Griswold sweeps ECC Medium/Large indoor meet

New London - Chris Helminski finished his third distance event Saturday, including victories in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, and donned a black T-shirt with green block letters which read, "What wall?"

"I feel really good right now," said Helminski, a senior. "Mentally, I feel like I'm on cloud 9. Right now, it's awesome."

Apparently there was no wall.

Griswold High School's boys' and girls' indoor track teams swept the Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium/Small Division Championships on Saturday at the Coast Guard Academy on the strength of their distance corps.

Alyssa Brehler won the 1,000, 1,600 and 3,200 to lead the girls to their fifth straight championship, barely edging Plainfield 110.5-109. Ledyard was third (67).

Meanwhile, ECC cross country champion Mark Mackin was the top seed in those three events for the Wolverines, too, but midway through the 1,600 he informed Helminski he was going to have to give the pair a lift.

Repeating its title from last year, Griswold won the boys' meet over Ledyard 162-116. Montville was third (55).

"They understand from Day 1," Griswold boys' and girls' coach Chris Morth said. "When I was on the team at UConn, all we talked about was winning the Big East Championship. Now all we talk about is winning the ECC Championship.

"Whatever needed to be done to win the championship. ... They know that everything they do matters. They're not under any illusion that what they do doesn't matter."

Helminski was perhaps the most surprising double-winner of the meet. He never won an individual ECC title in any event before Saturday.

"I gave everything I had in the 1,000 because that was the race to get us started off," Mackin said.

"In the 1,600, halfway through the race, I told Chris he had to take it. He had a shot to win it; it was his moment to shine. I'm really proud of him. It's nice to win any event, but today's all about the team."

Helminski took the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 46.95 seconds and Mackin was second in 4:48.91. With the meet tied at 106 with three events remaining, Helminski won the 3,200 in 10:21.91 with Mackin second in 10:29.52. Mackin won the 1,000 in 2:41.15 and Helminski was second in 2:43.66.

"I was shocked," Helminski said of pair of victories. "It was motivational for me to go even faster."

The Wolverines also got wins from Tyler Longolucco in the 600, Zachary Nute in the long jump, Kyle Craig in the shot put and the 4x360 relay team of Longolucco, Zach James, Brian Beckwith and Sean Svab.

Other individual winners were Ledyard's Ben Bruciati (300), Montville's Brandon Johnson (55 hurdles) and Mike Navetta (pole vault) and Waterford's Michael Arteaga.

Brehler won her distance events with little drama. She took the 1,000 in 3:13.61, the 1,600 in 5:20.13 and the 3,200 in 11:38.93.

She was joined by teammate Abigale Slonski in racking up the points. Slonski was not the top seed in any of her events, but won the high jump (5 feet), long jump (15-7) and was second in the pole vault.

"We had a lot of pressure on us," Brehler said. "Even if something started to fall apart, we knew we had to pull it back together. ... We have a small school, but that doesn't affect our efforts. We don't back down."

Montville's Shatajah Wattely was first in the 55 dash (7.43), the 300 (42.50) and ran a leg on the winning 4x180 relay.

Other individual winners from local teams were Ledyard's Minnie Zhang (600) and Chenoa Sebastian (55 hurdles), who also contributed to relay wins, and St. Bernard's Allison Londregan (pole vault).

v.fulkerson@theday.com