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

6th CT Distance Festival

Friday, April 19, 2024

RESULTS

MSR Photos by Ron Knapp

Meet Photos by Craig Rosenberg

Video Replay by West Hartford Community Interactive

In a few years from now, we will look back on this time as the one of the glory days of CT girls distance running. It’s not just one dominant girl but depth is on display every big meet. On Friday night, the girls mile lived up to expectations at the 6th CT Distance Festival held at Hall HIgh School in West Hartford with boys and girls competing in the classic distance of the mile and the Olympic 5000m distance many will run in college. 

Defending State Open 1600m champion Tess Sherry of Conard went right to the lead for the first half of the mile race, taking the field through the 809 mark in 2:27.75 with seven girls within a half of a second. Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss, the Open and New England 1000m champion took over at that point, trying to separate herself from All American miler Kate Bohlke of Newington but to no avail. Bohlke has learned to run like a college runner and just sat in the pack and waited to strike, using a 1:07 last lap to pull away from the field winning in 4:49.27. She not only broke the meet record, but she ran the 9th fastest time nationally and the 5th fastest time in state history. 

Photo contributed by Lara Bohlke

Strauss held on for 2nd, also breaking the meet record and running the 20th fastest time nationally and the 11th fastest time in CT all time. While Tess Sherry lost her meet record, she too, went under the record running US #24 time of 4:53.72. Lyme Old Lyme’s Chase Gilbert also broke into the all time CT list running 4:55.00, good for 13th. Rhode Island’s indoor 1500m and cross country champion Rory Sullivan hung on to break 5-minutes and finished 5th in 4:59.43. 

Class S 1000m champion Lily Tabellione of Portland led the way early in the 5000m with New Milford’s Izzy Greene lurking behind the first half of the race. Once Greene made her move she quickly built up a sizable lead, eventually winning in 18:26.46, a Nike Outdoor Nationals qualifying time. New Hampshire's Anna Fondakowski of Bishop Guertin eventually crept into second finishing in 18:49.04 with Tabellione settling for 3rd in 18:55.43.

The girls weren’t the only ones who put up some big performances on Friday night under the lights. The boys shined in the mile as well and had some additions to the CT all time list in the 5000m. 

There is a saying in distance running, “take speed and move it up”. Jack Mattingly of E.O. Smith and Simsbury’s Daniel Coyne are both more accomplished as 800m runners and were looking to race against more established milers such as Jamie Lano of Coe-Brown, New Hampshire, Jack Ouellette of Xavier and Manchester’s Cian Gara Grady. With a pacer to take the field through 2:10, the runners were all within a second of each other at the halfway mark. But Mattingly, who normally leads from the gun, waited until this moment to grab the lead. Then at the bell the senior, who recently committed to Northeastern, blasted through a 59-second last lap to become the surprise winner in a time of 4:15.88. Ouellette looked like his old self, taking 2nd in 4:17.51 with Gara Grady overtaking Coyne and holding off Lano to finish 3rd in 4:19.08. 

While the top ten were juniors and seniors, Hamden sophomore Alexander Medina not only broke 4:40 for the first time, he broke 4:30 as well, finishing in a time of 4:27.89. Finishing five seconds behind was Griswold freshman Tycen LaBelle who crossed the line in 4:32.37, the 22nd fastest 9th grader nationally. 

The 5000m can be a rather long race for spectators, but the athletes put on a show to make this race exciting until the very end. By the 3000m mark, the leaders were whittled down to a pack of three that included Suffield’s Griffin Mandirola, the 3rd place finisher at this year’s cross country Open, Colby Bornstein of Tolland who was the Indoor State Open champion in the 3200m and Jonas Teeter from Portsmouth Christian NH. The trio went through 3k in 9:04-9:05 and that is when Bornstein struck and took the lead. Mandirola stuck to the Eagle like glue and waited until the final few meters to just barely inch out the victory with both dipping under 16 minutes. The Suffield senior, who will attend UConn next year, ran 14:59.12 which is not only US #14, it is also the 18th fastest time in state history. Bornstein can take solace in his time of 14:59.60 which is not only US #15, it is also the 19th best performance in CT history. 

This is the 6th edition of this meet which gives regional athletes a chance to set personal records and over 25% of the fields did just that. Meet directors Jeff Billing and Chris Stonier and their entire staff should be commended for hosting such a well organized meet that never veered more than four or five minutes off schedule and included a party atmosphere with music that allowed fun to be held by all in attendance. 

Oregon Relays 

Hayward Field, Eugene OR

RESULTS

There was other distance action across the country where Greenwich, based on their 3rd place finish at Nike Indoor Nationals in the 4x1-mile, was invited to participate in the Oregon Relays at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon. 

Their DMR placed 9th in a crowded field that included New Balance Indoor Nationals DMR Champion, Cuthbertson of North Carolina. Esme Daplyn ran the 1200m leg splitting 3:38.42 with Ellana Daplyn handling the 400m let in 1:02.63 as Lauren Resnick ran 2:28.29 for 800m and Kate Friedman anchored with a 5:07.89 1600m leg. Their time of 12:17.22 missed their school record by about six seconds but they still ran the 25th best time nationally and earned the right to return across the country to compete in Nike Outdoor Nationals. 

Esme Daplyn also ran the open 800 in 2:15.36 as did relay alternate Margaret McCooe who ran 2:21.51. Friedman ran the 1 Mile in 5:06.20 and so did Resnick who finished in 5:27.85. 

At the same meet, there was a professional DMR and Brooks Beast Track Club came away with the world record. Brannon Kidder, Brandon Miller, Isaiah Harris and Henry Wynne combined to finish in 9:14.58 which broke both the American and world record by almost a second. 

For newer fans of CT track and field, Wynne is still the CT mile state record holder (4:05.04) and he broke 1:50 to win New Englands his senior year in high school, defeating none other than his future teammate Harris of Lewiston, ME who finished 2nd a little over three seconds behind. Talk about a couple of local boys doing good. 

Check back later for a recap of other exciting performances at meets throughout the region this weekend.