Bellringers Girls, Boys Shine at Class S Track Championships

The combination of balance, depth and some front-line talent led the East Hampton track and field teams to the second-most impressive combined boys and girls finishes Thursday at the CIAC Class S Championships at Willow Brook Park in New Britain.

The Bellringers’ girls team (38.33 points) placed third behind champion Bloomfield (120) and Old Saybrook (71), while the East Hampton boys (35) were eighth. In 2010, the Bellringers’ girls were runners-up with the boys tied for 12th.

Only Northwest Catholic’s teams did better than East Hampton on Thursday by finishing runner-up to Canton in the boys competition (60) and by placing sixth in the girls (31). Valley Regional wasn’t far behind the Bellringers with a sixth-place effort among boys (38) and a seventh among girls (30); Coventry was fifth in the girls competition (35) and ninth in the boys (33).

Portland placed 22nd among girls (9) and 26th among boys (6). The Haddam-Killingworth girls (8) were in a tie for 24th. Coginchaug placed eighth among the 34 teams that scored in the girls meet (29) and 10th of the 36 in the boys meet (30).

Blue Devils senior Aleksandr Morin failed in his highly-demanding attempt to win both distance races. Morin entered seeded third in the 1,600 meters and first in the 3,200. Morin, who won both events last week at the Shoreline Conference Championships, placed third in the 1,600 with a time of 4 minutes and 26.75 seconds and as runner-up in the 3,200 in 9:41.47. Morin sat in third place for most of the 3,200, made a move at the start of the eighth and final lap that soon gave him the lead, then relinquished it in the final 100 meters to Cromwell sophomore Louis Tobias. Morin qualified for the State Open Monday in New Britain in both events.

Morin led for most of the 1,600 but lost to junior Brian Poirier of Northwest Catholic and runner-up Tobias down the last straightaway.

“I made those mistakes but I’ll learn from them and not make them again at the State Open,” Morin said. His coach, Jack McShane, said: “He [Tobias] was going to have to have his best races to bet Aleks. It was not a case of Aleks being off but more of Tobias having dug down.”

East Hampton’s strong team placements were not built on winning many individual or relay events but by showing the versatility to place high enough in events to earn points. Fact is, no Bellringers’ girl won. The best performances were senior Nicole Chambers’ runners-up finish in the 800 in 2:20.44, which moves her into the State Open, and the second-place 4x800-meter relay of Shannon Walsh, Hannah Blondin, Lindsay Stoldt and Chambers (10:06.02).

The 4x400 relay (4:13.8) of Walsh, followed by Chambers, Blondin and anchored by Jenna Klemonski placed third, as did senior Laura Pumphrey in the 100 high hurdles in 16.39. Bellringers finished fourth in the high jump, with Hannah Cook’s leap of 4 feet 10 inches, and in the pole vault, with sophomore Amber Sekoll’s vault of 9-6.

“The girls had a really good day,” coach Bill Wilkie said. “The girls ran pretty consistently in their events. Where I thought we would get points, we did. We had a lot of athletes focus on one or two events because I did not think the team would be competitive enough to win [the team championship]. I wanted them to concentrate on their stronger events, so they could have a chance to win a state championship or be a medallist in one or two events.

“We did not focus on team points. More athletes had a chance to win because they were a little more rested and didn’t do as many events. We might have done better as a team because of this team strategy.”

The Bellringers’ boys were fueled again by the pole vaulting crew, despite a back injury to sophomore Tyler Rubega while planting his pole for the take-off. He finished ninth, one place out of picking up a team point. Three of his teammates placed in the top four.

Senior Nate Abraham defended his 2010 title by winning at 12-6. Junior Ben DeCrescente (12-6) was third and senior Ryan Rubega (12-0) fourth. Abraham was awarded the gold medal for reaching the height in the fewest attempts. That was worth 21 points. Before the pole vault, East Hampton stood in 15th place with eight team points. Once the 21 points were calculated into the new team total of 29, the Bellringers had vaulted into third place, just 10 points behind Northwest Catholic, which was in the lead at that juncture.

The rest of the boys scoring belonged to senior Seth Myers, who was fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles in 43.15, Abraham’s eighth in the 300 in 43.51, junior Jeff Pratt, who was fourth in the shot put at 46-1 and senior Tyler Brady, who was sixth in the javelin at 142-3.

Portland junior Sarah Bierly qualified for the State Open by finishing second in the girls' pole vault with a 10-foot effort.

“I have to go into the State Open with confidence that I can make 10-6 again and then I’ll go for 11-0, my goal all year,” Bierly said.

She is planning on three days of training at at least two hours a day with the bar at 10-6, then move up to 11-0 once she gets comfortable. Junior Rachael DeBarge was eighth at 9-0.

Junior Jesse Petrini earned all of Portland’s boys points with a fifth place in the long jump (21-½) and a seventh in the triple jump (40-2).

Coginchaug senior Lora Manley won the triple jump in 34-10 and the high jump (5-2), qualifying for the Open in both. She was fourth in the long jump at 16-4. Haddam-Killingworth freshman Leah Pfrommer was fourth at 32-9½. Pfrommer was sixth in the 100-meter dash in 12.96.

For complete results, click here.