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Mitchell wins twice as Canton girls earn share of first NCCC title; Canton boys 4th

Canton freshman Chelsea Mitchell won two individual NCCC titles in the 100 and 200 meters at Tuesday’s NCCC championship meet in Canton. Her sister, Emily, left, finished third in the 200 meters.

CANTON, May 23 – A lot of things went right this year for the Canton High girls track and field team. They won close meets with little depth – just 18 girls. The Warriors (13-0, 12-0 NCCC) beat Suffield on the final day of the regular season to go undefeated for the first time.

Canton was just an injury or two away from a loss throughout the season.

The Warriors’ luck ran out a bit on Tuesday at the NCCC championship meet. Senior Amber Harraden got hurt in the 400 meters and didn’t finish the race. Because she hurt her calf muscle and couldn’t run, she didn’t score any points in the javelin – an event where she was a serious contender.

But the Warriors didn’t crumble. They finished second with a school record 116½ points to earn a share of their first NCCC championship. Teams earn one point for each team they beat in the dual meet season and one point for every team they beat at the league championship meet.

Suffield, which won the championship meet for the first time since 2012 with 125 points, shared the league championship with Canton.

Canton’s Amber Harraden, Cameron McCauley and Emily Mitchell stand with head coach Tim O’Donnell after Canton won a share of its first-ever league title in girls track Tuesday.

The Canton High boys saw their long championship winning streak come to an end. The Warriors had won the last seven NCCC championships. Canton (12-1, 11-1 NCCC) could have claimed a piece of the title by beating undefeated Coventry.

But the Patriots were too strong, winning four individual events and placing second in three other events to win the league championship meet for the first time with 128½ points over Ellington with 114. It gave Coventry their first-ever NCCC championship.

Granby finished third for just the fourth time since 2000 with three individual champions. Canton, led by Dustin Van Kirk with a win in the 300 meter hurdles and Max Sparks with a win in the 1,600 meters, was fourth.

“They had a good day,” Canton coach Tim O’Donnell said of the Suffield High girls squad. “They ran faster and better. We (ran well) in a lot of areas too. We had to have a good day. We had a zero margin of error. But they gave everything (they had).”

Before running in the 400 meters, Harraden was leading the shot put. Her throw of 32 feet, nine inches was the best of the preliminary round. No one in the finals beat her so Harraden won the event. She tried to throw the javelin from a standing position and finished 13th.

Her teammates tried to pick up the slack. Freshman Chelsea Mitchell continued her outstanding freshman season with a pair of wins in the 100 and 200 meter races. Mitchell beat Windsor Locks’ Charlotte Cobb in the 100 meters with a time of 12.89 seconds. Cobb was second with a time of 13.44.

In the 200 meters, Mitchell beat Suffield’s Alexis Bergamini by over a second with a time of 26.06 seconds. Bergamini finished in 27.11 seconds. Emily Mitchell was third in 27.17.

Chelsea Mitchell also ran on Canton’s 4×100 relay team that finished second to Hartford Classical by 0.26 of a second. Canton (Elizabeth Raynor, Sophia Langou, Emily Mitchell, Chelsea Mitchell) finished with a time of 52.26 seconds while Classical won the race in 52 seconds.

One of the benefits of a dual meet is that an athlete can be entered in four events. At the league championship meet, athletes are limited to three events – a disadvantage for a small team like Canton with some exceptional athletes.

Emily Mitchell added a third place finish in the long jump. Abbe Skinner scored points in all three events she participated in – taking fourth in the 100 hurdles and high jump along with a seventh in the triple jump.

Jane Frawley was second in the 1,600 meters and sixth in the 800 while Madeline Archangelo was seventh in the 300 hurdles and high jump. Helena Winkler (5th, 1,600), Lexi Neeley (7th, 400), Emily Briggs (5th, discus), Abby Briggs (3rd, 800) and Devin Kadis (8th, pole vault) also scored points for Canton.

Canton’s 4×400 relay team (Abby Briggs, Frawley, Archangelo, Langou) was second while the Warriors’ 4×800 relay (Winkler, Abby Briggs, Emily Briggs, Cameron McCauley) finished third.

Suffield won the 4×800 relay (Emily Bernabe, Bella Boccasile, Katherine Platt, Mary Rusnock) and the 4×400 relay (Platt, Alyssa Bergamini, Bernabe, Rusnock) while receiving individual victories from Alyssa Bergamini (400) and Alexis Bergamini (300 hurdles). The Wildcats finished second in three events and picked up plenty of points on the track. Suffield had three of the top five finishers in the 400 meters and three of the top seven in the 3,200 meters.

