By Conny Galvez, Intern
Despite temperatures reaching the 80s last Tuesday, the New Canaan High School’s Track and Field team competed at the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIACS) Championships showcasing remarkable talent and team spirit.
This year the FCIAC hosted the outdoor championship for track and field that included a variety of high schools that are part of Fairfield County on May 21, 2024, at Danbury High School.
“Track and field is surprisingly a very tough sport. You have to be physically and mentally strong and technically perfect to compete with the best,” said Jeffery Brentson, head coach for New Canaan’s track and field team, “Our coaching staff does our best to prepare them both physically and mentally to deal with the challenges they will face in a big meet like FCIAC championships.”
Throughout the competition season, athletes are put through a variety of workouts to prepare them for tough races and the championships. “Tailoring the intensity or length of a workout for each athlete and providing specific drills or practice to fix individual weaknesses is a normal practice that we do with just about every athlete on the team at some point or another in order to get them ready for championships,” said Coach Brentson
With training all season for the FCIACS Championships New Canaan High School had many students participating in a variety of events where their training paid off.
The boy’s track and field team participated in the 200 meters, a sprint race where athletes run half of a standard track; the 400 meters, a sprint race that consists of one lap around the track; the 800 meters, a middle distance race that consists of two laps around the track; 1600 meters, a middle distance race covering four laps around the track; 4×100 relay, a relay race where teams of four runners each complete a 100-meter leg; 4×400 relay, similar to the 4×100 relay, but each runner covers a 400-meter leg; 4×800 relay, a relay race with each runner completing an 800-meter leg; 300m Hurdles, a race where athletes sprint and hurdle over barriers placed around the track; Shot Put, a throwing event where athletes throw a heavy metal ball for distance; Discus, another throwing event, where athletes spin and release a disc-shaped object for distance; and Pole Vault, an event where athletes use a long, flexible pole to propel themselves over a high bar.
Meanwhile, the girls track and field team also participated in the 800 meters; 1600 meters; 3200 meters, a long-distance race also known as the 2-mile race involving eight laps around the track; 100m Hurdles, a sprint race with hurdles spaced along the track where athletes sprint and jump over barriers; 300m hurdles; 4×100 relay; 4×400 relay; 4×800 relay; Shot Put; Discus; Javelin, a throwing event where athletes throw a spear-like object for distance; High Jump, an event where athletes jump over a horizontal bar using a specific technique without knocking it down; Pole Vault; Long Jump, a jumping event where athletes sprint down a runway and jump as far as possible into a sandpit; and Triple Jump, a jumping event where athletes perform a hop, step, and jump into a sandpit, aiming for maximum distance.
In the running events, several members of the boys track and field team achieved notable times and top-10 finishes. Ryan Boulanger excelled in the 1600 meters, setting a personal record of 4.29.60a and placing 10th. He also competed in the 800 meters, finishing 7th with a time of 1.58.62a. Additionally, the 4×400 relay team, consisting of Hugo Smith, Quinn Kilkenny, Ryan Boulanger, and Spencer Paine, secured 6th place with a time of 3.33.57a.
The boy’s team’s throwers also delivered impressive performances. In the Shot Put, Walter Schmitz and Owen Lydon both placed in the top 5, with Schmitz throwing 43-feet, 9-inches to take 4th place and Lydon throwing 43-feet, 8.25-inches to finish 5th. Lydon further excelled in the Discus, winning 1st place with a throw of 140-feet, 8-inches. Carter Sihpol placed 7th in the same event with a throw of 114-feet, 7-inches. In the Javelin, William Brooks and Ben Bognon finished 9th and 10th, with throws of 132-feet, 1-inch and 128-feet, 0-inches respectively.
In the Pole Vault, Robert Frangione represented the Rams, placing 6th with a height of 11-feet 6-inches.
Johann Wrede, a runner for the boys 4×800 relay, said, “I’m proud that a lot of us were able to come this year. I think out of recent years this is the most people we’ve had come to the FCIACS. So it’s a real improvement for the team.” He also emphasized another improvement for the team this year: New Canaan has more people qualifying for states.
The girls track and field team showed amazing results as well, many had amazing numbers and placed above 10 in their events.
New Canaan’s female track and field athletes displayed impressive performances in the running events. Elizabeth McLaughlin placed 6th in the 800 meters with a time of 2.28.19a seconds and 7th in the 1600 meters, achieving a personal record of 5.21.41a seconds.
Evangeline Colger followed her in the 1600 meters, placing 8th with a personal record of 5.33.87a. Laxi Levene secured 9th place in the 100m Hurdles with a seasonal record of 17.52 seconds. In the 4×400 relay, Kaisa Milligan, Margot Stanley, Isabella Madrid, and Elizabeth McLaughlin placed 8th with a time of 4.13.24a.
Additionally, the 4×800 relay team, consisting of Sienna De Kanter, Delia Bakal, Radea Raleva, and Clare Fields, finished 7th with a time of 10-minutes, 10.03-seconds.
In the throwing events, Lauren Smith led the team with standout performances. She placed 1st in the Shot Put with a throw of 35-feet, 5-inches, followed by Julia Michelini in 7th with a personal record of 31-feet, 1-inch, and Maggie Murphy in 10th with a throw of 30-feet, 0.75-inches. Smith also placed 2nd in the Discus with a throw of 111-feet, 4-inches, while Olivia Michelini and Julia Michelini placed 8th and 9th, both throwing 78-feet, 10-inches. In the Javelin, Smith secured 2nd place with a throw of 121-feet, 1-inch.
In other field events, Cora Shooshan placed 4th in the High Jump, clearing 4-feet, 10-inches. Alexandra Cota finished 8th in the Pole Vault with a height of 8-feet, 0-inches, and Milana placed 8th in the Triple Jump with a distance of 32-feet, 11.5-inches.
Runner for the girls 4×800 relay, Sienna De Kanter, said, “we didn’t spend a lot of quality time just narrowing down on FCIACS, I feel like the general season as a whole kind of prepared us and just gave us confidence going into it.” Besides being prepared all season, the other runners who were teamed up with Sienna expressed that the heat that day was a factor that really affected them.
“Then today, we just kind of reminded ourselves of the work we’ve put in, and the time that we put into this and that in the end all that pain that’s going through these two minutes,” said De Kanter.
