MySportsResults.com Featured Meet Preview

Naugatuck Valley League Championships - A Featured Meet Preview...
(May 17, 2007 - 9:45pm - By Ron Knapp)
In the final Featured Meet of the 2007 season, MySportsResults.com presents the Naugatuck Valley League Championships, hosted by Watertown High School with Coach Jeff Lownds assisting Meet Director Jerry Ciarleglio. The NVL Championship Meet on Monday, May 21, 2007 (with qualifying in some field events on Saturday, May 19) is highlighted by competition among more than 400 athletes of the twelve boys and eleven girls teams in the conference including Ansonia, Crosby, Holy Cross, Kennedy, Naugatuck, Sacred Heart, Seymour, Torrington, Watertown, Wilby, Wolcot and Woodland Regional. The defending team champions are the Naugatuck Boys Team coached by Ralph Roper and the Seymour Girls Team coached by Tom Lennon.

The Boys field events are highlighted by several top conference athletes including two 12' competitors in the Boy's Pole Vault, Adam Bolton of Naugatuck and Brian Stowe of Seymour. The Girl's Pole Vault features Christina Lasto of Seymour at a seed mark of 9-feet. In the other vertical event, the Boy's High Jump presents Jacob Drozd of Seymour (6'4") contending with Marcus James of Wilby and Jerome Mitchell of Holy Cross, both at 6'2" seed marks. The Girl's High Jump is a duel between Jasmine Cribb of Naugatuck (5'4") and Katie Tereskiewicz of Seymour (5'2"). The Boy's Long Jump includes a close match between teammates Devin Pinder (22') and Duane Bennett (21'6") of Wilby while the Girl's Long Jump is a contest among a trio of jumpers; Nicole Jones of Woodland Regional (16'6") and Torrington's Kelsey McKenna (16'6") and Brooke Johnson (16'4"). In the Boy's Triple Jump, Pinder is the favorite with a 45-foot seed mark while Brittany Wilkes (31'2") and Jessica Mancini (30'10") of Holy Cross vie for the top place. In the throwing events, the Boy's Shot Put has Ryan Culbertson of Naugatuck as the top seed (49'4") challenged by Lee Dinwiddie of Holy Cross (48'10") and Eric Alfiere of Woodland Regional (48'9"). The Girl's Shot Put is led by top ranked Kristina Bush of Holy Cross (35'4") with close competition from both Jess Biercecivz of Seymour (34'9") and Kayla Williams of Naugatuck (34'8"). The Boy's Javelin Throw pits Alfiere of Woodland (177'2") against second seed Steve Paternoster of Watertown (169') while the in Girl's Javelin Throw Biercecivz of Seymour (133'6") will toss against second seed Sarah Ciarleglio of Holy Cross (127'2"). In both the Boys and Girls Discus Throw, the top two seeds are closely matched with Christopher Puzacke of Torrington (123'4") against Dinwiddie of Holy Cross (123') and Courtney Ambrose of Sacred Heart (106'1") challenged by Ciarleglio of Holy Cross (105'4").

On the track, the 4x800m relays start the meet with the Torrington Girl's quartet the favorite at 10:15 while Wilby is the team to beat in the Boy's race with a seed time of 8:06. The 4x100m relay for Boys will see Wilby (43.70) and Naugatuck (43.70) in a head to head challenge for first place. A similar situation exists in the Girl's 4x100m relay between Torrington (50.40) and Kennedy (51.70). The sprint events start off with the Boy's 110m Hurdles, led by one of the state's best, Andrew Corridore of Naugatuck (14.49) followed by Ty Kittle of Torrington (15.30) and Tom Membrino of Woodland (15.99). The Girl's 100m Hurdles features another top state performer, Noelly Germosen of Wilby (15.00) followed by teammate Brittany Gilliams (15.50). The Boy's 100m Dash has five top contenders under 11 seconds with Duane Bennett of Wilby (10.80), Dan Mulrooney of Holy Cross (10.85), Andrew Harriott of Naugatuck (10.89), Dan Awad of Holy Cross and Tony Pastore of Seymour at 10.97. The Girl's 100m Dash should feature the top three seeds in the final with Sheena Spear of Torrington (12.40), Cornieta Anderson of Kennedy (12.47) and Becky Chateauneuf of Holy Cross (12.71).

In the first distance event, the 1600m run for Boys features a duel between Joe Poulsen of Seymour (4:26) and Breno Sullivan of Wilby (4:36) while the Girl's 1600m run is a three-way contest between Rebecca Wright of Torrington (5:24), Addie DiFrancesco of Holy Cross (5:24) and Rosa Morriello of Naugatuck (5:26). The always touch 400m Dash for Boys features several athletes seeded under 52 seconds led by top seed Josh Perry of Naugatuck (50.56) while the Ebony Bennett of Wilby (60.0) leads a pack of competitors at the minute mark in the Girl's 400m Dash. The Boy's 300m Hurdles includes top seed Ty Kittle of Torrington (40.40) followed by Bill Stochmal of Seymour (42.50) while Germosen of Wilby (45.00) returns as the top seed in the Girl's 300m Hurdles. In the Boy's 800m Run, Josh Perry of Naugatuck (1:56.7) has strong competition from Andrew Wells-Qu of Holy Cross (1:58.50). The Girl's 800m race features the Torrington duet of Michelle Loya (2:26) and Cristina Ponte (2:28) competing against Nicole Dow of Seymour (2:28).

The last heat in the final sprint of the day should be closely contested as five of the entrants, led by Andrew Corridore of Naugatuck, are seeded under 23 seconds. It seems that the Girl's 200m Dash is a clash between Cornieta Anderson of Kennedy (26.70) and Lizzy Marola of Torrington (26.90). The finals of the 3200m Run for the Boys looks like Joe Poulsen of Naugatuck may be running alone with a seed time of 9:39, more than 40 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Mike Santos of Naugatuck (10:20). The Girls 3200m race is between two sub-twelve minute runners, Rosa Morriello of Naugatuck (11:47) and Addie DiFrancesco of Holy Cross (11:56). Should the Boy's team title come down to the last race, the 4x400m relay, look for a tight finish between top seeds Wilby and Naugatuck, both seeded at 3:26. The Girl's 4x400m relay should also be exciting if the team title is on the line with a three team mix of Wilby (4:10), Seymour (4:11) and Naugatuck (4:12).