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06/12/2016 12:00 AM

North Haven Track Represents at State Open, New Englands


Junior Omar Gebril finished sixth in the 400-meter dash at the State Open and was later one of four Indians’ athletes who competed at the New England Championship.Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

Girls’ Outdoor Track

The North Haven girls’ outdoor track team had three athletes compete at the State Open Championship as the Indians scored 14 points to finish in 15th place at Willow Brook Park on June 6.

Erica Marriott continued her remarkable freshman season by taking second place in the long jump with a distance of 17 feet-5.75 inches to score eight points. Marriott was only behind Janaia Skibitcky of Cheshire (17-7.75). The week before, Marriott recorded her first postseason victory by winning the long jump with a school record leap of 18-1.5 at the Class L State Championship. Marriott also scored four points in the 100-meter dash at the State Open by running a time of 12.55 seconds in the finals for a fifth-place finish. In the preliminary heat, she had gone a 12.57, which was the sixth-fastest time. Marriott had previously set the school record in that event, as well, when she ran 12.31 seconds in the prelims at the SCC Championship. She wound up finishing second in the finals.

Five days after the Open, Marriott competed in both the long jump and 100 at the New England Championship at Willow Brook. She finished ninth in the long jump at 17-2 and was 10th in the preliminaries of the 100 with a 12.54.

The Indians’ other point scorer at the State Open Championship was junior Sarah Vanacore, who put up two points in shot put by taking seventh with a distance of 35-10.25. Vanacore had previously won the event at this spring’s SCC West Sectional Championship. She also won it at indoor sectionals this winter and last year’s outdoor sectional meet. Vanacore placed 20th in the discus at the State Open with a 95-3.

Also for North Haven at the Open, senior Sonia Atluru finished 18th in the high jump at 4-10. Atluru had claimed victory in the event at the Class L meet the previous week and she’s also won it five other times in her career by prevailing at indoor sectionals the past two seasons, outdoor sectionals as a junior, and at the indoor SCC and state meets in her junior season.

On the campaign, North Haven 6-4 for the regular season and then finished seventh at the West Sectional Championship, eighth at SCCs, and sixth in Class L.

Boys’ Outdoor Track

The Indians were represented by four athletes at the State Open Championship and scored seven points to finish in 30th place at Willow Brook Park in New Britain on June 6.

Senior Shane O’Connor took fifth in shot put behind a throw of 49 feet-4 inches to score four points. O’Connor had won the event at the West Sectional Championship, the SCC Championship, and the Class MM State Championship earlier in the postseason after taking first at all four Connecticut postseason meets during the indoor campaign. O’Connor also won the shot put at last year’s outdoor SCC meet and has eight career postseason wins.

Junior Omar Gebril tallied two points in the 400-meter dash with his time of 49.37 seconds that put him in sixth. Gebril won the event at the Class MM meet and he also won it at last year’s outdoor sectional and SCC meets. Gebril also took first in the 600 at sectionals and states during the winter indoor season and has six postseason victories for his career.

On June 11, Gebril and O’Connor both competed at the New England Championship at Willow Brook Park. Gebril placed 11th for the 400 in 51.05, while O’Connor took 13th in the shot put at 49-7.5.

Additionally at the State Open, senior Ryan Brennan notched a ninth-place finish in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:26.11. Brennan had broken a 48-year-old school record in the event when he ran 4:21.89 to place second at the SCC Championship.

North Haven had one other athlete compete at the State Open in senior Anthony Valentin0, who took 17th in the javelin at 151 feet. Valentino had recorded his first postseason victory by winning the javelin at the Class MM meet.

On the year, Head Coach Steve Celmer’s squad posted an undefeated regular season by going 13-0, after which the Indians finished third at the West Sectional Championship, fifth at the SCC meet, and fifth in Class M.

Girls’ Tennis

After winning her first two matches in the State Open Championship, freshman Julia Migliorini was eliminated in the third round when she took a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to 10th-seeded Daphne Kreiger on June 6.

Migliorini, who was the No. 7 seed, had previously defeated Emily Beck from Haddam-Killingworth 8-2 and Berlin’s Jasmine Nappi 8-0 in the first two rounds of the Open.

On the season, Migliorini posted a record of 21-2 on her way to being named the SCC Division I Girls’ Tennis Player of the Year.