ESSEX, VT- Essex High School hosted the Essex Invitational on Saturday, May 26th, which is the New England Qualifier. Local Co-Ed varsity track and field programs were in action: Windsor, Bellows Falls, Green Mountain and Springfield. The top six finishers in each event at Essex move on to New England’s, held at the University of New Hampshire on June 9th. Three local boys and six local girls, including five girls from Bellows Falls, qualified to represent their program at UNH.
NOTABLE LOCAL BOYS FINISHES
Shot Put: First place- Reno Tuttle (Bellows Falls) 50’5”. Ninth place- Ethan Rhoad (Windsor) 40’8”.
Discus: First place- Reno Tuttle (Bellows Falls) 147’5”.
Reno Tuttle of Bellows Falls set two state records on Saturday. Bellows Falls head coach, Tim Eno, said, “…Big day for Reno (Tuttle)… two state records in shot and disc. It should be an exciting day for him at the New Englands.”
Javelin: Sixth place- Shane Clark (Bellows Falls) 145’2”. Twelfth place- Cadence Wheeler (Springfield) 135’6”.
Pole Vault: Second place- Shane Clark (Bellows Falls) 12’0”.
Long Jump: Sixteenth place- Eli Milligan (Windsor) 18’10.75” (personal record).
Windsor head coach Patrick Gordon, on Milligan’s skill in the long jump, said, “We view Saturday’s performance as a warm-up for what will surely be a great day for him at States. His performance in the Long Jump is what stands out. He jumped 18′-10.75″, placing him fourth overall going into the State meet. Eli is proving himself to be an exciting field event specialist.
Triple Jump: Sixth place- Cadence Wheeler (Springfield) 40’8.75”.
For Windsor, senior Vincent Moeykens ran an 11.99 in the 100m prelims. Yellow Jackets head coach, Patrick Gordon, on Moeykens, said, “… short distance specialist… ran his first sub 12 second 100m dash of the season at 11.99. We hope that this is a good omen of things to come next week at the D3 State meet. Moeykens took second place in the D3 State meet last year with an 11.64 dash.”
Gordon also took the time out to compliment his two hurdlers, saying, “Freshman Owen Abrahamsen and Junior Daniel Dexter each competed in the 100m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles. Abrahamsen’s performance in the 110m hurdles of 17.63 seconds placed him thirteenth overall in the state, and was the second highest freshman overall. Dexter’s 17.83 scamper in the 110m hurdles was good for sixteenth. In the 300m Hurdles field, Abrahamsen was the highest ranked freshman by ten positions with a time of 44.52, and Dexter took fifteenth with 44.86. Both are ready to work hard going into the D3 meet where they are surely going to be ranked in the top 5 for each event.”
NOTABLE LOCAL GIRLS FINISHES
100m: Fourth Place- Avery Prescott (Green Mtn.) 13.14.
200m: Sixth place- Avery Prescott (Green Mtn.) 27.41.
800m: Thirteenth place- Abby Dearborn (Bellows Falls) 2:34.01.
3000m: Eleventh place- Lia Clark (Bellows Falls) 11:15.51.
100m Hurdles: Eighth place- Brigid Hodsden (Bellows Falls) 17.39.
300m Hurdles: Third place- Abbe Cravinho (Bellows Falls) 49.95 (personal best). Fifth place- Macie Streeter (Bellows Falls) 50.84. Seventh place- Michelle Marchica (Bellows Falls) 50.94.
Discus: Third place- Savannah Bradbury (Bellows Falls) 97’6”. Tenth place- Emma Lawrence (Bellows Falls) 86’2”.
Javelin: Ninth place- Brigid Hodsden (Bellows Falls) 88’6”. Eleventh place- Emma Lawrence (Bellows Falls) 85’2”.
High Jump: Third place- Avery Prescott (Green Mtn.) 4’11”.
Pole Vault: Third place- Jaden Luebbert (Bellows Falls) 8’3”. Fourth place- Brigid Hodsden (Bellows Falls) 7’6”.
Triple Jump: Fifth place- Michelle Marchica (Bellows Falls) 34’1.5” (personal best). Springfield’s 9th-grader, Haley Gibbons hit a PR of 28’4” despite the rain.
Springfield head coach, Jim Fog, on some Cosmos highlights from Saturday’s meet, said, “In running events, 9th-grader Chloe Jerman-Brown led us off in the girls’ 1500, shaving half a second from her previous PR set last Wednesday. AJ Aldrich ran an exemplary 400m dash, cutting his PR by almost a second to 55.49, the fastest on the team right now. Mason Olney and Will Bishop ran the 300m Hurdles; Mason dropped his PR two seconds to 47.30, and Will followed closely with 47.81. Max Leninski capped our individual events with a PR of 24.44 in the 200m dash, finishing 16th out of 47 runners. He, Kody Politza, Bishop and Aldrich combined in a 4×400 relay to end our day. Cadence (Wheeler) had our top-ranking finish of the day, placing 6th with a jump of 40’8.75”.”
For many athletes, June 2nd will be their big day of competition. These four local teams will compete at Green Mountain on Saturday, June 2nd for the VT State Meet. Fog, on the upcoming State Meet, said, “I’m very pleased at how high a percentage of our team have qualified, most in multiple events. Many of these athletes have just joined us this year, making their success even more significant.”
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