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LaMontagne,
Myslenski
head for
Nationals
The track season is still not over for a pair of Woodstock Academy athletes. Senior Keenan LaMontagne and junior Magdalena Myslenski will pack their bags this week and travel to Eugene, Ore., to compete in the National High School Track and Field championships.
Lamontagne earned the trip at the Middletown Invitational earlier in the season when he threw the discus 175-feet, 8-inches.
He will be leaving June 16 to compete in Nationals June 18. It’s the same day that his class is graduating. But going to Nationals was a goal he has had since freshman year and the commencement will take a back seat.
“It’s going to be fun,” LaMontagne said. “Everybody graduates high school, not everyone goes to Eugene, Ore. to compete in track. I just want to do well and have fun, hopefully (get a personal best). The top guy there throws 210-feet. That will be a lot of fun just to watch him throw.”
He won’t be going alone. Myslenski also qualified for the Nationals in discus early last week at the State Open track championship with a throw of 113-feet, 6-inches.
“I’m going,” she said with glee. “I just booked the flight and I will be there. It will be weird without my Mom but I will be with coach (track assistant Gerry Lamontagne) and I’m really excited for it.”
Myslenski said it’s something she never envisioned happening. “Absolutely not,” she said.
Myslenski’s best in the discus a year ago was 104 feet.
She placed second in Class MM on June 1 and fifth in the State Open championship five days later.
“I was fourth in MM and 14th in the Open last year so it was definitely a step up. Placing in the top six was unbelievable. I was seeded 10th, didn’t expect a fifth-place finish, but I’m so grateful. It was another year with a phenomenal coach. (Gerry LaMontagne) went to Dartmouth for football and track and he has made such a great impact on my career. I, honestly, don’t know if I would be throwing 100-feet plus without him,” Myslenski said.
Gerry LaMontagne was recently named Assistant Coach of the Year at Woodstock Academy.
Myslenski credited not only coach LaMontagne, but his son, Keenan, for her advancement.
“I watch his emotion and how he has progressed and how he was throwing last year to being a Division-I (college) commit (Keenan LaMontagne will throw for Bucknell University) now and that’s something I can look up to and something I can look forward to, hopefully, in the future,” Myslenski said.
The two also competed last weekend in the New England Track and Field championship at a very familiar place for them, Willow Brook Park in New Britain, the same site that hosted the State Open earlier in the week and the Class MM before that.
LaMontagne was seeded fifth going into the discus at the New England’s and placed fourth with a throw of 169-11.
Myslenski was seeded 15th but fell just short of the top 10, placing 11th with a personal best throw of 115-6.
She was just a foot away from qualifying for the finals of the event.
“For these last two (New England’s and Nationals), I’m not expecting top six or top 10. I just want to see how well I can do compared to these girls and see if I can use what I know and my technique to get a new personal record, and who knows, maybe break the school record,” Myslenski said.
She is not far off that mark. The Woodstock Academy school record is approximately 123 feet.
Myslenski qualified for the New England’s with her finish at the State Open earlier in the week.
“She made a big jump to get up there. We were just shooting for a top-10 and we figured if she got a 110-feet plus throw, she would have a chance to do that. She got a personal best, bumped her up to fifth, and exceeded her goals and expectations. It surprised me as well,” said girls’ track coach Josh Welch.
Keenan LaMontagne finished second in the State Open with a throw of 165-6.
The winner, Gary Moore Jr. of Hillhouse High in New Haven threw for 187-10.
“I was like, ‘Come on’,” LaMontagne said with a shake of his head. “It’s a lot of fun to watch him throw.”
Moore is pretty formidable. “He has five state records. He swept all the throwing events (at the State Open) which has never been done in state history before. He’s not that good,” LaMontagne jokingly said.
There was another significant event at the State Open championship last week. Senior Ian Hoffman may not have placed but did break his own school record in the 800-meter with a 1-minute, 59.9 second finish.
“The thing I kept egging him toward was that he broke the school record but he was still over two minutes. That’s not as exciting as a 1:59 on the (Woodstock Academy track record) board. We didn’t have many workouts between the Class meet and State Open so he had to go out there and have a great race. He did,” said Welch, who had held the 800-meter record at the school prior to Hoffman.
Boys’ track coach Peter Lusa said there was a reason behind the improvement. “It was nice for him to focus on one event because he has always done three events every meet. It’s like he had to stage between the 800, the pole vault and the 4x800. It was nice for him to have the luxury of just the one event to prepare for and I think we saw some of the result,” Lusa said.
Hoffman said the original goal was to break Welch’s record, but he always wanted to break the two-minute barrier.
His previous best was just 11 hundredths shy of that.
“It was so close when I broke it the first time. It’s like a sneeze and you’re over the line. It felt really good. I was close to that two-minute mark again but I was under it,” Hoffman said. “It was a tough race. We went out a lot faster than what I’m used to. I wasn’t sure I would be able to keep it up but I hung in there and was happy with the result.”
There were several other Woodstock competitors at the State Open.
Senior Linsey Arends placed 18th in the 800-meter even though she was less than four seconds from the top 10.
Welch was hopeful the 4x800m relay team would make New England’s but a dropped baton and a fall pushed the quartet back to 19th.
