Briggs takes 5th in discus to earn ticket to New England championships

NEW BRITAIN, June 8 – Two weeks of intense competition at the North Central Connecticut Conference and the Class S championship meets may have drained the reservoir of energy from the Canton High boys track and field team.

The Warriors had several competitors on the field for Monday’s State Open championships. Only a few managed to turn in season-best times in the final meet of the year as the Warriors scored four points.

Two weeks ago, Canton (14-0) lost to Ellington by three points at the league championship meet and shared the NCCC championship. Less than a week ago, Canton scored the most points of any team (105) since the CIAC went to its current format (18 events including 3 relays) but finished second to Bloomfield by seven points, 112-105 at the Class S finals.

Still, there were bright spots for Canton. Junior Will Briggs finished fifth in the discus to earn a spot at Saturday’s New England championship meet in Maine. Briggs threw 149 feet, 7 inches on the final throw of qualifying to earn a spot in the final. In the final, he fouled twice and threw 137-10 on his final throw.

His throw of 149-7 was just four inches shy of his season-best throw of 149-11 that earned him a bronze medal at the Class S championships.

Cam Daley, who will compete in the CIAC decathlon next week, had a top 10 finish. He took ninth in the 300 hurdles in a time of 41.71 seconds.

Canton’s 4×800 relay team (freshman Max Sparks, senior Dean Yost, senior James Yost and senior Augden Shaw) turned in their best time of the season, slicing off more than three seconds with a time of 8:18.06 to finish 15th. They won the Class S title with a run of 8:21.61 last week.

Daley did throw a season-best 147-05 feet in the javelin, finishing 16th while Dean Yost had a season-best-time of 4:33.28 to take 12th in the 1,600 meters.

In the girls State Open meet, Avon senior Molly Hamel earned an eighth place medal in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:14.78, just 0.73 of a second slowed than her time that earned her a second place medal at last week’s Class MM championships.

Avon’s 4×100 relay (Tara Shayler, Chamiyah Rowland, Emma Schweitzer) ran a season-best time of 51.63 and finished 17th. Avon’s Kaely Quijano was 12th in the pole vault with a leap of 9-6.

Canton was led by Lucy Tanner, who was 15th in the 300 hurdles in 48.51 seconds.