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The Woodstock Academy boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams are not only putting on their running, but also their traveling, shoes this winter.
The Centaurs used to get two or three ECC meets, including the championship, at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, which was generally their closest meet to home.
Unfortunately, that facility is being remodeled and is unavailable this year.
The ECC, instead, will host two meets at Providence Tech in Rhode Island with the league championship at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.
Coach Josh Welch said, “On the upside, we get to compete in better facilities." The Floyd Little Athletic Center also hosts the state championship meets later in the season.
The ECC championship tends to be the one that every indoor track team shoots for, the state championships are more of an individual goal.
The girls finished second in the league title meet to East Lyme last year.
The boys finished fourth in the league.
“It will always be tough to take what we have and put them against East Lyme and NFA and the numbers they have. We try to take individual championships and put a dent in (East Lyme and NFA’s) scores,” Welch said.
The Centaurs boys had three first-place finishes in the league meet a year ago while the girls went one better and finished with four league firsts.
The state championship meets will also present a challenge, not only for the athletes, but the coaching staff.
The girls are in Class L this season and will compete in New Haven at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10. The boys are in Class M and are slotted for a 10 a.m. start on Feb. 11.
Girls’ Preview
The Centaurs have some pretty talented athletes to work with. Senior Bella Sorrentino, for example, has turned away from some other sports such as volleyball and gymnastics to focus on her track career.
While specialization in high school is not always looked highly upon, in this case, it may be a good thing considering where the senior’s future may lie.
“I think it’s good for her. She has some really good recruitment opportunities coming her way, she has college coaches reaching out from all over the place,” Welch said.
Sorrentino will help the team with that versatility as she will compete in the throws, jumps, sprints and hurdles.
“Her sprints are coming along, her hurdle times are getting significantly faster where she could compete in the hurdles alone at the Division I level, never mind as a multi-event athlete. It’s great to see her focused on her goals and I know we she wants to continue that in college,” Welch said.
Sorrentino is not the only talented athlete.
Senior Magdalena Myslenski qualified for the Nationals last year in the discus outdoors and will be throwing the shot indoor and is also very competitive in the pole vault.
“I think the Nationals experience helped her confidence but she is just growing up and is a tremendously responsible, mature kid, super-bright and super-coachable. It seems like there has been a shift there (in confidence) and we will see how that works out as we head toward competition. She’s more outspoken and taken more leadership. She is definitely one of the top two in the ECC’s in pole vault if she doesn’t get frazzled,” Welch said with a smile.
Senior Sophia Quinn will also compete in the pole vault and shotput.
The Centaurs also have sophomore Juliet Allard who was strong in both the sprints and hurdles as a freshman.
Other sprinters include senior Gianna Smith, junior Kendall McCormack, and sophomores Isabella Selmecki and Mia Sorrentino. Junior Talia Tremblay is a strong middle-distance runner.
The team has a plethora of distance runners in seniors Lauren Brule, Tessa Brown, and Sydney Lord; juniors Lana Syriac and Julia Coyle; sophomore Kira Green and freshman Olivia Tracy. Brule, Coyle and Selmecki will also compete in some middle-distance events. Junior Jillian Edwards will lead the way in jumps with Mia Sorrentino, Smith and McCormack also competing in those events.
“I think we have standouts and possible ECC champions in the hurdles, the dash, the high jump, could have some in the shotput and pole vault.”
Boys’ Preview
The Centaurs have 28 boys out for the program currently which is a little smaller than in the recent past. But that number at the start of a season can be fluid.
The boys’ cross-country team has helped to populate the boys' indoor team with sophomore Christian Menounos, who qualified for the New England cross-country championship, leading the way among distance runners. Vincente Bastura and Charles Cagiano, Joel Koleszar and Colton Sallum will compete in distance events. Bastura is the defending ECC champion in the 1600m. The Centaurs lost  Keenan LaMontagne but Jared Eaton is back. Junior Austin Adams and sophomore Michael Susi (pole vault/jumps)  will also compete in the throws.
Sprints are dominated by the senior class with Jeff Phongsa, Liam Wilcox, Rocco Corrado and Braedon Emerson all returning and both Carter Saracina and Brian Jameson joining the program for a first time.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

Schedule: Sun., Dec. 18: ECC Development Meet at Providence (RI) Tech, 1 p.m.; Mon., Dec. 26: ECC Development Meet at Providence (RI) Tech, 1; Sat., Jan 7: at Bethel Invitational, TBA; Fri., Jan. 20: at UConn Invitational, TBA; Sat., Jan. 21:  at Bethel Invitational, TBA; Sat., Jan 28: at ECC Championship (at New Haven Athletic Ctr), TBA; Fri., Feb. 10: at Class L girls state championship (at New Haven), 4:30; Sat., Feb. 11:at Class M boys’ state championship (at New Haven), 10 a.m.; Sat., Feb. 18,at State Open Championship (at New Haven), noon.

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