The Centaurs girls’ team will lose some strong athletes in Arends, Hailey McDonald and Leah Castle.
But Welch feels he has a strong nucleus coming back.
On the boys’ side, Lusa said he was overall happy with the season.
“A lot of us who have done this for a long time, were like, ‘Good, let’s get back to normal.’ The kids weren’t there yet. They are great kids, but the whole regimen of training and being ready. We’re coming off of two years of doing nothing for some kids. It constantly nipped at our heels,” Lusa said.
The Centaurs will lose LaMontagne and Hoffman as well as River and Scout Favreau, Thai Le, Silas Strandson, Seamus Lippy and Chase Young.
“I had like 13 juniors and I think there will be a few more one-hit wonders. Kids who don’t go out for baseball or lacrosse. There are a good chunk of sophomores who will be juniors and our freshmen were pretty strong. We had some throwers among the freshmen, some distance runners and a sprinter,” Lusa said.
Boys’ Golf: Finishes 9th
For the second week in a row, boys’ golf coach Rich Garceau came back from a golf tournament with a large smile on his face.
The Centaurs followed up their second-place performance in the ECC championship tournament with a ninth-place finish in the CIAC Div. I championship.
Garceau said he judges performance by two factors. The Centaurs excelled in both.
The first is to do better than the team is seeded. Woodstock was the last seeded team, No. 15, in the tournament. It climbed six spots to break into the top 10.
The second factor is how well they did against fellow ECC opponents. The Centaurs finished with a 343, 15 strokes better than NFA and 25 better than Fitch. E. Lyme also qualified but did not post a team score.
What has been the key to the late season success? A little practice does make perfect sometimes.
“We had a couple of days where we were able to just go to Quinnatisset (Country Club) and just practice. We weren’t worried about scores. I keep a lot of statistics as to how the kids are doing out of the sand traps, putting, driving and I have a big, old spreadsheet that I might be a little obsessive about but when we practice, we can pinpoint some areas to work on,” Garceau said.
Two weeks prior to the two tournaments, the Centaurs had time to work on certain skills.
Garceau said one key in the state match was the team’s bunker play. It had been struggling with that aspect of the game.
“I saw a lot of good sand shots which probably saved us quite a few shots and, at the end of the day, probably several positions in the standings,” Garceau said.
The course wasn’t exactly set up for an easy day either.
Although the tournament was playing from the white tees, on all but two holes – a couple of par 3’s – the whites and black tees (the low-handicap tees) were in the same spot.
“I create a video and post it for the guys to watch as kind of a walk through for the course and give them the yardage..etc. All of my yardages were completely off,” Garceau said with a shake of his head.
Senior Kyle Brennan had the best day, shooting a seven-over par 78 which tied him for 12th overall.
Garceau said the team, as a whole, wasn’t exactly feeling any pressure because of its seeding. Brennan was feeling even less.
When Garceau caught up with him on the course, Brennan simply pointed to one of his playing partners. “He told me that ‘He plays hockey, I love that guy. We’re having so much fun talking about hockey.’ I just told him, if he keeps playing well, he can talk hockey all he likes,” Garceau said with a laugh.
Junior Davis Simpson was second on the team, four strokes behind Brennan and tied for 24th with an 82.
Simpson will likely be the team’s No. 1 player next year as both Brennan and Chris Thibault, who finished with a 90, graduate.
“Sometimes Davis puts a lot of pressure on himself. He’s a high achiever whether it’s in the classroom, on the golf course or on the ski slopes, he wants to perform at the highest level and, sometimes, he puts more on himself than he needs to and those are the days that he will struggle,” Garceau said. “If he can control the emotion, realize golf is a game of consistency and confidence and stay focused in the moment- he will be a very solid golfer not just for us but in the league overall.”
Freshman Logan Rawson and sophomore Donnie Sousa both got valuable experience by playing in the championship tournament.
“I’m really happy with how the guys came together,” Garceau said. “I pretty much knew it was going to be a dogfight with NFA and East Lyme and we didn’t end up at the top of our division but we were competitive. Nobody walked all over us. We played strong and held our heads up. We worked hard and in the last two tournaments, we proved we were the best team in our division. I think the guys can take a lot of pride in that. I know I do.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
captions:
Competitors
Senior Keenan LaMontagne, left, and junior Magdalena Myslenski were happy after their performances at the State Open Track and Field Championships. LaMontagne finished second in boys’ discus while Myslenski finished fifth in girls’ discus and qualified for both the New England and National Championship meets with a throw of 113-feet, 6-inches. Josh Welch photo.
‘Chipped’ Ball
Senior Chris Thibault proudly shows off the ball he had just chipped in on the seventh hole of the CIAC Div. I state championship. Rich Garceau photo.
Blasts Out
Senior Kyle Brennan blasts out of a bunker during the CIAC Div. I state championship. Brennan finished tied for 12th in the final competition of the season. Rich Garceau photo.
Tees Off
Junior Davis Simpson tees off on the opening hole for the Centaurs, the 10th, of the CIAC Div. I golf state championship. Simpson finished tied for 24th. Rich Garceau photo.
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