Wilby track and field senior Messiah Harling captured the area’s lone individual state open championship Thursday in New Britain.
Harling won gold in the triple jump at a distance of 46 feet, 4.25 inches during the meet, held at Willow Brook Park.
“Wilby has a state champion! So proud of you Messiah,” read a tweet from the Wilby High School account on Thursday.
Harling was injured and didn’t get a chance to compete in the NVL championship meet on May 22. He more than made up for it in the following Class L and state open meets. Harling won the Class L triple jump championship at a distance of 46’10.25″ on June 1 at Willow Brook Park.
There were several other strong efforts from local athletes.
Wolcott senior Nick Bendtsen ran the 1600 meters in 4:06.09, good enough to break the 2016 record of 4:08.42 run by Brien McMahon-Norwalk’s Eric VanDerEls. It wasn’t good enough to beat Conard junior Gavin Sherry’s record time of 4:01.88, but that’s OK. It’s hard to beat someone who nearly runs a sub-four mile. Bendtsen finished third in the 3200 meters in 9:07.59. Sherry won that race in 8:59.80, another meet record.
Holy Cross senior Raquel Rosa ran the 400 meters in 57.80, good enough for silver. Danbury junior Alanna Smith shaved nearly 2.5 seconds off her seed time and won the 400 in 56.78 (seed time was 59.24). Rosa finished fourth in the 200 meters in 25.59.
Bristol Central senior Nate DeAngelo finished fourth in the 1600 meters (4:12.54) and fifth in the 3200 meters (9:23.03). Bristol Central sophomore Treshawn Blair was eighth in the triple jump at 41’7.75″. Bristol Eastern junior Mackenzie Fitzsimmons took eighth in the javelin at 103’6″. Holy Cross senior Rafael Mahario tied for eighth in the high jump at 6 feet. St. Paul sophomore Tyler Turner claimed ninth in the long jump at 20’8″.
Photo credit: Wilby High School Twitter account
