Canton’s Max Sparks, shown last June at the Class S championships in New Britain, became the fifth Canton athlete to win an indoor track state title on Saturday.
NEW HAVEN, February 10 –Senior Max Sparks became just the fifth Canton High athlete to win an indoor track state title when he won the 1,600 meters at the Class S boys indoor track and field championship meet Saturday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center at Hillhouse High.
Sparks helped the Warriors finish sixth in the Class S championship meet.
Freshman Julia Caputo finished second in the 3,200 meters in the girls Class S championship meet – the highest ever finish for girls athlete at the Class S meet. She helped Canton finish eighth overall.
Sparks and Caputo’s performances were good enough to qualify for Saturday’s State Open championships at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.
Sparks won the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:31.39 and he won the race by 2.15 seconds. He also finished sixth in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:09.60. He is the first state champion since Keith Wilson won the Class S crown in the 55 hurdles in 2014.
Chelsea Mitchell, left, and Julia Caputo each had top five finishes at Saturday’s Class S championship meet and qualified for Saturday’s State Open. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)
Caputo was a distant second in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:31.20, four seconds off the pace set by Immaculate’s Angela Saidman, who won the race in 11:27.70. But Caputo’s time was more than 20 seconds better than her time of 11:55.99 that was good enough for second place at last week’s NCCC championship meet.
Canton has two other athletes that did well enough to qualify for the State Open. Peter Fuller set a new school record with his leap of 6-foot-2 in the high jump as he finished second. Derby’s Ja’kwan Hale won the event with a leap of 6-foot-7.
Sophomore Chelsea Mitchell also earned the opportunity to race in two events at the State Open. Mitchell finished fourth in the 55 meters in 7.46 seconds and fifth in the long jump (16-5). Mitchell was also sixth in the 300 meters (42.56) but didn’t earn an Open berth in the 300.
There were several top 10 performances by the Warriors at the Class S meet.
Canton’s 4×800 boys relay team (James Szpekman, Andrew Obrzut, Aidan O’Donnell, Sparks) finished third with a time of 8:35.85 while the Canton girls 4×800 relay (Emma Gallant, Caputo, Helena Winkler, Jane Frawley was fourth with a time of 10:33.3.
Frawley was seventh in the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:30.89 while Winkler was seventh in the 3,200 meters (12:12.83). Maddy Archangelo took ninth in the high jump with a leap of 4-10 and ninth in the 55 hurdles with a time of 9.47 seconds.
Aidan O’Donnell took eighth in the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:47.45.
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