Briggs, Hamel among area athletes competing at New England track meet

Eight area athletes will be competing in the 70th annual New England outdoor track and field championships on Saturday at Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine. 

Canton’s Will Briggs, who took fifth in the discus at the recent State Open, will compete. He is seeded 12th in the field with a throw of 149 feet, seven inches.

Avon’s Molly Hamel finished eighth in the 3,200 meters at the State Open but three runners who finished in front of her declined the invitation so Hamel was able to secure a bid. Hamel is seeded 19th in the field of 35 runners with a time of 11:14.78.

Farmington’s Dan Hardiman is the top seed in the discus with a season-best throw of 176 feet and is the sixth seed in the shot (53-10). Farmington senior Palmer Weimann is the 17th seed in the 3,200 meters.

On the girls side, Simsbury’s Vickie Milledge is the seventh seed in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.20 seconds. Farmington junior Annika Anderson is the 19th seed in the 400 meters (58.39) while Simsbury senior Nicole Husher is the No. 16 seed in the pole vault with a leap of 10 feet.

RECORDS FALL: The Avon High girls track and field team set five new school records this spring. Hamel set a new school record in the 5,000 meters at the Yellowjacket Invitational in April in 18:21.25. Kaely Quijano broke her own school record in the pole vault by clearing 10-3 at the NCCC championships.

Carly Regalado snapped a 34-year-old record in the 300 meter hurdles set in 1981 by Sharon Friedberg (48.1) with her time of 45.98 seconds at the NCCC championships. Freshman Carly Carpino set a new school record in the triple jump with her leap of 39 feet 9.75 inches, breaking the mark set by Kari Schicor (32-2.5) set in 2000.

Avon’s 4×100 relay team (Carpino, Tara Shayler, Emma Schweitzer, Chamiyah Rowland) set a new school record with a time of 50.9 in a dual meet in Coventry. That erased a record of 51.32 set in 2012.

NEW ENGLAND CHAMP: In high school, Canton’s Matt Graziano was a New England discus champion in 2013. Now, as a member of the University of Connecticut men’s track and field team, he is still a New England champion.

Graziano, a sophomore, won the New England collegiate title in May in the discus with a throw of 53.06 meters (174 feet, 1 inch). He finished fourth at the American Athletic Conference (AAC) meet with a throw of 167-08. The Huskies won the AAC title on their home track.

Thanks to a career-best throw of 53.84 meters (176-7 feet) at the Penn Relays, Graziano qualified for the NCAA Division I Eastern Regionals in the discus. He finished 41st with a throw of 50.84 meters. Graziano did take fourth at the Penn Relays.