Avon’s 4×800 set a new school record and won the CCC West title Tuesday in Southington. From left, Carver Morgan, Nicholas Alphonso, Lucas Hester and Jack Martin. (Photo courtesy Carolyn M. Marshall Photography)
SOUTHINGTON, May 25, 2021 – Avon High’s 4×800 meter relay team shattered the school record and won a CCC West title Tuesday at the CCC West track and field championship meet at Southington High.
The team of Nick Alphonso, Luke Hester, Jack Martin and Carver Morgan won the race with a school-record time of 8:04.53, eclipsing the previous mark by eight seconds. The Falcons were 10 seconds ahead of Simsbury, which finished second in the race.
The four runners are the first Avon relay team to win a CCC divisional title since Avon joined the league in 2015-16.
Avon’s Paul Netland had an outstanding meet for the Falcons, winning the 110 meter hurdle championship, finishing second in the 300 hurdles and taking sixth in the javelin as the Avon High boys finished fifth in the CCC West meet with 83 points, just six points shy of Conard in third place.
Led by Wren Worth with a pair of top seven finishes, the Avon High girls earned 16 points in the eight-team event.
Netland won the 110 hurdles with a winning time of 16.36 seconds, far ahead of Southington’s Michael Balachandar in second place with a time of 17.23 seconds. The two runners went head-to-head a second time in the 300 hurdles final.
This time, Balachandar came out on top winning the race in 42.32 seconds with Netland finishing second in 43.50. With his sixth in the javelin thanks to a throw of 118-3 feet, Netland scored a team-leading 21 points.
Morgan had a good afternoon finishing second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:00.25, just behind event winner Tobias Ruffo of Hall in 1:59.0. Morgan finished third in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:31, the ninth best time in school history.
Hester also had a personal best time of 9:45.78 to take fourth in the 3,200 meters. It’s the No. 10 fastest time in school history.
Avon’s Paul Netland won the 110 hurdles at Tuesday night’s CCC West championship meet in Southington. (Photo courtesy Carolyn M. Marshall Photography)
Jack Grady had an exceptional day with three top 5 finishes. He was second in the high jump with a leap of 6-feet behind Simsbury’s Timothy Watson, who cleared 6-4. Grady was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 19-2¾ feet and fifth in the triple jump by jumping 37-0 feet. He finished 17 points at the event.
Jack Leavens and Matt Marshall both had a pair of top 10 finishes. Leavens was sixth in the discus and seventh in the shot while Marshall was seventh in the discus and eighth in the shot.
Also scoring points for the Avon boys were the 4×100 relay team (Sawyer Hernandez, Atticus Putt, David Schweitzer, Rif Ahmed) that finished fifth and the 4x400m relay team (Jack O’Donnell, Rodrigo Portal, Jevonte Eaves, Tristan Ducharme).
Martin was a top seed in the 800 meters and 1,600 meters but was having trouble warming up for the races and was held out due to abundance of caution so he will be ready for the upcoming Class MM championship meet next week.
On the girls side, Avon’s Tessa Hofheimer had three top 10 finishes. She was sixth in the javelin, eighth in the shot put and tenth in the discus. Avon’s 4×100 relay team (Romona Scott, Wren Worth, Katelyn Cifaldi, and Katelyn Westerberg) finished seventh with a time of 55.92 seconds.
Athena Tian finished sixth in the high jump with a leap of 4-8 that earned an invitation to next week’s Class MM championship meet.
Worth finished seventh in the 100 hurdles (18.36) and in the triple jump (30-7¾) while Marren Ek was seventh in the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:28.77 and ninth in the 3,200 meters (12:10.26). Cifaldi was tenth in the 100 hurdles.
Avon will be competing in the Class MM championship meet on June 2 at Willowbrook Park in New Britain beginning at 4:30 p.m.
2021 CCC West championship meet
At Southington
GIRLS: 1. Glastonbury 218, 2. Southington 158½, 3. Conard 103, 4. Hall 94, 5. Simsbury 88, 6. Farmington 17½, 7. Avon 16
BOYS: 1. Hall 199, 2. Southington 139¼, 3. Conard 89, 4. Simsbury 86, 5. Avon 83, 6. Glastonbury 57½, 7. Northwest Catholic 24, 8. Farmington 21¼
2021 CCC West track and field results (Athletic.net)
2021 CCC West track and field results (MySportsResults.com)
Avon CCC divisional champions
2021: CCC West: Paul Netland (110 hurdles), Boys 4×800 relay (Nicholas Alphonso, Lucas Hester, Jack Martin, Carver Morgan)
2020: Season cancelled, pandemic
2019 CCC West: Rhiannon Richmond (3,200), Anish Rajamanickam (400)
2018 CCC West: Carly Carpino (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles)
2017 CCC Central: Carly Carpino (long jump)
2016 CCC Central: Geoff Kirk (shot, discus, javelin)
