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The Woodstock Academy girls’ track team was sporting plenty of medals at the end of the Tetlow Relays. Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.
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Skinned knees and all, junior Juliet Allard was still happy after picking up three victories. Photo by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.
The hopes were high coming into the season.
And after the first meet, they may have even climbed a bit higher.
The Woodstock Academy girls’ track team opened their dual meet season with a rather impressive victory, 105-44, over the East Lyme Vikings Wednesday.
“I knew we had a good chance of beating them this season but I didn’t think it would go down like that. It was a decisive victory,” said coach Josh Welch.
The Centaurs were dominant.
They took first-place finishes in all but three events.
“When we get on the bus, I always ask the kids who set a personal best today? I don’t think there was a kid on the bus that did not. It was one of those days where everyone was firing on all cylinders.”
Even when things didn’t go quite right.
Junior Juliet Allard was a winner in the 100-meter race and a member of the winning 4x100relay team.
But the 300-hurdles were another story.
Allard was enjoying a “heck of a run,” according to Welch, when disaster almost struck.
“She took a full fall on the last hurdle, rolled to about 10 feet from the finish line, skinned her knees up pretty good, twisted her ankle, she sat and regrouped for a second and then popped up and crossed the line in first anyway,” Welch said. “Hopefully, it’s a quick bounce back with a minor tweak to the ankle so I think she will OK in a few days.”
Senior Julia Coyle also had a banner day but a testing day as well.
She joined Talia Tremblay, Olivia Tracy and Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain and won the 4x800m relay but she also finished first in the 1600 and 3200m races.
“It’s a tall order but one of those things that I know because she will have to be able to triple up and get back up from Olivia Tracy and the others doing distance to help fill in the spaces. We’ve been working hard to help her develop the strength to run a double or triple in certain spots and she showed she can really do that well,” Welch said.
Tremblay took first in the 400m and was a member of the winning 4x400 and 4x800m relay teams.
Jillian Edwards was best in the 100m hurdles and high jump.
Senior Reegan Reynolds could be the next one to own a Woodstock Academy school record. She had a personal best in the triple jump at 34-feet, 1-inch which is within a foot of the school mark. She also took first in the long jump and filled in on the winning 4x400m relay team.
On the throwing side, Lily Morgis was first in the discus, qualifying for the Nationals with a toss of 106-feet, 5-inches.
“I’ve been watching her development and she has exceeded expectations. We were kind of hopeful that she would be in the low to mid 90’s early season and develop into the 105-115 feet range. She pops out at 106 feet on Day 1 and she has a lot more upside. She is just a young thrower,” Welch said.
Another sparkling performance was had by Elise Coyle who finished second in the 200m, second in the 400m and second in the long jump.
Emma Weitknecht was second in both hurdle events and was also a member of the winning 4x100 and 4x400m relay teams.
The team followed up that performance with some more fun in the Tetlow Relays in Ledyard on Saturday.
Edwards qualified for the Nike Emerging Elite Nationals with a first-place in the high jump as she cleared 5-feet.
Two other girls’ relay teams qualified for the Emerging Elite Nationals with a pair of first-place finishes.
Elise Coyle, Allard, Tremblay and Reynolds won the 4x400m in 4:11.9 and the 4x800m relay quartet of D’Alleva-Bochain, Tremblay, Julia Coyle and Tracy won their event in 10:11.2.
Weitknecht was second in the 300m hurdles; Avery Plouffe was second in the shotput (32-8.5) and Elise Coyle was second in the long jump (15-7.5).
Four freshmen, Rita Rawcliffe, Grace Berberian, Mckenzie Saline and Avery Schaffer took second place in the 4x1600m relay event.
Boys’ Track
The Tetlow Relays offer up a chance for athletes to participate in different combinations of events.
Sometimes, those can result in some pretty memorable performances which is what happened to the boys’ track team as it took down three school records on Saturday.
Owen Williamson, Gavin Grant, Eli Manning, and Gabriel Hull set a school standard in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay, finishing in 1 minute, 23.5 seconds.
The distance medley relay team of Bronson Eddy, Charlie Caggiano, Colton Sallum and Jackson Durand also now owns a Woodstock Academy school record as they finished in third overall at the event in 11:59.2.
And the 4x1600-meter relay team of Sallum, Joel Koleszar, Christian Menounos and Caggiano placed second in the competition and now own the school mark after a 19:03 finish. Thatcher Paterson finished second in the long jump with a leap of 39 feet, 4-inches and Eli Manning placed fourth in the discus (123-2).
The Co-Ed 4x400m team of Menounos and Caggiano along with Juliet Allard and Talia Tremblay easily finished first in 3:46 and also qualified for the Nike National Championships.
Saturday's nice performance helped after the Centaurs opened the season with a 117.7 – 32.3 loss to E. Lyme. Paterson won the long jump with an even more impressive leap of 41-4.5. Menounos was a two-time winner taking the 200m in 23.9 seconds and the 400m in 52 seconds. Sallum was also a winner in the 1600m in 4:37.9.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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