Mitchell helps Canton girls at Shoreline Coaches meet; Oberhausen 3rd for Avon

Canton freshman Chelsea Mitchell ran well at the Shoreline Coaches Invitational. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

NEW HAVEN, January 15 – Canton freshman Chelsea Mitchell finished second in the 55 meter dash and third in the 300 meters to lead the Canton High girls indoor track and field team to a seventh place finish at the Shoreline Coaches Invitational Saturday at the Floyd Little Athletic Complex.

Canton’s Max Sparks was second in the 1,000 meters to lead the Canton boys, who finished 18th in the field. Avon’s Christine Oberhausen was third in the 600 meters to lead the Falcons (19th). The Avon High boys squad was led by the team of Zach Bortoff, Jon Hernandez, Matt Nyklicek and Jack Stokesbury, who finished sixth in the 4×800 relay with a new school record time of 8:47.70.

Mitchell was second in the 55 meters in 7.67 seconds, just nipping Berlin’s Nikki Xiarhos, who ran a time of 7.69 seconds. Berlin’s Vanessa Reimer won the event in 7.41 seconds.

In the 300 meters, Mitchell was third with a time of 44.07 seconds behind Reimer (43.67) and Xiarhos (43.92). Mitchell set new school records in both events – the 55 and 300 meters.

Canton’s 4×200 relay team (Sophia Langou, Emily Mitchell, Amber Harraden and Mitchell) finished third with a time of 1:54.26.

Canton’s Madeline Archangelo races in Saturday’s Shoreline Invitational in New Haven. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Harraden took fourth in the shot put with a school-record throw of 31 feet, 7 inches while teammate Madeline Archangelo was eighth in the high jump (4-6).

Canton’s 4×800 relay (Jane Frawley, Lilly Grabowski, Cameron McCauley, Jocelyn Rossitto) finished seventh with a time of 10:57.25. The 4×400 relay (Archangelo, Abby Briggs, Jane Frawley, Harraden) was eighth in 4:38.11.

Frawley was eighth in the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:37.94 while Emily Mitchell was 11th in the long jump with a leap of 14-7½ feet. Briggs was 11th in the 600 meters in 1:53.46.

Max Sparks was second in the 1,000 meters at the Shoreline Invitational. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Sparks finished second in the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:38.21, trailing Tolland’s Joshua Bedard who won the race with a meet record time of 2:36.56.

Canton’s 4×400 relay team (Brad Connelly, Jesse Waite, Andrew Obrzut and Sparks) finished ninth with a time of 3:51.30. Waite was also 11th in the 300 meters in 39.26 seconds.

Several Avon High girls qualified for the upcoming Class M championship meet with fine performances at the Shoreline Coaches Invitational.

Oberhausen qualified in the 600 meters with her time of 1:45.37 and in the 300 meters with her time of 46.53 (20th place).

Rachel Martin (9th, 5:40.29) and Sara Leavens (14th, 5:46.66) qualified in the 1,600 meters while Ashley Martin (12th, 3:26.77) and Christina Martin (14th, 3:30.23) qualified in the 1,000 meters. Leavens also finished seventh in the 3,200 meters with a time of 12:17.40.

For the Avon boys, Blake Thompson qualified for the Class M championships with his time of 8.7 seconds in qualifying for the 55 meters. Thompson finished sixth with a time of 8.84 seconds in the final. Zach Bortoff qualified in the 600 meters with a time of 1:32.97. He also took 11th in the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:53.01.

Avon returns to action on Saturday, January 28 when they compete in the Central Connecticut Conference championships here in New Haven

Canton’s Helena Winkler runs in traffic at Saturday’s Shoreline Invitational (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Canton returns to action on Friday when they compete at the 35th annual Yale Invitational Interscholastic Classic at Coxe Cage on the Yale campus.