meters Tuesday.

GRANBY, May 26 – For several hours in the hot sun, the Canton High and Ellington boys track and field teams battled with each other at the NCCC championship meet. Yes, there were 13 other teams there but this was a toe-to-toe confrontation between two deep teams. 

Undefeated Canton (14-0, 14-0 NCCC) beat the Purple Knights (13-1, 13-1) by 30 points a week ago in a dual meet but Ellington was missing a few athletes for a variety of reasons. In one of the closest NCCC championship meets ever, Ellington nipped Canton by three points, 155-152 to win a share of the league championship. Hartford Classical was a very distant third with 52 points. 

Teams earn one point for every dual meet victory and one point for each team they beat the league championship meet. Canton and Ellington finished the year with 27 points. For the Knights, it was their first league title since 2005. Canton won a share of their fifth consecutive league championship. 

But it didn’t feel like a win to the Warriors. “A lot of kids did well but it is a bit of a bummer,” Canton coach Tim O’Donnell said. “We would have felt better if we had lost the dual meet and won today.” 

Avon, in its final NCCC championship meet before moving to the Central Connecticut Conference in September, finished fifth led by Geoff Kirk, who won the shot put and javelin and grabbed second in the discus. 

Canton’s John Solomon had top five finishes in three events.

In a meet this tight and this close, you can find plenty of missed opportunities for points. And you can find lots of big moments, too. Most of the Canton athletes had their best times of the year. According to the seeds prior to the meet, Canton should have scored 140 points. They got 152 – its second highest score ever at the meet. 

Cam Daley won the 300 high hurdles in 40.40 seconds, the second fastest time in school history. It was second NCCC title in the event in two years. Daley was second in the 110 hurdles with a personal best time of 15.97 seconds and the fifth best time in school history. He was third in the javelin with another personal best performance.

Ellington won three individual events and two relays. Canton won three individual events and had at least one top six finisher in all but two events. 

Canton’s Nico Tucillo won the 200 meters by beating Ellington’s Wellington Silva to the line. Tucillo also was second in the 400 meters and ran on Canton’s 4×400 relay team (Bradley Connolly, Augie Shaw,  Matt Pickett, Tucillo) that finished third. 

Canton’s other win came from Will Briggs, who won the discus with a personal best throw of 146 feet and one inch, beating Kirk by more than 20 feet. Canton’s Liam Golfin was fourth – also with a personal best. 

Take Kirk out of the meet and Canton probably earns enough points to win. Kirk finished first in the shot with a throw of 45 feet, 11.5 inches while Canton’s Keegan Toland (42-8½) and Ian LaClair (40-6½) finished second and third, respectively. Toland and LaClair each had season-best throws. Avon’s Andrew Blackmore took fifth. 

In the javelin, Kirk beat Briggs by nearly nine feet, winning with a throw of 160 feet, seven inches. Briggs’s throw of 151-4 was his best throw of the season. Kirk is the first Avon boy to win multiple individual events at the NCCC championships in more than 20 years. Avon’s Gerald Blankson swept the triple jump and long jump in 1994.

James Yost was second in the 3,200 meters and third in the 1,600 meters. In the 3,200, Yost’s strong finish at the end to beat Ellington’s Albert Tebbets by 0.21 gave the Warriors another two points. Yost’s brother Dean was fifth in the 800 meters and sixth in the 1,600. 

Canton’s John Solomon was second in the high jump with a leap of 5-6, fourth in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles. Stephen Oliver was second in the pole vault and ran on Canton’s 4×100 relay (Bradley Connolly, Matt Pickett, Jesse Waite, Oliver) that finished fourth 

Canton’s 4×800 relay (Augie Shaw, Maximilian Sparks, Zach Oliver, Noah O’Leary) finished third. Pickett was fifth in the 100 meters with a season-best time of 11.92 seconds. 

Ellington’s running depth helped propel them to a piece of the title. The Purple Knights had three of the top six finishers in the 400 and 3,200 meters and two of the top six in the 200, 800 and 1,600 meters. 

Avon had several medalists. Blackmore was fourth in the 100 meters and fifth in the shot. Andrew Suter was fifth in the 3,200 and ninth in the 1,600 meters. Zach Bortoff was sixth in the 800 meters 

The Falcons’ 4×800 relay team (Zach Bortoff, James Grant, Gilbert Leng, Collin Pritchard) was fifth in 8:49.17. 

NOTES: The closest NCCC championship meet came in 2000 when Tolland and Ellington finished tied with 98½ points. In 1991, Ellington beat Avon by two points, 138-136 to win the league championship meet.

2015 NCCC championship meet
At Granby
Team results – 1. Ellington 155, 2. Canton 152, 3. Hartford Classical 54, 4. Coventry 53, 5. Avon 49, 6. East Windsor 38, 7. Enfield 34, 8. Stafford 33, 9. Granby 32, 10. Suffield 31, 11. Windsor Locks and Somers 18, 13. SMSA 11, 14. East Granby 10, 15. Bolton 8

4×800 — 1. Ellington (Thomas Mackintosh, Daniel Meaney, Jonathan Wing, Andrew Oliwa) 8:27.19, Granby (Cody Kirschbaum, Zach Ziemnicki, Gage Mullaney, Will Grosritz) 8:35.98, 3. Canton (Augie Shaw, Maximilian Sparks, Zach Oliver, Noah O’Leary) 8:36.34, 4. Suffield 8:44.49, 5. Avon (Zach Bortoff, James Grant, Gilbert Leng, Collin Pritchard) 8:49.17, Somers 8:50.6

