Canton’s Kayla Berrning and Anya Johnson, right, celebrate with Melodie Millner after a record-setting run at the State Open in the 4×400 meter relay on Saturday. More photos
NEW BRITAIN, June 7, 2025 – Avon’s Brahm Bulow didn’t shave a second or two off the school record in the 3,200 meters. He knocked a whopping 10 seconds off the mark set in 2022 by Carver Morgan.
Running in a fast field in the 3,200 meters at Saturday’s State Open at Willow Brook Park in New Britain, Bulow earned a spot in next weekend’s New England championships with a fifth place finish and a personal-best time of 9:19.08.
The Avon High girls track team had three relays at the State Open and two were less than a half second away from school records times while Lauren Edge finished ninth in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
The Canton High girls were led by freshman Kayla Berning, who set two school records at the Open and Lucy O’Connor, who was seventh in the high jump but advanced to the New England championships when one of the jumpers ahead of her declined her invitation.
The top six finishers at the Open qualified for the New England championships, which will be at this same site in New Britain next Saturday.
Canton’s 4×400 relay also set a new school record at the Open.
Avon’s Brahm Bulow (14), right, takes off at the start of the 3,200 meters at Saturday’s State Open championships. More photos
Bulow leads Avon boys
East Lyme’s Sean McCauley won the State Open title in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:09.09 with Amity’s Luke Cushing finishing second in 9:11.91. Bulow was with the lead pack for nearly half the race before the top four runners began to create some separation.
But Bulow kept pushing to shatter the former school record of 9:29.07 set by Carver Morgan in 2022. Bulow took fifth to become the first Avon boy to win a medal since Morgan (1,600) and Paul Netland (110 hurdles) each finished fourth in 2022.
Bulow becomes the first Avon runner to qualify for the New England championships in the 3,200 meters. Avon has had three runners qualify to run the 3,000 meters at the New England meet, including Avon High Hall of Fame runner Jeff Hyman.
Bulow was second at the Class MM championships earlier this week with a time of 9:37.83.
Avon’s 4×800 relay (Aidan McLaughlin, Chris Campbell, Andrew Kessler, William Lancaster) finished ninth with a time of a new school-record time of 8:02.93, breaking the mark of 98:04.37 that they set at the Class MM championships.
Avon’s 4×400 relay (Jaemin Aziz, Breno Lousada, Aidan McLaughlin, Will Lancaster) finished 15th but they also broke the school record that set at the Class MM championships on Tuesday. The Falcons ran a time of 3:25.10, slicing 0.14 of a second off the record.
Lousada also competed in the 100 hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles. He was 19th in 100 hurdles with a time of 15.86 seconds and 22nd in the 300 hurdles with a time of 41.37. Chris Campbell also ran at the Open and was 19th in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:50.96.
“It’s a different competition,” Lousada said. “There are some nerves and some adrenalin and that makes you run a little faster. I like having better competition because it makes me go faster.”
Avon’s Emma Loparco takes the baton from Lauren Edge in the 4×400 meter relay at Saturday’s State Open championships. More photos
Two top 10 finishes for Avon girls
Avon’s Lauren Edge finished ninth in the 300 intermediate hurdles with a time of 46.40 while the 4×400 relay team (Julie Freeman, Lauren Edge, Emma Loparco and Katherine Martin) finished eighth with a time of 4:02.68, a slight 0.38 of a second slower than they ran at last week’s Class MM championships.
Avon’s 4×100 relay (Freeman, Edge, Ziya Hudson, Martin) finished tenth with a time of 49.52 seconds, 0:50 of a second slower than it was at the Class MM championships.
The Falcons’ 4×800 relay team (Abigail Van Hoof, Laura Funderburk, Dharan and Amy Godbout) were 23rd with a time of 10:33.44.
Three school-record performances for Canton
O’Connor was the only Canton athlete not to have set a record at the State Open on Saturday. But she tied her own school record mark of 5-0 in the high jump to finish seventh. But when one of the six girls that finished ahead of her decided to pass on the opportunity, it opened up a spot for O’Connor.
Berning also ready owned the 100 hurdle record at Canton when she came to this meet. She added the 300 intermediate record, breaking the mark previously set by Lucy Tanner in 2015.
Berning was 10th in the 100 meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 15.89, breaking her own record by 0.10 of a second. In the 300 hurdles, Berning finished 12th with a new school record time of 46.75.
Canton’s 4×400 team (Anya Johnson, Berning, Julianna Cavanaugh and Melodie Millner) lowered their own school record with a time of 4:08.23, nearly three seconds better than they ran last week at the Class S championships (4:11.20) when they finished second.
“Everyone ran really good (400 meter) legs today,” Canton head coach Keith Wilson said. “It was a really deep field in the 4×4. There were a lot of very competitive teams.” The 4×4 relay finished 16th overall.
“It was a big meet and we were all excited because we knew it would be our last meet of the season,” Berning said.
O’Connor’s top 10 finish is the first top 10 finish for Canton at the State Open since 2022 when Tommie Barker (shot) was fourth and Lauren Maize (discus) finished ninth.
2025 State Open track and field championships (Athletic.net)
