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Tigers Relay Way to Top Five Finishes at SCCs

The Hand boys’ and girls’ indoor track squads took part in the SCC Championship held at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven on Feb. 1. The girls’ team finished fourth with 36 points, behind Cheshire, Amity, and champion Hillhouse, while the boys’ side came in fifth with 34 points before Fairfield Prep, Branford, Amity, and winner Xavier. The girls’ performances were highlighted by strong relay and long jump showings, while the boys’ high marks were earned also in relays, along with the 55 dash and the pole vault.

For the girls’ slate, the Tigers’ day saw big leaps in the long jump with Christine Donat (16-6) and Natalie Baughan (16-1) finishing second and third respectively. Also for the girls, Jane Butler earned two points for Hand via her fifth place finish in the 600 (1:45.93). Jen Hahne duplicated that feat for the 1,600 as she also finished in the five spot (5:32.68). For relay events, the 4x400 quartet of Molly Citrin, Justine Griffin, Emily Shafer, Lauren Brady, Schaefer, and Butler came together for a fourth place time (4:22.21).

The team triumphs kept coming as in the 4x800, Hahne, Madeline Yaggi, Madeline Gould, Kathryn Phillips, along with Sarah and Rachael Odabashian finished third (10:02.92) before the Tigers saved the best for the 1,600 sprint medley. This was an event that saw Hand finish second behind the collaborative efforts of Yaggi, Butler, Phillips, Alyssa Sullivan, Christine Donat, and Natalie Baughan (4:33.64), finishing a mere .16 seconds behind Cross’ winning time.

As the girls’ side did in the long jump, the boys’ pole vault saw a pair of Tigers finish back-to-back as Rich Sangster and Ian Bergere tied for a second place finish (12-0). Additionally on the boys’ side, Hugh Whalen (6.60) and Ben Citrin (6.80) got things rolling for Hand in the 55 dash as they finished second and fifth, starting the Tigers off with nine points. Whelan finished only 1/100 of a second behind Hillhouse’s Harold Cooper for the top slot. For the 600, Nick Balow earned a fifth place spot (1:28.78).

In the relays, the 4x400 team of Balow, Mike Gentile, John Clarke, Zach Gardner, Bryce Thompason, and Jack Lazor (3:38.25) came in third for the event, while in the 1,600 sprint medley, Whelan, Constantine Loucopoulis, Lloyd Williams, Jacob Gardner, Conor Favre, and Adam Boey (4:02.89) finished fifth for the Tigers.