East Hampton Boys Win Shoreline Track Title

The team goal for East Hampton High School at the Shoreline Conference boys track and field championship, held Wednesday at East Hampton along with the girls competition, had become a mantra uttered daily by the Bellringers this spring. "Six lousy points" was repeated at the start of practice each day, coach Bill Wilkie said.

Wilkie figured if his athletes could make up that rather small margin, the outdoor season championship would be theirs. It was by six points that East Hampton lost the conference indoor track championship this winter to Old Saybrook.

On Wednesday, the Bellringers capitalized on that single-minded focus by rallying to win the team championship on the last event, their strongest event, the pole vault. They scored 114 points to defeat runner-up Coginchaug (92½) by 21½ points. Westbrook (92) was third and Old Saybrook (38) a distant eighth. Haddam-Killingworth (54½) was sixth, Portland (26) 10th and Hale-Ray (2) last among 13 schools.

This was East Hampton’s first Shoreline team title in six years since the end of the Charter Oak Conference. The Bellringers had won five of the last six championships before the COC disbanded.

Entering the pole vault, the Bellringers were third with 89 points, trailing second-place Coginchaug (89½) by a half-point and first-place Westbrook (92) by three. Four of the top seven placers – eight athletes scored in each individual event – were from East Hampton. Ben Decresente of the Bellringers won with an effort of 12-feet-6 inches, followed by teammate Ryan Rubega (12-0), Zach Azer (12-0) of Cromwell, who was third, then Nate Abraham (12-0) of East Hampton fourth, with Shawn Donovan (11-6) of Coginchaug sixth and Tyler Rubega (11-6) of East Hampton seventh.

East Hampton scored 25 points in the pole vault, the Blue Devils three. The Bellringers’ half-point deficit to second-place Coginchaug turned into the final 21½-point margin of victory as Westbrook had no vaulters reach the finals and scored no points.

“We have a really strong core of paul vaulters,” said Wilkie, in his 13th year. “The fact that it came down to the last event, well we were looking to see that we had four that could score. It’s a good feeling to know.

“All the other athletes in their events put us in contention to win and the pole vaulters closed the door. A lot of our athletes moved up and scored where we weren’t expecting them to.”

Nate Abraham (42.06) was runner-up in the 300 hurdles and Seth Myers (43.75) fifth and their efforts represented key points. Other important placings were Andrew Talbot’s third in the 800; Anthony Repoli and Joe Repoli’s seventh and eighth in the 100; Jeff Pratt and Anthony Repoli’s fourth and sixth in the discus; Nate Abraham’s sixth in the 110-meter hurdles.

In the girls competition, Old Saybrook (158½) won with Valley Regional (94½) finishing second. The Bellringers (88) were third with Coginchaug (77) fourth. Haddam-Killingworth (28) placed 10th and Portland (27) 11th of 12 teams.

The story among the athletes was Coginchaug’s Alex Morin and his four-event spree that nearly netted him three individual event victories. The Blue Devils’ senior scored 33 points on winning two individual events (10 each), finishing runner-up in another by 0.07 of a second (eight points), then running the third leg of a relay that placed fourth (five). His runner-up effort in the 1,600 (metric mile) came on a miscalculation he made, in his second of the four events. The last two events for Morin, who is Sacred Heart-bound next fall, were first-place efforts in the 800 and 3,200. He won the 3,200 for the fourth straight year.

“It was a monster performance,” Portland coach Nick Chaconis said about Morin. “You can’t do better than that. He was huge.”

Morin’s day began with a 2:00 leg in the 4 by 800-meter relay in which he got the baton in fourth place as the team finished fourth, one spot behind East Hampton (Wilkie said that got the momentum going for the Bellringers). Morin then thought his lead was safe in the final 200 meters of the 1,600 but lost by 0.07 of a second at the finish line to Cromwell sophomore Louis Tobias. The 800 was nearly a three-second victory over Spencer Arbige of Old Saybrook, then the 3,200 (metric two-mile), the last individual running event of the meet, a solid 2.36-second win over Tobias.

“He wanted this race so bad,” said Blue Devils assistant coach Jack McShane, who works with the distance runners. “He’s owned the 3,200 since his freshman year. The fact that he had to run four events for the team really pushed him. He knew he was going to need every point for the team. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He never ceases to amaze me.

“After the 1,600, he was disappointed in the second [place] and I told him he’s got to counterpunch [Tobias] because that’s the third time he’s nipped him at the wire, twice in the indoor season and earlier today. I told him it was his turn in the 3,200 and he responded.”

What Morin heard or didn’t hear in the final half-lap of the 1,600 cost him. He said he didn’t hear the usual sounds when someone is closing in on him. Morin was caught by surprise.

“I was looking to the upcoming events,” Morin said. “I eased up thinking I had won. The second he passed me, I realized there was no way I was going to win it now.

“In the 800, I was going on the anger of the 1,600. I knew I had to come out big.”

Morin won in 2:00.54, with the first lap in 61 seconds and the second in 59. In the 3,200, he took the lead 300 meters into the first lap and stayed in front. He held off Tobias this time – he made an unsuccessful move with 300 meters left – and stretched out the lead in the final 100 meters. McShane called his 9:54.57 effort gutsy.

The Bellringers’ girls effort was highlighted by all three relays placing – the 4x100 fifth, the 4x800 third and the 4x400, which won. Senior Nikki Chambers ran the anchor in the 4x800 and a leg in the 4x400, but her highlight was breaking a meet record in the 800 that had existed since 1977 when Megan Kriege of Hand-Madison had run a 2:21.50. Chambers ran a 2:21.31 and was surprised to learn she had set the record.

Wilkie noted the effort of senior Laura Pumphrey, who was second in the high jump and the 100-meter high hurdles.

Jesse Petrini was the standout for the Portland boys, winning the long jump in 20-2 and placing sixth in the triple jump in 39-1. The Highlanders’ Rachel Debarge was seeded first in the javelin but finished third in 89-3. She placed fifth in the discus in 77-2 and finished in sixth in the pole vault in 8-6.

Sarah Bierly, a junior, was runner-up in the pole vault at 10-6 for the Portland record. Her goal is 11-feet but a mental block had stalled her progress until she set the school record of 10-1 on May 18 against North Branford. Her success on Wednesday leavers her optimistic that she is on her way and Chaconis says her work ethic will lead her to better performances.

Amanda Boyle, a senior, was runner-up in two events for the Blue Devils – the shot put in 28-11½ and the javelin in 92-6. Her goal is 100 feet in the javelin but performing in 300 hurdles, 4x400 relay and high jump has taken away some of her focus on the javelin.

Nick Duval was the top Haddam-Killingworth boy, winning the 200 in 22.43 and placing second in the 100 in 11.24. Leah Pfrommer, a freshman, was the best Haddam-Killingworth girl with three third-place finishes – 100 (12.95), 200 (26.94) and triple jump (31-9½), barely missing eighth in the long jump.

Alex Wesselcouch was seventh in the boys 1,600 for Hale-Ray’s only points.