By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp

After a few early season invitationals, the first big meet of the season is upon us. The CT Distance Festival is returning for the 6th year on Friday night at Hall HS in West Hartford CT and just like the past five, some of the best times in the nation will surely be run. Meet directors Jeff Billing of Hall and Chris Stonier of Xavier have once again assembled an outstanding field. 

This is a unique meet that only conducts the 5000m and mile events. While there are qualifying standards of 17:30 (boys) and 20:30 (girls) for the 5k, all entrants can run the mile. Expected entries include 62 boys in the 5000m and 15 for the girls 5k. The boy's Seeded mile has 78 athletes expected to compete who have run under 4:45 and the girls Seeded mile has 62 athletes who have run under 5:45. The meet also has entries for 184 girls and 295 boys of all abilities who will run in the earlier Unseeded heats of the mile. 

The faster sections will be held later in the evening with the girls championship mile going off around 7:30 and the boys Tom Butterfield Boys Championship Mile taking place around 7:45. The Girls Championship 5k will be held around 8:00 pm with the Robert Michalaski Championship 5k expected to start about 25 min later. The winners of the Girls Mile and Boys Mile will automatically be qualified for the top-seeded heat of the famed Loucks Mile later in May.

Top entries in the boys mile

Jamie Lano from Coe Brown, NH. He was 18th at New Balance Nationals Indoor in 4:15.00 and was part of the New England championship 4x800m last outdoor season. 

Daniel Coyne of Simsbury, State Open 800m champion in 2023 and has shown off his range with a 4:15 mile last year. 

Owen Martin and Jack Oullette were the two longest legs on Xavier’s All American DMR last year as sophomores. The pair have gone 4:18 and 4:15 and should be a factor if they are on pace. 

Another junior who is beginning to make a name for himself is Cole Francis of Narragansett, RI. He was 4th at New Englands this indoor season in 4:18.81 and 6th in the RI Cross Country Championships. 

Manchester’s Cian Gara Grady was 5th last year at the Distance Festival and worked his way down to a sub 4:20 mile to finish 8th at the State Open. 

Devon Rosemark of Danbury was 3rd at the State Open in the 1000m this indoor track season and finally broke 4:20 for the mile at the Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational. Last year at this meet, he broke 15:10 in the 5000m. 

East Lyme’s Sean McCauley was the Class M 3200m champion and had the fastest time going into the State Open this winter before an illness forced him out of the race. He ran 15:20 in the 5k at the Distance Festival last year before finishing 7th at New England in the 3200m as a sophomore. 

Better known as a 800m runner until a 6th place finish at the Open in cross country and a 5th place finish at New Englands gave him distance cred, Jack Mattingly of E.O. Smith was looking to move up in distance this winter before an injury forced him into the comfort of the 600. Watch for his finishing speed. 

Top entrants in the girls mile

The State Open rarely brings the best runners together for one race to battle it out, but this year’s girls mile at the Distance Festival is very nearly doing that. Five girls who have put up some of the fastest times in CT history will toe the line on Saturday. Here are a few of the top athletes: 

Newington’s Kate Bohlke continues to put up impressive performances every time she steps on the track. She earned All American in NBNI in the mile and just barely missed the indoor state record with a best of 4:45.60. She hasn’t lost a beat in the past few weeks as evident by her recent state record in the 2000m steeplechase.

The biggest challenge to Bohlke has been Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss who is also entered in the field. She has pulled off incredible doubles and triples to help her team and with only one race on her schedule for Friday, she could make this race very interesting. She was the New England 1000m champion and gave Bohlke one of her few defeats to a CT runner this year when she finished in front at the Yale Invitational. 

Conard’s Tess Sherry is the defending State Open 1600 champion, running under 4:50 last year. She is also the meet record holder at 4:56.30 which is sure to have several girls under that mark this year. 

In her first season of indoor track, Liv Sherry won the State Open 1000m championship in 2023. Since then she was 2nd in the 1000m this indoor season and 2nd in the 800m last spring. While she usually sticks to the shorter races, she ran a 4:51 mile last year at NBNO and was 4th at the cross country State Open to prove she can handle the distance. 

Old Lyme’s Chase Gilbert burst on the scene last year as a freshman with a 3rd place finish at the cross country Open and an Open title in the 3200m during outdoor track. She looked like she was ready to have an even better sophomore year until a back injury cropped up and prevented her from starting the Open in the fall and she didn’t compete indoors until March. She proved she is back with a 10:48 2-mile at NBNI and a 4:56 to easily win the Bellringer Invitational a couple of weeks ago. 

Rhode Island cross country champion and Nike Cross Country Nationals qualifier Rory Sullivan joins the field. She was also the RI indoor 1500m champion with a sub 4:40 time to her credit. 

Lucy Moran of Branford was 3rd in the State Open 1600m with a 4:56 finishing time. This winter she won the Class M 3200m title but did not compete in the State Open. 

