The strength and conditioning work that Julia Theriaque is putting in at Woodstock Academy is apparently paying off.
Theriaque cleared 4-feet, 10-inches in the high jump Dec. 19 in a season-opening meet for the Woodstock Academy girls’ indoor track team at Tantasqua Regional High School in Sturbridge, Mass.
The Centaurs downed Oxford, Mass. (44-42); Bay Path Tech (50-35); and Leicester, Mass. (43-41) but fell to Tantasqua (55-30).
Woodstock Academy was missing a number of athletes due to other holiday commitments at the school.
Theriaque was a bright spot with her first-place finish.
The junior is already taking aim at the number she reached in last year’s outdoor season and coach Josh Welch said that could very well mean an Eastern Connecticut Conference championship could in the offing.
“The work we are putting in with coach (Brenden) O(stazewski) and coach (Jeff) Higgins seems to be paying off.  (Julia) looks much stronger and more explosive than she has in the past.  She had amazing form in the air last year but the additional speed and power in her take off is great to see,” Welch said.
Another expected standout, Ivy Gelhaus, finished first in the 600-meter in just over 1 minute, 53 seconds.
Welch thinks a newcomer to the team, Aochen Li, has a very good chance to qualify for the States the 55-meter hurdles and possibly the 50-meter dash as well.
“She was very nervous. It was her first time racing the hurdles but she was aggressive and attacked each one.  She is a pretty fierce competitor which is not immediately obvious from her mild manner,” Welch said.
Iris Bazinet also showed growth in the 1000-meter event.
Welch is also excited to see what kind of growth Sydney Couture and her brother, Lucas, have accomplished. Neither was at the season-opening meet, but both were expected to be in attendance for the Eastern Connecticut Conference Development meets that took place last Saturday and will again this Saturday at the Coast Guard Academy.
“They are beginning to work with Patriot Pole Vault outside of practice to get themselves some additional air time and have been committed to strength and conditioning work and speed work to prepare them physically, so I have high hopes for both of them in that event as well as the hurdles.  It would be great to see both of them pick up near where they left off in outdoor to start,” Welch said.
Boys’ Team Wins 1
The boys’ team was not as successful as the girls in their opening meet.
The Centaurs downed Oxford (45-40), but lost to Bay Path (51-34); Tantasqua (65-21); and Leicester (44-41) also held at Tantasqua Regional.
Kenneth Birlin was the top performer for the boys as he placed second in the 1000-meter and also participated in the 1600-meter event.
Welch is confident that Danylo Ntamwemizi and C.J. Burroughs will continue to improve in their quest to make state competition in the shotput.
The two have both been working on their glide and both are throwing the shot around 38-feet currently.
Freshman Ezekial Pichierri ran well in the 50 meter event.
The Centaurs were missing two of their distance runners, Ethan Aspiras and Evan Gianfrido due to prior commitments.

Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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