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05/25/2012 01:00 PMThe Shoreline Conference meet brought a lot of firsts for the Haddam-Killingworth boys’ outdoor track team. First-place finishes, the first conference title since 1988, and the first time in school history the Cougars have claimed conference championships in cross-country, indoor, and outdoor track in the same school year.
Hosting the conference meet in its own backyard, HK took home its third track title on May 23, speeding past the competition and into the school record books. As has been the case all year the boys’ team was led by a deep senior class, scoring 137 points, 36 points better than second-place Coginchaug. The boys were backed up by a strong showing from the girls’ team, which led by sophomore Leah Pfrommer surprised some with a third-place finish, making the day even sweeter for the Cougars.
“We knew we had a strong team coming into the season,” said HK Coach Matt Diglio. “As the year progressed we really started to click, we were working hard, and were undefeated in our dual meets. The boys stepped up today, they scored in every event except discus and pole vault and that’s what it takes to win.”
HK was paced by senior Nick Duval who scored a team-high 38 points on his own, winning the 200, and 400, and anchoring the 4x400 relay team’s victory, also finishing second in the 100. Pat Dougherty and Jake Hinds also posted big scores, coming in first and second, respectively, in the javelin.
“The team worked very well this year and we have a lot of depth which helped,” Duval said. “If you are placing third, fourth, or fifth you are getting points, it is not always about winning your race. It was a great team effort, everyone went out there and got points and that was the difference.”
The Cougars showed their strengths in the relays, finishing in the top three of all three relays. Duval led the 4x400 team of Luke Gersz, Colin O’Brien, and Andrew Vollaro to a victory in a time of 3:30.30, the 4x100 team of Greg Duval, Will Ellery, George Nappi, and John Schuster came in third (45.83), and the 4x800 team of Drew Sodergren, Peter Brandon, Tom Day, and Gersz also came in third with a time of 8:16.35.
Eric Dornfeld came in sixth in the 110 hurdles and eighth in the 300 hurdles, Day and Brendan Walsh finished in third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,600 as well as third and fourth in the 3,200, and Vollaro (4th) and Bryce Colonia-Hughes (5th) joined Duval in scoring in the 400.
“We just have a terrific senior class, they have really led us,” Diglio said. “We’ve had different kids in different seasons, but we have a bunch of interchangeable parts, but the core group of guys has been there, and this was one of their goals. They pulled it off today and that says a lot.”
Gersz scored points in the 800, finishing in a team-high fourth place, Vollaro cracked the top five in the 200, coming in fourth place as well with a time of 24.21, and Canute Watson scored a point for the Cougars with his eighth-place finish in the same event. Eric Davidson scored by finishing eighth in the 3,200, Colin O’Brien (4th) and Dornfeld (7th) each racked up points in the long jump, while O’Brien also went on to place third in the high jump and fourth in the triple jump. Dornfeld also placed in the triple jump coming in seventh.
“I thought I did well, though I wish I could have done a little better in the 100,” said Duval. “The 400 was my toughest race of the day, but my goal was to win it. I thought I held my ground on our home turf.”
But, it wasn’t just the boys’ team which impressed as the girls finished higher than expected by coming in third. The Cougars scored 86 points, 16 points ahead of Valley Regional.
“The girls taking third was a really nice surprise,” Diglio said. “We were 9-1 in dual meets, but we knew we weren’t going to win with Old Saybrook in the field, but I thought we had a shot at top four or five. All in all it was an outstanding meet.”
The girls were led by super sophomore Leah Pfrommer who won the 100, 200, long jump, and triple jump all with personal-best times and distances.
“I went into the meet thinking it was going to be a good day, the weather was right and I knew I could get some personal bests,” said Pfrommer who called this meet the best performance she has ever had in a championship. “I wasn’t expecting first in every event, but that’s how it turned out.”
Pfrommer led the girls’ team with 40 points while Caitlin Blancaflor and Allie Buys came in second and fourth, respectively, in the 100 hurdles. Blancaflor and Buys also scored well in the 300 hurdles as the two again finished in scoring spots with Blancaflor coming in sixth and Buys in seventh. Menalie Hyde and Ally Rodman came in sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 3,200, Sarah Smith was the runner-up in the shot put with Destiny Jones adding a point with an eighth-place throw. Smith also went on to place eighth in the discus and Erin Buckley joined Pfrommer by scoring in the triple jump with an eighth-place finish.
HK’s relay team also showed well as the 4x100 team of Blancaflor, Buys, Buckley, and Ashley Vegliante came in third place, the 4x400 team of Lauren O’Brien, Grace Colonia-Hughes, Mackenzie Hinds, and Buys finished in seventh, with the 4x800 team of Hyde, Rodman, Hinds, and Megan Tischbein also coming in seventh.
“I think moving into states I’m only going to get better from here on out,” Pfrommer said. “Everyone is really excited and pumped and hopefully we go out and have another great day.”
The Cougars now turn their attentions towards the Class M Championship, and coming off an impressive day and season like the one they are having, confidence is at an all-time high.
“It is a tough class, but I would love to see us finish in the top 10, we have the talent to do it,” said Duval.