4×100 — 1. Ellington (William Broding, Wellington Silva, Nicholas Topor, Kyle Wardrop) 45.11, 2. Granby (Chris Coon, Griffin Hammack, Hunter Everett, Owen White) 46.38, 3. Stafford 46.67, 4. Canton (Bradley Connolly, Matt Pickett, Jesse Waite, Stephen Oliver) 47.03, 5. Windsor Locks 47.10, 6. Bolton 47.30

100 – 1. Damieon Russ, East Windsor, 11.42, 2. Kwasi Obeng, SMSA 11.63, 3.Tucker Rajala, East Windsor, 11.75, 4. Andrew Blackmore, Avon, 11.76, 5. Matt Pickett, Canton, 11.92, 6. Colin MacDougald, Windsor Locks 11.97

200 – 1. Nico Tucillo, Canton, 23.85, 2. Wellington Silva, Ellington, 24.11, 3. Thomas Mackintosh, Ellington, 24.34, 4. Colin MacDougald, Windsor Locks, 24.47, 5. Asa Petersen, Coventry, 24.5, 6. Pharoh Mathis, SMSA 24.54

400 – 1. Juan Echevarria, Classical, 50.93, 2. Nico Tucillo, Canton, 51.32, 3. Thomas Mackintosh, Ellington, 51.58, 4. William Broding, Ellington 52.98, 5. Andrew Oliwa, Ellington, 53.06, 6. Nick Lajara, SMSA, 53.49

800 – 1. Connor Ratte, Coventry 2:00.70, 2. Jonathan Wing, Ellington, 2:00.78, 3. Jordan Dixon, Ellington, 2:02.28, 4. Thomas Rigby, Suffield 2:04.95, 5. Dean Yost, Canton, 2:06.22, 6. Zach Bortoff, Avon, 2:08.66

1,600 – 1. Jordan Dixon, Ellington, 4:26.13, 2. Connor Ratte, Coventry 4:27.74, 3. James Yost, Canton, 4:29.68, 4. John Poitras, Somers 4:30.3, 5, Thomas Arbeiter, Ellington, 4:30.50, 6. Dean Yost, Canton 4:31.43

3,200 – 1. David Clavet, Ellington, 9:53.87, 2. James Yost, Canton, 10:02.02, 3. Albert Tebbets, Ellington, 10:02.23, .4. John Poitras, Somers, 10:2329, 5. Andrew Suter, Avon, 10:29.87, 6. Thomast Arbeiter, Ellington, 10:39.71

110 hurdles – 1. Tyrik Henry, Enfield, 14.71 (new meet record. Old mark Henry, Enfield, 15.10, 2014); 2. Cam Daley, Canton 15.97, 3. Jordan McCray, Suffield, 15.99, 4. John Solomon, Canton, 16.85, 5. Jeremy Baouche, Ellington, 17.08, 6. Robbie Glassman, East Granby, 17.72

300 hurdles – 1. Cam Daley, Canton, 40.40, 2. Jeremy Baouche, Ellington, 40.71, 3. Jordan McCray, Suffield, 42.86, 4. Ian Chandler, Ellington, 43.58, 5. John Solomon, Canton, 43.83, 6. Tucker Rajala, East Windsor, 44.12

High jump — 1. Tim Flynn, Classical 5-6, 2. John Solomon, Canton and Matt Moore, Stafford 5-6, 4. Alex Kapino, Somers 5-4, 5. Will Briggs, Canton, Andrea Maffei, Suffield and Jaiden Delaire, Granby 5-2

Long jump: — 1. Tyrik Henry, Enfield, 20-2, 2. Jacob Figueiredo, Coventry 19-7, 3. Quentin Kelly, Classical 19-2½, 4. Wellington Silva, Ellington 19-1¾, 5. David Bergoee, Ellington 18-1, 6. Shicau Hunter, Granby 17-7

Triple jump – 1. Tyrik Henry, Enfield 43-3½, 2. Damieon Russ, East Windsor 42-7 ¾, 3. Justin Kelly, Classical 40-10, 4. Kwabena Obiekwu, Coventry, 40-7¼, 5. Chase Walbridge, Stafford 38-8½, 6. Chance LoRicco, Coventry 38-0½

Shot – 1. Geoff Kirk, Avon 45-11½, 2. Keegan Toland, Canton, 42-8½, 3. Ian LaClair, Canton 40-6½, 4. Treyvoughn Clark, Classical, 40-4½, 5. Andrew Blackmore, Avon, 40-2, 6. Asa Peterson, Coventry 39-3

Discus – 1. Will Briggs, Canton, 146-1, 2. Geoff Kirk, Avon, 122-1, 3. Treyvoughn Clarke, Classical, 110-2, 4. Liam Golfin, Canton 107-7, 5. Sean King, Coventry 106-10, 6. Kadheim Hunter, East Windsor 106-3

Javelin – 1. Geoff Kirk, Avon, 160-7, 2. Will Carlson, Canton, 151-4, 3. Cam Daley, Canton 149-5, 4. Jacob Ives, Stafford, 148-4, 5. Ryan Ferguson, Ellington 147-2, 6. Troy Marin, East Granby 137-4

Pole vault – 1. Nicholas Toper, Ellington 12-0, 2. Stephen Oliver, Canton, 11-0, 3. C.J. Ruckey, Windsor Locks, 10-6, 4. Dan Blais, East Windsor 10-6, 5. Dylan Dingivin, Granby 10-6, 6. Andrew Oliwa, Ellington 10-6

4×400 – 1. Classical (Juan Echevarria, Justin Kelly, Timothy Flynn, Quentin Kelly) 3:27.95 (new meet record, old mark, Canton, 3:29.89, 2012) 2. Ellington 3:30.97, 3. Canton (Bradley Connolly, Augie Shaw,  Matt Pickett, Nico Tucillo) 3:37.05, 4. Coventry 3:41.10, 5. Bolton 3:43.49, 6. Suffield 3:44.78