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Top, from left: Talia Tremblay, Emma Weitknecht, Julia Coyle and Juliet Allard finished first. Below, from left: Anthony Beaudreault, Colton Sallum, Charlie Caggiano and Christian Menounos finished third overall and set a school record. Photos by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.
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Left: Christian Menounos placed second in the 800-meter and now owns the Woodstock Academy school record in the event. Right: Avery Plouffe placed third in the shotput. Photos by Josh Welch/Woodstock Academy.
Records are meant to be broken. The Woodstock Academy boys’ indoor track team proved that on Saturday.
Two school records fell at the East Coast Indoor Track Invitational at Providence Career and Technical Academy in Rhode Island.
Junior Christian Menounos broke his own coach’s 800-meter school record by finishing second in the event in 2 minutes, 1 second.
Indoor track coach Josh Welch had held the mark since 1998.
“That’s one of the things that I’ve had as a goal is to help train some folks to try and break that and we’ve had a couple of folks get under the (800m) outdoor record. There is just not a lot of opportunity to run the indoor 800m unless you get to Nationals and that is one of the reasons we selected this Invite was that I knew (Menounos) was ready to take that down,” Welch said.
There was a little question mark as to whether Menounos would.
He had just recovered from a bout with illness, but he showed no ill effects as he missed winning the event by a tenth of a second.
“He really wanted the win and it was right there for him but he got a little boxed in at the start, got stuck along the rail, and ended up about three seconds off pace at the start. He fought his way back out after that first lap and ran some great splits to make up for the time but in an ideal race, he is well under two minutes,” Welch said.
To put that second place into perspective, there were six heats of the 800m with approximately 15 runners in each heat.
“It’s a huge meet, the biggest one that we will go to for sure,” Welch said.
It was not the only record that Menounos would put his name on.
He joined Colton Sallum, Charlie Caggiano and Anthony Beaudreault in the 4x400m relay which finished in 3:42.43.
That broke the previous school record set by Welch, James Duncan, Jason Braaten and Dan Cady in 1997.
“They were four or five seconds off the school record pace the last time they ran it so we knew it was a possibility but everyone running it was coming off other events so I wasn’t sure (Saturday) would be the day. They got really fired up for it and ran some great legs,” Welch said.
The Centaurs finished third overall behind St. Johnsbury Academy and Norwich Free Academy.
Sallum finished seventh in the mile with a personal best 4:36.53.
Aidan Kane qualified for state competition with 19-foot, 2 ½-inch effort in the long jump.
On the girls’ side, the quartet of Talia Tremblay, Emma Weitknecht, Julia Coyle and Juliet Allard finished first in 4:18.55 to capture first by over three seconds over second-place Bloomfield.
“The girls 4x400 will be one of the tops in the State in Class M and could do well in the (State) Open, too. We beat Bloomfield and its relays are always fantastic so that was good to see,” Welch said.
The girls were just three seconds off qualifying for Nationals in the event.
“Talia is just getting into shape now and, while her leg was solid, she has a lot more in the tank. Juliet Allard is just getting used to running in the 400 so (qualifying for Nationals) could happen any time,” Welch said.
Sophomore Avery Plouffe tossed the shotput a personal best 31-feet, ¼ inch to finish third overall in the competition.
Senior Jillian Edwards also placed third in the high jump, clearing the bar at 4-feet,10-inches.
“She’s had so many jumps at 5-feet, or 5-2, and nicks the bar with her toe. You can see the frustration in there. She has a 5-2 jump in her any time this season when things come together,” Welch said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..