Canton’s Lauren Marze wins Class S title in discus to lead Warriors

Canton senior Lauren Marze won her first state championship on Wednesday with her victory in the discus at the Class S track and field championship meet at New Britain’s Willow Brook Park.

Marze won the event with a throw of 108 feet and eight inches with Lyme/Old Lyme’s Margaret Thuma finishing second with 102-7 feet. Marze also finished sixth in the shot with a throw of 29-6 feet.

Marze helped the Canton High girls finish 12^th in Class S with 22½ points, the best finish for the team since they took tenth in 2022.

She is the first girl to win a state championship for the Warriors since Tommy Barker won the second of consecutive Class S titles in the shot in 2022.

Junior Melodie Miller finished third in the 400 meters with a personal-best time of 59.0 seconds with freshman Lucy O’Connor taking sixth in the high jump with a leap of 4-foot-10.

Canton’s 4×800 relay team (Millner, Valerie Naja, O’Connor, Julianna Cavanaugh) finished eighth with a time of 4:21.46.

The top three in each event qualify for Monday’s State Open championship with the next 10 best times from the other five CIAC championship meets earning berths.

On the boys side, Christian Whilby was ninth in the long jump with a leap of 40-2½ feet and Chris David was 15^th in the 100 meters with a personal-best time of 11.52 seconds.