Entrants to watch in 5k Championship Races

For about 20 years the CIAC had the 5000m in the Class meets, State Meet and most conferences competed in it as well on the boys side. In the early 2000s it was taken out of the program to the dismay of many distance coaches. But within a few years, several invitationals sprung up and featured this rarely offered event. Claire Daniels’s meet record of 17:05.18 is the 3rd fastest time in state history. 

New Milford’s formidable cross country team has continued to support this event and will be led by top seeded Izzy Greene was a member of the 2021 New England Cross Country championship team and has been all state the past two years. 

Greene was supported this fall by Amelia Sabatino who finished 22nd at the Open last fall and qualified for New Englands this winter in the 1000m.

Kat Taborsak has running in her DNA. Her grandfather is Danbury’s Hall of Fame cross country coach who ran for Coach Dan O’Grady and her brother AJ was also an All New England runner currently running for University of Vermont. She was 3rd in Class MM and was an integral member of the 6th place State Open team this past fall. 

Anna Fondakowski travels from Bishop Guertin, NH where she was 23rd in the 2023 NHIAA X-C Meet of Champions, qualifying for New Englands. 

Two years ago was a magical year in the boys 5000m with Newington’s Michael Bohlke setting the meet record of 14:39.94, being pushed by two out of state runners less than a second behind. This year could be almost as fast. 

Returning from the Granite State is Matthew Giardina fresh off his 8th place finish at NBNI in the 5000m where he ran 14:40.52. He also pulled away from a trio of CT’s best to win the New England 2-mile championships this past winter. Last year he was 5th in the 5k in the Distance Festival. 

Joining Giardina from our northern neighbor is Jonas Teeter from Portsmouth Christian NH. He pulled off an admirable double at Indoor New Englands taking 10th in the mile and 9th in the 2-mile. He was also 16th in the NH Cross Country Meet of Champions to qualify for New Englands. 

When Luke Davis is on, he is among the very best in the region. Last year the Simsbury junior pulled off an incredible triple at the Class L meet running a leg of the 3rd place 4x800m, came back to run a 4:14 1600m and finished with a win in the 3200m, finishing in 9:20. That kind of performance shows someone who has the strength to compete in the 5k. 

North Haven’s Nico Boyle was a solid conference and Class level runner last year but has emerged as one of the state’s elite this year. He was All New England in cross country and was 2nd in the 3200 at the State Open during indoor. 

Another athlete who has steadily improved this year is Xavier’s John Larkin. He helped the Falcons to a Class L title this winter by winning the Class L 3200m race and he finished 5th at the State Open and just missed All New England with a 7th place finish in the 2-mile. 

Bishop Hendricken (RI) has been a New England powerhouse going back a few decades. Will Olsen is just the latest in a long line of Hawks who have been one of the elite in Rhode Island and New England. He was 15th in the Rhode Island Cross Country Championships and 8th in the 2-mile at New Englands this indoor track season. 

Colby Bornstein just keeps getting better and better. The Tolland senior was Class M champion in cross country and even earned All New England. But this indoor season, he reached another level taking 2nd at the State Open in the 1600m and doubled back to win the 3200m. He followed that up with a 2nd place finish at New Englands and has a great chance for a top three finish on Friday. 

Meet Information 

Athletic.net - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/538415/info/174622 

The first heat of the boys Unseeded Mile is expected to begin the evening at 4:00pm with the meet ending at 9:0pm. Check out the Estimated Time Schedule

Live Results on Athletic.net at https://live.pctiming.com/meets/34398 . Our friends at Paynes Corner Timing are the best in the business around here and will again be providing results in real-time! In addition, Paynes plans to get a 2 lap (809 meter) split for each miler as well as 1k and 3k splits for every competitor in the 5k. 

T-shirts. With about 700 athletes competing there are only 300 t-shirts for sale, $15 each. Cash & VenMo will be accepted.

Live Stream at https://youtube.com/live/3N8hQbuOUPI . Our friends at West Hartford Community TV will be on site and filming. Feel free to share this link with friends and family who can't make it to Hall on Friday. 

Northeast Kingdom Running Camp. Our friends at NKRC will be raffling off a free week of camp to one boy and one girl entered in the meet. The winner of the raffle will be announced at about 7:30 pm over the PA.  

Concession Stand. Our parent volunteers are planning a concession stand that will be selling water, gatorade, bananas, granola bars, candy, soda and pizza slices from a local restaurant. 

Food Trucks. New this year - food trucks! We have 1 truck confirmed and are working on a second. Craftbird believes in farm-to-truck deliciousness. They strive to bring the best chicken sandwiches and the freshest ingredients. 

Bus & Parking Guidelines

With all the rain there have been many sporting events moved to Friday. Hall is hosting 2 baseball games, 2 softball games, 2 tennis matches, a middle school faculty basketball game and a track meet with 700 athletes from 60 schools. It's going to be packed. Especially if you have a bus that will be bringing you to & from the meet, please read the document linked above.

Please follow all state & town laws regarding parking. That feels silly to type, but last year in the middle of the meet, admins were scrambling to find a bus driver who had parked the bus blocking a residential driveway. There will be ample security on site offering help if you have questions.