Briggs wins discus, Regalado 2nd in 400 hurdles at Irv Black Invitational

Will Briggs, shown earlier this year in Canton, won the discus at Saturday’s Irv Black Invitational

NEW BRITAIN, May 7 – Canton’s Will Briggs easily won the discus event at the 11th annual Irv Black Invitational in New Britain on a wet and chilly Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Fifty teams, primarily from Connecticut, participated along with three teams from Rhode Island and a team from New Hampshire. Athletes from Danbury, Simsbury, NFA, Southington and Bloomfield competed along with several Canton and Avon competitors. No team scores were kept.

Canton’s distance medley team (Emily Briggs, Amber Harraden, Emily Briggs, Jane Frawley) won their event while Avon’s Carly Regalado was second in the 400 meter medium hurdles.

Other top five finishes came from Canton’s Stephen Oliver (third, pole vault), Avon girls taking fourth in the 800 meter sprint medley relay, Avon’s Geoff Kirk (fourth, shot), Canton’s Aidan O’Donnell and Jane Frawley (2,000 steeplechase).

Briggs won the discus with a throw of 161 feet, three inches – his second-best performance of the spring. He threw the discus 164 feet on April 19 against East Granby and Windsor Locks. On Saturday, Briggs easily beat Bloomfield’s Kareen Williams by 27 feet. Williams had a throw of 134-9. Among athletes who have qualified for the respective CIAC championship meets, Briggs and Williams (151-8) have the top two throws in the state so far. 

Canton’s distance medley team (E. Briggs, Harraden, A. Briggs, Frawley) beat Amity by more than two minutes to win the distance medley race in 13:35.28. The distance medley, an event that is usually run in college indoors at the national championship level, consists of four legs of 1,200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters and 1,600 meters.

Avon’s Carly Regalado, shown earlier this year, took second in the 400 meter hurdles at Saturday’s Irv Black Invitational.

In the 400 meter hurdles, Avon’s Carly Regalado was second with a time of 1:12.25 – tops among Connecticut competitors. The winner was Corrine Kennedy of Lebanon, N.H., with a winning time of 1:03.20. In Connecticut, competitors usually compete in the 300 meter hurdles. Canton’s Lucy Tanner was tenth with a time of 1:18.16.

In the pole vault, Canton’s Stephen Oliver matched his own school record leap of 11 feet, 6 inches for the second time this week. It was good enough to earn a third place medal. Only Danbury’s Nathan Llanos (13-0) and Simsbury’s Terrence Cook (12-6) leaped higher than Oliver.

Avon’s Geoff Kirk finished fourth in the shot with a throw of 46 feet, 3½ inches on his first throw of the eight-man finals. Bloomfield’s Christian-Hall Gardiner won with a throw of 49-1 followed by teammate Andrew Pinnock (48-0).

In the 800 meter sprint relay, Avon (Riley Abate, Shilpa Donde, Carly Carpino, Regalado) finished fourth with a time of 1:59.94, just off the pace set by Amity (1:59.20) in third place. Hamden won the race in 1:50.50.

O’Donnell (6:54.17) and Frawley (8:13.8) each took fifth in their respective 2,000 meter steeplechase races. In the girls race, Canton teammate Cameron McCauley (8:35.79) finished eighth.

Briggs did more than win the discus. He set a new school record in the hammer throw, taking eighth with a throw of 137 feet and a half inch. He was also 11th in the shot with a throw of 40-7½ feet.

Other top performances came from

• Canton’s Emily Mitchell, 10th long jump, 15-3½
• Canton’s Amber Harraden, 13th, 400, 1:02.98
• Canton’s Abby Briggs, 20th, 1,600, 5:44.63
• Avon’s Ryley Higgins, 6th, 3200, 11:51.51
• Avon’s Rachel Martin, 9th, 3200, 12:07.82
• Canton’s Jane Frawley, 11th, 3200, 12:24.39
• Canton’s Lucy Tanner, 8th, 110 hurdles, 16.80; 10th, 400 hurdles, 1:18.16
• Avon’s 4×100 relay (Riley Abate, Carly Carpino, Gina Lindley, Shilpa Donde), 7th, 52.03
• Canton’s 4×100 relay (Amber Harraden, Sophia Langou, Emily Mitchell, Abbe Skinner), 9th, 52.56
• Avon’s Carly Carpino, 9th, triple jump, 32-6½
• Canton’s Dustin Van Kirk, 9th, long jump, 19-5, 9th 110 hurdles, 16.95
• Avon’s Zach Bortoff, 12th, 800, 2:04.31
• Avon’s Andrew Suter, 9th, 3200, 9:44.56
• Canton’s Max Sparks, 11th, 3200, 10:05.71
• Canton’s John Solomon, 6th, 110 hurdles, 16.41
• Canton’s Jesse Waite, 14th, 400 hurdles, 1:06.87
• Canton’s 4×100 relay (Bradley Connolly, Stephen Oliver, Matt Pickett, Dustin Van Kirk), 12th, 46.47
• Canton’s Will Carlson, javelin, 7th, 140-0