All the chocolate milk that his mom, Lynn, wrapped in tin foil for him so that it would remain cold. All the injuries that plagued him during the season, including a broken toe that he never even disclosed to his coach.

All the miles he traveled that week, from the New England Track & Field Championship in Bangor, Maine, to the exhaustive two-day CIAC decathlon in New Britain to his graduation day at Stonington High School to the New Balance Nationals at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

It was all behind Josh Mooney on Sunday, June 18, as he readied to race for a national championship in the 110-meter hurdles.

“I was kind of nervous,” Stonington coach Ben Bowne said of Mooney. “I was talking to him in the tunnel. He was really quiet. He seemed a little bit different than he usually does.

“By the second hurdle, he had a real nice rhythm. I was like, ‘He’s got this.’ (The stadium) was pretty full at that point. The straightaway where the hurdles were was pretty full. Franklin Field is like the Lambeau Field of track and field. The Eagles used to play there.

“... You should ask him if he wants to talk about his toe.”

Mooney, who won the national championship in the 110 hurdles in a Connecticut state record 13.48 seconds, was named The Day’s 2023 All-Area Boys’ Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

The affable, 6-foot-3, 190-pound Mooney, who will compete at the Division I level next season at UConn, was also The Day’s 2022-23 All-Area Male Athlete of the Year for all sports, as well as the Gatorade Connecticut Boys’ Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

An All-American during the indoor track season, having finished third in the 60-meter hurdles, this was Mooney’s first national title.

“It’s funky. I don’t know. Whenever I look at social media, it’s like I’m looking at somebody else,” said Mooney, who said he was asked for his autograph for the first time at his graduation ceremony.

Mooney left following his Friday night graduation and got to Philadelphia for the nationals at around 1:30 a.m. He remembers looking at his phone for the final time around 2 a.m. He raced twice Saturday, seeded third headed into Sunday’s final.

“It was a quick turnaround. We made stuff happen, though,” Mooney said. “(In the final), I tried to make it feel like every other race. I was a little bit more locked in than I usually am. The season was completely over after that, too. I had nothing else to worry about.”

Mooney won Eastern Connecticut Conference, Class M and State Open championships in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and javelin. He took the New England title in the 110 hurdles in a meet record 13.72 and finished second in the javelin at 182 feet, 10 inches.

He won his second straight decathlon title with 6,680 points, breaking his own school record.

Mooney finished the season ranked in the top 25 in Connecticut in the 100 meters (10.91), 200 (22.17), 400 (50.47), 110 hurdles (13.48), 300 hurdles (37.78), javelin (201-2) and long jump (21-5.5), with the state’s benchmark in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and javelin.

Due to his injuries, including a season-long bout with shin splints, it was uncertain whether Mooney would attempt to defend his title in the decathlon.

Only it wasn’t really a question for Mooney.

“Talking to him earlier in the week before the decathlon, his legs were bothering him,” Bowne said. “I was like, ‘How’s doing the decathlon going to help you win nationals? You’ve got to be OK with it potentially impacting you at nationals.’

“He said, ‘This is what I do.’ He was determined to reach his goals. He said, ‘If I’m 20%, I’m still doing it.’ He broke the school record in the 100 during the decathlon. He ran the fastest 400 I’ve had in a long time.”

It was at the decathlon, June 13-14, that Mooney revealed to Bowne he broke his toe a week prior to the season, smashing it with an ax while chopping wood.

“I was kind of hurting a lot the last couple practices,” Mooney said of the days leading up to the decathlon. “I just thought, ‘This is what I’m going to be doing in college.’ I would rather be 20% than not show up. I figured I would long jump 15 feet, throw the javelin 15 feet and run a crappy 100-meter dash, but as long as I show up ...

“My shins actually agreed with me that day.”

Following a personal-best throw in the javelin at the State Open, a gathered crowd broke into applause for Mooney. After he completed the meet with three triumphs, a meet official who had watched Mooney compete over the entirety of his career but had never met him, offered her congratulations.

Meanwhile, Bowne spoke that day of Mooney’s humility, his relative anonymity despite having achieved the extraordinary, a quote from his trusted coach which best sums up Mooney, Stonington’s national champion.

“He’s not gonna, like, go on a mountaintop and scream about it,” Bowne said.

Bowne believes it’s only going to get better for Mooney as he heads to UConn, where he plans to major in kinesiology or business.

“He’ll have coaches and training and PT,” Bowne said. “I’m only one person (coaching him) and I’m not an expert in anything. I’m not a specialist. I’m not a successful top tier Division I coach.”

“I’m not sure. I don’t have any set goals,” Mooney said, asked what the future holds. “I just want to keep getting better, see where it goes.”

Said Bowne of Mooney, who first came to him as a sophomore attempting to warm up in sandals: “There were definitely days he wasn’t feeling that good (this season) when the best thing he could do was rest. He found a good balance of staying healthy and being refreshed and being ready for meets we needed to be ready for. You can overtrain, you can overdo it. It’s a long haul, especially for a decathlete.

“They kept declining. He just kept peaking.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

The Day’s 2023 All-Area Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year

Player of the Year - Josh Mooney (Stonington)

100, 200 meters - Jacob Volkerts (Old Lyme)

400 - Evan Piotrowski (Waterford)

800, 1,600 - Ryan Gruczka (Stonington)

3,200 - Sean McCauley (East Lyme)

300 hurdles - Elliot Childs (Waterford)

4x100 relay - Fitch (Charles Tarbox, Oakley Garrison, Nimyel Gamboa, Adonis Fine)

4x400 relay - East Lyme (Lucas DeNucci, Finian Gates, Kai Ritz, Brendan Fant)

4x800 relay - East Lyme (Kai Ritz, Jilali Benjdid, Finian Gates, Brendan Fant)

High jump - Christian Wiltshire (Ledyard)

Pole vault - Luca Viviano (Ledyard)

Long jump - Jacob Lenz (Ledyard)

Triple jump - SaVahn Warren (New London)

Shot put - Thomas Matlock (East Lyme)

Discus - Dylan Sheehan (Old Lyme)

Utility - Chris Amy (NFA), Jake Martino (Bacon Academy), Michael Strain (Griswold)