Hand Indoor Track Competes in SCC Championship

Both the Hand boys' and girls' indoor track teams were feeling good about their chances headed into a tough Southern Connecticut Conference Championship meet last week, but unfortunately for both squads, illness and injury dampened their high hopes. The Tigers still managed to have quality finishes as both sides placed in the top 10, but clearly there was a sense of what could have been had the squads been at full strength.

Hand competed in the SCC Championship t on Feb. 3 at Floyd Little Athletic Center with the girls' coming in eighth place and the boys' in 10th. Both coaches felt their teams could have finished higher, yet were satisfied with the performances they did get out of their available competitors.

"Last week, we ran very well, coming in second against Amity [the 2012 SCC champion]," said boys' coach Tim Geary. "We qualified for every event minus one so we had fairly high expectations. Unfortunately, it didn't all pan out. We had some illness, in particular to Zach Gardner, who was ranked third in the 600 and our lead of the 4x400."

Girls' coach Steve Swift experienced a similar situation with his squad.

"We had a pretty good day, but expectations-wise, I thought we could finish fourth or fifth," Swift said. "We had a couple problems and had to scratch the 4x400, which ran really well last week."

Still, despite the circumstance, both sides scored 23 points and had some quality finishes. The girls were led by Joya Helander, who won the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.47, scoring the Tigers 10 points. Helander also came in third in the 300 (42.47), followed by Molly Citrin in sixth (44.35), combining for seven points. Lauren Brady just missed out on the top 10, coming in 11th.

"The 300 gave us some very strong times. Lauren Brady really had a good race," said Swift. "Molly Citrin had her best time; it was the fastest I've seen her. And Joya Helander ran well in the 300."

Jen Hahne scored two points for Hand with her fifth-place finish in the 1,600, crossing in 5:30.25. The 4x800 relay team of Madelin Gould, Cassandra Barrow, Sarah Lynch, and Hahne scored two points, as well, with a fifth-place finish (11:01.35). The final Hand athlete to score was Christine Donat in the long jump, leaping to a fifth-place finish for two points with a distance of 16-2.

"As a first-year head coach taking over for a coach who left to coach at a Division I college, I didn't really know what to expect as far as how the season would go," Swift said. "I'm impressed by these kids; we've moved up to Class L so we will get a chance to place very high or even win states. There is no clear-cut favorite or more powerful team than us at Class L next week."

The boys' team was paced by Patrick Donohue and Carter Millane. Donohue came in second place in the high jump, clearing 6-2, and earning the Tigers eight points. Millane, meanwhile, scored six points in the pole vault when he cleared 11 feet and both were personal bests for the two Tigers.

The 1,600 sprint medley also scored two points for Hand, coming in fifth place. The team of Ben Citrin, John Gorman, Nick Balow, and Augustine Manke finished in a time of 3:57.55, nearly five seconds better than their seed. The 4x200 quartet of Balow, Gorman, Dan Acabbo, and Nik Ackermann came in third place, scoring six points, in a time of 1:40.70. Citrin also went on to score a point in 55-meter hurdles, finishing in sixth place (8.54). John Clarke just missed out on scoring in the 1,600, coming in seventh place (4:41.64) despite being over five seconds better than his seed.