FARMINGTON, May 15 – Two long-time school records fell on Tuesday when the Avon High boys track and field team wrapped up their dual meet season with a 94-56 victory over rival Farmington.
Anish Rajamanickam won the 300 meter hurdles with a school record time of 40.5 seconds, breaking a record set more than 36 years ago in 1983. Mark Kesser ran a time of 41.1 seconds at a Class M qualifying meet.
Rajamanickam had a hand in a second school record, too. He was the anchor leg runner on Avon’s 4×100 meter team (Thomas Ko, Thomas Howard, Jack Donlin, Rajamanickam) that won the race in a time of 44.1 seconds, breaking the school record of 44.41 established in 1994 at the Class S championship meet.
Jack Grady won three events – sweeping the long jump, beating Rajamanickam by four inches, the triple jump and high jump. Hari Patchigolla swept the 200 meters – beating teammate Thomas Ko by 0.3 of a second – and the 400 meters with his time of 52.1 seconds among the top 10 fastest in school history in the event.
Dan Carvalho (3,200), Alvin Guo (800), Thomas Howard (110 hurdles) and Dan Quick (shot) each won individual events for the Falcons, who finished the dual meet season at 3-3-1.
It’s been a good all-around season for Howard, who has qualified for the Class MM championships on May 29 at Middletown High in six individual events (100, 200, pole vault, long jump, 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles). He will have to make a choice, though. Rules allow athletes to compete in just three events at the state championship meets, including relays.
Rajamanickam qualified for the Class MM meet in seven individual events (100, 200, 400, 800, long jump, triple jump and 300 hurdles) along with spots on three relay teams (4×100, 4×400 and 4×800).
Some members of the team will compete in the Danbury Dream Invitational on Friday while others will prepare for Tuesday’s CCC West championship meet at Hall High in West Hartford.
The Avon High girls track and field team had four individual winners and won all three relay races but Farmington was able to come away with an 80-70 victory over the Falcons, who finished the dual meet season at 1-6.
Ava Calma (200), Gabrielle Richmond (800), Emma Buth (3,200) and Ava Howard (pole vault) won individual events for Avon. The Falcons also swept the 4×800 (Caroline Luby, Jamie Rubenstein, Marenn Ek, Gabrielle Richmond), 4×100 (Alyssa Crawford, Ava Calma, Cache Chisholm, Ramona Scott) and 4×400 (Ramona Scott, Gabrielle Richmond, Caroline Luby, Alyssa Crawford) relay races.
BOYS TRACK and FIELD
Avon 94, Farmington 56
At Farmington
4×800: Farmington (Zimmerman, Driscoll, Joseph, Woyelius) 9:12.7
4×100: Avon (Rajamanickam, Howard, Ko, Donlin) 44.1
100: Rajamanickam (A) 11.2, Jackson (F) 11.5, Cooke (F) 11.8
200: Patchigolla (A) 23.6, Ko (A) 23.9, Donlin (A) 23.9
400: Patchigolla (A) 52.1, Banasiak (F) 53.1, Cooke (F) 57.0
800: Guo (A) 2:08.9, Zimmerman (F) 2:10.0, Purcell (A) 2:11.2
1,600: Stambaugh (F) 4:43.1, Nunziata (A) 4:45.7, Portal (A) 4:58.5
3,200: Carvalho (A) 10:54.0, Nunziata (A) 11:07.3, Albreski (A) 11:08.5
110m hurdles: Howard (A) 16.0, Ko (A) 18.3, Netland (A) 18.6
300 m H: Rajamanickam (A) 40.5, Hinrichs (A) 41.7, Howard (A) 41.8
4×400: Avon (Purcell, Guo, Donlin, Patchigolla) 3:48.1
Long Jump: Grady (A) 18-7.5, Rajamanickam (A) 18-3.5, Geer (F) 18-1.75
Triple Jump: Grady (A) 36-9, Wagner (F) 34-1, Netland (A) 32-2.75
High Jump: Grady (A) 5-6, Chapman (F) 5-6, Wagner (F) 5-0
Shot Put: Quick (A) 40-4, Bartholomay (F) 39-9, Leavens (A) 32-7
Javelin: Geer (F) 134-8, Albert (F) 133-9, Peters (F) 129-1
Discus: Chapman (F) 111-1, Bartholomay (F) 102-2, Geer (F) 98-10
Pole Vault: Geer (F) 7-6, Grady (A) 7-0, Logan (F) 6-6
Records: Avon 3-3-1
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 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.
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