MySportsResults.com Featured Meet Preview

26th Journal Inquirer Greater Manchester Invitational - A Featured Meet Preview...
(May 17, 2007 - 9:45pm - By Ron Knapp)
One of the final 2007 Featured Meets, the 26th Journal Inquirer Greater Manchester Invitational, takes place this Saturday, May 19, 2007 at Wigrin Field at Manchester High School with a start time of 9:30am. This late spring special invitational brings together twenty schools from the readership area of the sponsoring newspaper, the Manchester Journal Inquirer, including Bolton, Cheney RVT, Coventry, E. Catholic, E. Hartford, E. Windsor, Ellington, Enfield, Enrico Fermi, Glastonbury, Manchester, RHAM, Rockville, S. Windsor, Stafford, Suffield, Tolland, Windham Tech, Windsor and Windsor Locks. Long time Journal sportswriter and meet announcer, Matt Buckler, provides a special supplement for the meet that provides a profile of each team and is a worthy commemorative item for each athlete. The scoring meet hosts schools divided into two divisions, Large and Small, so that each athlete has the opportunity to not only compete against schools outside their class in each event for one of eight medals but their teams also have a chance to vie for the top two team trophies.

The top athletes headlining the Boys Meet as entered in the online entries include Nick Frimpong of East Hartford (6'8") in the High Jump, he will also contend with top ranked athletes Justin Wilson of Windsor (23'2-LJ) and Mike Hartfield of Manchester (23'2"-LJ) in both the Long and Triple Jumps. In the Pole Vault, one of the state's best this season is Matt Alexander of Windham Tech (14') with Nathan Rossi of Stafford (13') as the next challenger. In the Throwing Events, Mike Goulet of Glastonbury (54'1") returns to defend his title against Jacob DeValve of Manchester (49'4") and Mike Wilder of Windham Tech (48'8"). Wilder of Windham Tech (168'10") is the top seed in the Javelin Throw followed by Dennis Gaudet of Rockville (165'5"). Chris Willadasen of South Windsor (140') is top ranked in the Discus Throw followed by Goulet of Glastonbury (138'11").

On the track in the sprint events, Charles Sims of Glastonbury, Nana Ocran of Manchester, Tyler Hopson of RHAM and Brian Lowe of Fermi are all seeded at 11 seconds or faster for the 100m Dash. The 110m High Hurdles looks like a duel between Ken Godek of Enfield (15.57) and Shane Satchell of Windsor (15.60). In the 300m Hurdles, Satchell (41.00) is challenged by top seed John Pleckatis of E. Catholic (40.85). In the 200m Dash, Ocran of Manchester (21.88) is top ranked and must contend with Alexander Anderson of Enfield (22.09). The 400m Dash pits Anderson (50.10) against Kelcey Crittenden of Windsor (50.50) and DeValve of Manchester (50.56). The distance events look exciting as well starting with the 800m Run as the top four seeds are under 2-minutes; Dave Macklem of Tolland, Rob Dugger of Glastonbury, Dave Krinjak of Manchester and Chris Klobedanz of Glastonbury. Although Will Griffin of East Catholic is top seeded at 4:23.20, he'll be challenged by Will Edgington of Manchester (4:25.54) and Andrew Sullivan of Ellington (4:31.77). Griffin is scheduled to return to run the 3200m run but top ranked Glastonbury runners Donn Cabral (9:21) and James Llamas (9:41.11) will battle each other to take home the top place. In the first relay of the day, the 4x800m, Manchester has the edge (8:10.40) but Ellington (8:21.49) and East Catholic (8:27.00) leave little room for error. The 4x100m Relay always presents fast and close finishes and top ranked Enfield (43.27) will have to move the baton quickly to stay ahead of Manchester (43.29) and RHAM (44.60). In the final relay of the meet, the 4x400m event is always close competition and frequently decides the outcome of the team score. Look for the top five seeds to all be in the hunt for the victory with top seed Windsor (3:28) followed by Manchester (3:30), Tolland (3:31), Glastonbury (3:34) and East Catholic (3:34).

The field events for the Girl's Meet provides no less challenges as seen in the Long Jump with top seed Priscilla Appiagyei of S. Windsor (16'7.5") contending with Sabrina Morrett of Manchester (15'10") and Jill Pizzo of Glastonbury (15'8"). Appiagyei (34") returns as one of the top three seeds in the Triple Jump behind Aicha Diaby of Tolland (34'11") and Asia Barber of Rockville (34'). The High Jump will provide close competition with Tess Koensismark of Fermi and Rona Li of Glastonbury both at 5-feet followed by several at the 4'10" seed mark. The Pole Vault seedings provide no clear cut favorite with Amy Dwire of Tolland, Sara Ferguson of S. Windsor and Alex Messmer of Suffield all entered at 9-feet. The Throwing events will provide sparks of competition as Tasara Baijo of Rockville (34') contends with Alexi Edsall of E. Catholic (33'4") in the Shot Put. Marissa Boucher of Tolland leads all Javelin throwers with a 113' seed mark followed by Mallory Mangen of RHAM (108'). In the Discus Throw, Mangen is seeded second at 99' behind top seed Amy Grigg of Rockville (101'1").

On the track in the Sprint events, the 100m Dash favorite is Chelsea Jubrey of Rockville (12.22) but will see a challenge from Sam Willis of Tolland (21.72). The 100m Hurdles features the Windsor duo of Esther Darko (13.50) and Shenita Daker (13.52) against Katrina Ainsworth of Rockville (15.92). Ainsworth is the top see in the 300m Hurdles (45.81) with Yolanda Jackson of Manchester (48.80) as her top competitor. The 200m Dash may be the sprint race of the day as it features four competitors under 26 seconds; Leigh Weisse of East Catholic, Jubrey of Rockville, Elsa Millet of Mancheter and Willis of Tolland. Willis and Millett will first square off against each other in the 400m Dash with Willis as the top seed (57.77) followed by Millett (58.60), Sarah Hill of Rockville (58.80) and Appiagyei of S. Windsor (58.90). The 800m Run features sub-5minute miler Jamie Olson with a seed time of 2:15.17 followed by Karen Gurnon of Tolland (2:20.04) and Karina Johnson of E. Hartford (2:21). Christine Vogel of Glastonbury is the favorite by a wide margin in the 1600m Run with a 5:07 seed time followed by Julia Hickey of Manchester (5:23) and Katie Beam of S. Windsor (5:26). Hickey (11:34) is slated to return in the 3200m Run behind one of the state's top runners Erica Hines of Fermi, seeded at 11:15.40. The 4x800m Relay is a showcase for the Glastonbury quartet entered with a time of 9:27.17 followed by Manchester at 9:50 and S. Windsor at 10:08. The 4x100m Relay looks to have several top contenders with E. Catholic (50.80), Rockville (50.82), E. Hartford (51.0), Windsor (51.51) and Ellington (51.87). The final 4x400m Relay should provide an exciting finish to the meet as Manchester (4:03) is challenged to move the baton with out error by Glastonbury (4:05.36), Tolland (4:08), Rockville (4:10) and E. Hartford (4:10).
Click to view information at meet website: 26th Journal Inquirer Greater Manchester Track and Field Invitational