Cosmos shine at home meet

Staff Report
The Springfield High School Track & Field teams held their second meet of the season hosting the Division 1 Hartford Hurricanes and the reigning Division 3 champion Thetford Academy Panthers at Cosmos’ Gurney Field on Tuesday.

Cool, wet weather could not dampen the fiery competition in this fast-paced meet, which lasted less than 3 hours, making the combined 4x400m relay a climax for teams and fans alike. The Hartford boys — T. Bassette, C. McCrory, E. Jeon, and F. Sunde — won that event in 3:56.15. The Springfield boys — C. Jeffers, T. Amsden, D. Stagner, and S. Presch — took second, improving their time to 4:04.73, edging out the Thetford boys — B. Mattern, T. Durham, C. Banks, and B. Acker — at 4:07.88. The Thetford girls — C. Brown, L. Hanissian, A. Egner, Z. Star — won uncontested at 4:51.69.

Individually, on the boys’ side, Springfield featured moonlighting hard baller Sam Presch taking first in the 400m with a 58.16, and third in the 100 at 12.54 (both personal records), and anchoring the 4x400m. Junior Austin Laplante, in his first meet of the season, won the 3,000m unopposed with a time of 12.35.

Sophomore Damian Stagner placed second in the 1500m at 5:12.79, second in the 800m with a personal record of 2:19.13, and then ran leg 3 of the 4x400m relay. Chris Jeffers took second in long jump with a personal record of 18 feet, 7 inches, tied for third in high jump at 5 feet, 2 inches, and started the 4x400m relay. Senior Donovan Smith placed second in javelin with a throw of 110 feet, 4 inches, third in discus with a personal record of 82 feet, 11 inches, and sixth in shot put at 30’ feet, 7 inches. Junior Tim Amsden ran a personal record of 1:03.7 to place third in the 400m, secured fifth in long jump at 14 feet, 4 inches, and ran leg 2 of the 4x400m relay. Junior Captain Aidan Donahue placed third in shot put with a 33 feet, 8 inches, and sixth in discus with a throw of 73 feet, 2 inches. Freshman Dylan Magoon took third in the 1,500m with a 5.17.23 and fourth in the 400m at 1.04.7. Feshman Marshall Simpson placed fifth in the 400m at 1.07.9.

For the women, Senior Captain Haley Gibbons won triple jump with a season best 29 feet, 2 inches, and also won shot put with a personal record of 24 feet, 7.5 inches. Senior Captain Skyler Congdon won the discus event with a season best 64 feet, 4 inches. Senior Anna Ondre placed second in high jump at 4 feet, 8 inches, and second in long jump at 13 feet, 6 inches. Junior Alicia Ostrom placed second in both the 3,000m with 13.52 and the 1,500m with 6.16.26. Chloe Jerman-Brown placed third in the 800m at 2.56.74. Gabby Anders took third in Javelin at 49 feet, 4 inches, fourth in shot put at 18 feet, 8 inches, and sixth in discus at 47 feet, 2 inches. Sophomore Kaylee Newton placed third in discus with a personal record of 61 feet, 6 inches, while her classmate Olivia Howard finished fourth in 1,500m with a time of 7.12.93, fifth in discus with a 53 feet, 4 inches, and fifth in shot put at 18 feet, 6 inches.

Thetford won the meet for both boys (80 points) and girls (71.5 points) by dominant margins, while Hartford narrowly edged out Springfield for second, 37-36 for girls, 43-37.5 for boys. All teams agreed the meet proceeded with remarkable efficiency and yielded many personal records and State Meet qualifiers.

The Cosmos host Windsor and Woodstock this coming Saturday, starting at 2 p.m. Spectators are reminded that due to COVID-19, they should remain on the hillside outside the fenced competition area.