Champions Emerge in Boys Track

The most common formula for winning a state championship in track is to dominate a set of events, say the sprints, to accumulate points in bunches.

This is not what Manchester did to win the Class LL boys outdoor track championship Monday in Middletown.

Algernon Johnson was the only event winner for Manchester. The senior won the 100 meters in a time of 11.24.

No, Manchester's championship, won by the narrowest of margins, 75-74 over Danbury, was built on the accumulation of points awarded for second or fifth or eighth.

Consider Danbury had four first-place finishes in the meet but still came up a point short.

The reason is folks like Shamar Smith, who finished eighth in the 100 meters and fifth in the 200 or Patrick Dibble, who knocked almost four seconds off his seed time in the 1,600 meters and finished seventh, which was good enough for two points. Kodjo Erasmus who moved up a spot in the 110 hurdles to finish second or Brian Boudreau, who did the same to finish sixth.

Dashaun Hightower closed his high school career with an eighth-place finish in the 300 hurdles, gaining a point for his team by .07 seconds. Kweku Aidoo was third in the high jump and triple jump and Christopher Choiniere beat his seed jump by six inches to finish second in the pole vault. Seth DeValve was fifth in the shot put and Taylor Johnson was fourth in the discus.

If any of them slipped even a place in the standings, Manchester isn't heading to Monday's State Open as a champion.

Windsor championship in Class L was built along more traditional lines.

Zachary Langs won the 110 and 300 meter hurdles and Greg Andrade won the high jump and finished second in the tiple jump.

Still, the Warriors also got winning performances from a number of different athletes. Daniel Jamieson recovered from a false start in the 100 meters to finish fifth in the 200 meters. Dwight Meggie was third in the 400, right behind E.O. Smith's Adam Rosman, and both Jamieson and Meggie helped Windsor pile up points in the relays.

Jamieson joined Langs, Alexander Smith and Sherrod Peay for second in the 4x100 while Meggie joined Smith, Kymm Gordon and Aaron Cruz for a second place in the 4x400.

Kwency Crittenden was third in the triple jump behind Andrade and Tosin Edwards was fourth in the shot put.

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPS

Cheney Tech senior Tevin James won the 200 meter dash in the Class MM meet. James finished in 22.43 ahead of Lance Raye (22.86) of Platt-Meriden.

James also won the long jump with a leap of 21-10.

Tolland teammates Brian Fowler and Trevor LaFontaine finished 1-2 in the 1,600 meters. Fowler won the race in 4:20.53 while LaFontaine finished in 4:22.93.

Fowler also won the 3,200 meters, this time ahead of teammate Matt Mensher. Fowler finished in 9:42.18 while Mensher ran the race in 9:51.47.

Tolland's Adam Boucher won the javelin with a throw of 182-03, which was more than 13-feet better than his qualifying throw.

East Catholic's Andrew Hastings won the discus at the Class S meet with a throw of 136-09.

ON THE DIAMOND

East Catholic and Windsor Locks may be on a collision course in the Class S baseball tournament.

Both teams have reached the semifinals. East Catholic (19-3) will meet Wamogo in the second game Tuesday at Muzzy Field in Bristol. Windsor Locks (18-4) will face East Hampton in the first game.

East Catholic has spent most of the season figuring out how to win close games. The Eagles are 3-1 in games decided by one or two runs but things have been different in thre tournament.

They battered East Granby 22-3 and beat Cromwell 7-1. The Eagles lineup is deep. Tyler Aprea, Mike McMahon, Alex Fulco, KC Carone and Garrett Richardello are all capable of hurting a pitcher.

For Windsor Locks, the journey the tournament has been a little bit more like their trek through the regular season. That is to say, pitching has been the key. The Raiders have allowed one run in the tournament and will have a rested Chuck Vogt ready to go in the semifinals...Enfield reached the semifinals of the Class M tournament before falling to Montville 5-3.

The idea of one-game elimination baseball tournament is designed to make you pull your hair out. In Class L, Rockville, which reached the second round with a 1-0 victory over Bristol Eastern can at least meet the off-season assured that it lost to a better team in Foran, which is in the semifinals and beat the Rams 8-0. Tolland, which had to win a qualifying game and then beat top-seed Torrington to advance to the second round can only wonder what might have happened if they had gotten past Farmington, the No. 16 seed, which is still playing.

AROUND AND ABOUT

Fermi has reached the semifinals of the Class M volleyball tournament and will meet top-seed Darien Tuesday in Oxford where seniors Brian Carey, Joe Fragomeni and Nick Robert will hope to gain an upset to keep their careers alive.

E.O. Smith's John Brevnik reached the third round of the Class L tournament before losing to No. 2 seed Ted Berkowitz from Fairfield.

Ellington Ian Grinaski reached the third round of the Class M tournament before losing to No. 2 seed Zachary Bussiere of Bacon Academy-Colchester.

In Class S, East Catholic's Chris Waung has reached the quarterfinals and will meet No. 5 seed David Freeman, Weston, Monday at Conard High School in West Hartford.

East Catholic's Michael Scanlon reached the third round before losing to James Adamidis.

Somers has reached the semifinals of the Class S lacrosse tournament and will meet St.Joseph-Trumbull on Wednesday. Somers was a 19-6 winner over Old Saybrook in the quarterfinals while St. Joseph's has won defensive battles with Weston, 8-6, and Ledyard, 8-1, to reach the semifinals. The two teams don't have anything resembling a common opponent so it's difficult to gauge the matchup. Perhaps the easiest thing to say is that David Bell, Quinn Aslin, Matt Garcia, Nick Marrocchini, Matt Lynch, Mike Hanna, Zach Thresher, Garrett Ficara and Dan McDonald are unlikely to be fooled by St. Joseph's 10-8 record.

Ellington is the No. 3 seed in the Division III golf championships, which will be played Wednesday at Fairview Farms in Harwinton. Suffield is the No. 4 seed, which means both teams will be in the final foursome, a distinct advantage in the tournament. Ellington is led by Nick Larew and Mike Thibodeau. Suffield is led by Andy Mai and Dan Banks.

East Catholic is the No. 2 seed at the Division IV championships Monday at Tallwood Country Club in Hebron. East Catholic is led by Eric Johnson, Erik Vivenzio and Kyle Cholawa.