Local Athletes Place High at New Haven Road Races

Connecticut High School runners took the top six spots and 14 of the top 20 places in the New Haven Road Race 5k on Monday.  Despite the heat, many runners still managed personal records.

Loomis Chaffee's Matt Farrell, a rising junior took the win in 15:19 with Robert Dillion of Shelton finishing second 19 seconds behind.  This race was a minor bit of revenge for Farrell as he finished two places behind Dillion last year at the Footlocker Northeast Regional meet.  They both return as two of the top 10 Footlocker returners this year with a chance to make the National Championships in San Diego. 

Another rising star is Azaan Dawson, who took 3rd breaking 16 minutes for the first time, finishing in 15:51.  The sophomore was the top 9th grader at the State Open last year and runs for the Fairfield Prep's Bob Ford who has taken boys to Footlocker Nationals six times in the past 20 years. 

Travis Martin of Wilbur Cross has made huge improvements since last fall and has been a New England qualifier during indoor and outdoor track.  The senior finished 12th in the Class L meet last year in a season best time of 17:27.    After an obvious big summer of training, his track times have converted to the 5k on Monday with a time of 16:00, good for 4th place. 

Another runner with a shot at Footlocker Nationals is Mustafe Dahir of Choate Rosemary Hall who took 5th in 16:17. The senior is the 6th returner from the regional meet last year, where he finished between Dillon and Farrell. 

Senior Meredith Bloss of Guilford won the girls 13-19 year old age group in a time of 19:21.  She is one of the top returners from the State Open.  

Dillon brought four of his Shelton teammates down to New Haven and all finished in the top 33 with either personal best or near personal best times for 5k. 

   Pl   Name                           Town             School               Gun    Pace     Chip

    6   Ethan Puc                    Naugatuck   (Chase)              16:27  5:18      16:25  

    8   Brendan Mellitt          Cheshire                                  16:35  5:21      16:33  

   14 Harry Harwood           Woodbury  (Gunnery)              16:54  5:27      16:53

   17  Tyler Pineau               Shelton                                    17:10   5:32      17:09  

   19   Matthew Richard       Shelton                                   17:14   5:33      17:11  

   20   Nicolas Burtson        Westport (Hopkins)               17:18   5:34      17:16  

   26   Francis Simpatico     Cheshire                                17:44   5:43      17:42

   28   Matthew Cristiano     Shelton                                  17:52   5:45      17:49  

   31   Ian Staines                 Watertown  (Taft)                  18:05   5:49      18:02  

   32  Michael Loschiavo    Milford     (Law)                      18:08     5:51    18:07 

   33  Owen Corbett             Shelton                                    18:08    5:51     18:06  

1104 Barbara Hedden        Cheshire   (Track Coach)       29:34    9:31      29:01  3rd  F60-64  Age Group

1305   Tom Butterfield       Windsor (Former Hall Coach) 30:54  9:57      30:45   1st M80-89 Age Group


Click here for complete results of the 5k

The 20k race is the USATF National Championships for the distance and several former Connecticut High School runners and coaches did quite well. 

Two time steeplechase Olympian Donn Cabral of Glastonbury raced his longest distance ever and finished 13th in 1:03.17 to be the first Connecticut finisher. 

Katie Mathews, formerly of Rocky Hill, continuing her professional career with the Boston Athletic Association, finished 4th overall female to earn $1700 in prize money. 

Annmarie Tuxbury, the Northwestern Regional star runner, has already qualified for the Olympic Trials in the marathon and finished 9th overall took home $700 in total. 

Below are some of to the top finishers from the 20k race, who have competed for Connecticut High Schools and have continued to race in their post college years.

Pl     Name                      Residence    (High School)            Gun Time    Pace    Chip Time

 13    Donn Cabral          Hartford (Glastonbury HS)            1:03:17        5:06    1:03:17

25    John Busque           Manchester  (Manchester HS)     1:05:41       5:18    1:05:40  

26    Everett Hackett    Hartford      (Hall HS)                       1:05:41       5:18    1:05:41  

27    John Raneri           New Fairfield (New Fairfield HS)    1:05:45      5:18    1:05:45

29    Sam Montclair      North Haven  (Cheshire)                  1:06:34      5:22    1:06:34

33   Nicholas Lemon     Brighton      (Xavier)                         1:07:22      5:26    1:07:21

41   William Sanders     Wethersfield (Northwest Catholic) 1:09:25     5:36    1:09:24  

 42  Jon Krell                  Farmington   (Farmington)              1:09:32  5:36    1:09:31  

48   Chase Pizzonia        New York  (Darien)                           1:10:55  5:43    1:10:54  

49   Tom Weston            Middletown (Middletown HS)          1:11:54  5:48    1:11:51  

50    Katie Matthews        Belmont   (Rocky Hill)                      1:11:55  5:48    1:11:55   4th

59    Annmarie Tuxbury   New Hartford (Northwestern Reg)   1:13:12  5:54    1:13:12   9th

66   Samuel Alexander      Mystic  (Cheshire HS)                      1:15:08  6:03    1:15:05  

87   Chris Rosenberg       Middletown (Hall HS)                        1:19:29  6:24    1:19:26  

88   Ryan Pearl            Hamden     (Hamden HS)                        1:19:30  6:24    1:19:27 

90   Steve Crnic           Brooklyn  (New Fairfield HS)                  1:19:38  6:25    1:19:36  

93   Courtney Dinnan-Knapp Cheshire  (Hamden HS)              1:20:47  6:30    1:20:44  

124   Amanda Morgan         Fairfield      (Staples HS)               1:27:20  7:02    1:27:14

128  Alyssa Cole                                  (Nonnewaug)                    1:27:41  7:04    1:27:34

Click here for complete results of the 20k