Avon’s Anish Rajamanickam finishes ninth in decathlon

Anish Rajamanickam takes the baton from teammate Tyler Hinrichs in the 4×400 relay at the 2018 Class MM championship meet in Middletown.

MANCHESTER, June 11 – Avon High junior Anish Rajamanickam finished in the top 10 in four events in the top 12 in seven events as he earned a top 10 finish Tuesday in the CIAC decathlon.

Rajamanickam scored 5,294 points to finish ninth overall. It’s just 33 points shy of the school record of 5,327 set by Greg Geyer in 1980. Teammate Thomas Howard finished 15th with 4,949 points, good enough for third best in school history.

“Anish had a really good competition scoring about 1,000 points more than he did last year,” Avon High coach David Zlatin said. “For most events, it was only the second he had competed in them since last year’s decathlon.”

Rajamanickam secured personal-best marks in eight of the ten events — the 100 meters (11.47 seconds), 110 hurdles (16.80), high jump (5-foot-8), pole vault (9-0¼) , shot put (28-3¾) , discus (79-0 feet), javelin (99-10) and the 1,500 meters (4:37.25).

Rajamanickam finished second in the 1,500 meters and also earned top 10 finishes in the 400 meters (52.55), 100 meters and high jump.

Rajamanickam’s time in the 110 hurdles was good enough for him to qualify in the Class M championship meet. This year, he qualified in nine different events along with being a member of three different relays that also qualified for the state tournament. Athletes are limited to three events at the CIAC championship meets.

Anish Rajamanickam, Avon, 9th, 5,294 points
100, 11.47 (6); Long jump, 19-4¼ (12); Shot put, 28-3¾; High jump, 5-8 (8); 400, 52.44 (4); 110 hurdles, 16.8 (12); Discus, 79-0 (12); Pole vault, 9-0¼; Javelin, 99-10 (24); 1,500 meters, 4:38.25 (2)
Thomas Howard, Avon, 15th, 4,949 points
100, 11.59; Long jump, 17-2¾ ; Shot put, 33-8¾ ; High jump, 5-4¼ ; 400, 56.04; 110 hurdles, 16.15 (7); Discus, 94-09 (12); Pole vault, 10-0 (7); Javelin, 104-06 (20), 1,500 meters, 5:33.09 (29)