“We were here last week and it was a close (loss),” Suffield coach Eric Senger said. “We knew we had a shot and we knew we had a lot of improve on. We saw improvement across the board. This was a deep team and it took the whole team to get it done.”

McKenzie Pedersen finishes strong and in second place in the 400 meters in Tuesday’s NCCC championship meet.

The Granby girls finished third with 90 points – their sixth straight top three finish. Mackenzie Stahl won the discus and was second in the javelin. Isabelle Provencher won the long jump and was sixth in the high jump. Nicole Szilagyi won the 100 hurdles and was fifth in the 300 hurdles. McKenzie Pedersen was second in the 400 meters.

The Granby boys team came into the meet with a different attitude than in previous years. Bob Casey’s team was looking to win, especially after competing well in a recent loss to Coventry. The Bears finished third but had three individual champions.

“We’re a little more focused this year and we’re competing,” Casey said. The Bears had three of the top four athletes in the triple jump and three of the top six in the long jump. Granby’s 4×800 relay (Gage Mullaney, Jack Dimeo, Blake Wickham, Joseph Wix) finished fourth but had a school record time of 8:24.42.

Granby’s Noah Cox races to the finish line to win the NCCC title in the 400 meters.

Granby’s 4×400 relay (Mullaney, Dimeo, Wickham, Wix) had a personal-best time of 3:36.41 and finished third.

Keon Laurence won the 100 meters in 11.46 seconds, finished second in the 200 and was third in the long jump while Noah Cox won the 400 meters in 51.77, took third in the 200 and was eighth in the shot. Daion Wharton-Rodriguez won the long jump and was fourth in the triple jump.

Van Kirk had a strong afternoon for the Canton boys. He won the 300 hurdles by 0.14 of a second over Coventry’s Nicholas Pronovost with a time of 40.87 seconds. Van Kirk was second in the 110 hurdles, barely. He finished 0.01 of a second behind Pronovost. Van Kirk also took fourth in the long jump.

Canton’s Dustin Van Kirk and Coventry’s Nicholas Provonost battle in the 300 hurdles at the NCCC championship meet Tuesday in Canton. Van Kirk won the race.

Sparks won the 1,600 meters in 4:27.70 – a seven-second win over Coventry’s Connor Ratte. In the 800 meters, Suffield’s Nick Sinofsky and Ratte pulled away down the stretch to take the top two spots with Sparks coming in third. Sparks was also fourth in the 3,200 meters.

Chaz Williams had a pair of fifth place finishes in the 110 hurdle and 300 hurdles while Patrick Lagonigro was third in the high jump, eighth in the 110 hurdles and eighth in the triple jump. Aidan O’Donnell was fifth in the 1,600 meters and seventh in the 3,200 meters.

James Pelehach (4th, discus), Peter Fuller (4th, high jump), Ben Robinson (7th, shot) and Brandon Leclair (eighth, long jump) also scored points for the Warriors.

NOTES: This was the first time that Canton has hosted the NCCC championship meet in track and field. The Canton track opened in November 2014.

More meet photos (coming shortly)

 

2017 NCCC girls track NCCC Pts. Lg. Pts Total
y-Canton 12-0 12 11 23
y-Suffield 11-1 11 12 23
Ellington 10-2 10 9 19
Granby 9-3 9 10 19
Coventry 7-5 7 8 15
Somers 5-7 5 7 12
Stafford 6-5 6 4 10
East Windsor 5-7 5 5 10
Classical 4-7 4 6 10
East Granby 3-8 3 3 6
Windsor Locks 1-9 1 2 3
Bolton 1-10 1 1 2
SMSA 012 0 0 0

y-share league championship
NCCC: Dual meet results; Pts: From league dual meets; Lg. Pts: From championship meet

 

2017 NCCC boys track NCCC Pts. Lg. Pts Total
Coventry 12-0 12 12 24
Ellington 10-2 10 11 21
Canton 11-1 11 9 20
Granby 9-3 9 10 19
Suffield 8-4 8 8 16
Stafford 5-6 5 7 12
Somers 6-6 6 6 12
East Windsor 6-6 6 5 11
East Granby 4-7 4 4 8
Hartford Classical 2-9 2 1 3
SMSA 0-12 0 3 3
Bolton 1-10 1 2 3
Windsor Locks 1-9 1 0 1

x-won league championship
NCCC: Dual meet results; Pts: From league dual meets; Lg. Pts: From championship meet

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 30 years.

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