At Hopkins School on Saturday May 22, the KO Wyverns defeated the host school as well as smaller contingents from Hamden Hall and St. Luke’s. The girls won 78 to 58, and the boys won 75 to 56. In a day of many personal best performances, the Wyverns concluded a season of substantial improvement, growth, and  development.  Coach Watson reflected: “This day was as close to a championship event that we have had in two years.  And I am so excited that we were ready–we warmed up well, we had our passes down, we had our starts, we had our technique.  It was a beautiful day where KO athletes rose to the occasion event after event throughout the whole meet.”   Starting things off in the field events, Captain Cici Chagnon won the Long Jump with her season best jump of 15’ 11.75” followed by Megan Murphy in third place with a personal best jump at 14’ 10 ¾”.  Charlotte Eberle also jumped well taking sixth place with a jump of 11’ 4 ¼”. Epiphany LaBoy competed well and is well prepared for next season. The boys long jump featured strong competition as Hopkins took first and second, Isaias Wooden took third place for KO with a jump of 16′ 10″ and Jon Sohn followed in fifth place with a  personal best jump of 16’ 6” and senior Braden Flowers placed sixth with a jump of 16′ 3″. Captain David Shi also competed, taking eighth with a jump of 15’ and 6”, Garret Kelly took 10th with a jump of 14’ 3” and senior Chitanya Karanam took 11 th place with a jump of 14”  ¼’.  Coach Baker observed, “KO had a really good showing in the jumps both with our large numbers and in terms of our personal bests.  Everyone got their marks efficiently, and while younger jumpers still had some inconsistency with hitting their mark, all jumpers got at least one official jump. Everyone really supported each other and helped coach one another.”   In the 4 x 100 relay, Kingswood Oxford was tremendous with the girls putting four relays on the track. The A relay, of Jordan DiMauro, Captain Annelise Vaughn, Cici Chagnon, and Megan Murphy, won the event with a fast time of 53.10. The B relay of Maddie Thiessen, Olivia Reynolds, Captain Ashleigh Stepnowski, Maya Sirkis, took third place in a time of 56.27.  The C relay of Alina Vaughn, Emily Evans, Dani Tippner, Anissa Lewis, also ran under one minute with a time of 58.53 and the D relay of Sattah Phouthakoun, Epiphany LaBoy, Lucy Ybarra, Charlotte Eberle, placed fifth with a time of 1:04.12 making it one of the fastest D relays in recent KO history. On the boys side, KO also ran four relays. The A relay of David Shi, Captain Dan Raymond, Hunter Meshanic, and Isaias Wooden, showed good, clean passes to win the event in a squeaker placing first in 47.34 to Hopkins’ 47.40 The Wyvern B relay of Jon Sohn, Cam Hart, Tommy Vitarelli, and Justin Rios, placed third in 51.47, the D relay, Santi Croes- Ball, Frank Pu, Garret Kelly, Ricardo Croes-Ball, placed fourth with a time of 55.98, and the C relay–JJ Kanaan, Aakash Gunturu, Chaitanya Karanam, Marrich Somridhivej–placed fifth with a time 56.33. All together those eight relays represented 32 runners and teammates as they showed quick times especially for the C and  D relays. In throwing events, KO was also strong. In the girls Javelin, Mckenzie Campbell took second place with a throw of 60’ 5” followed by Morgan Siegel who placed third with a throw of 49’ 10”, and Hannah Krause placed fifth with a throw of 41’ 3”.  The boys Javelin event was won by Marrich Somridhivej with a season-best throw of 113’ 0”.  He was followed by Tommy Vitarelli also throwing a season’s best with 93’ 9”.  Jared Cotte took fourth place with a throw of 88’ 0”,  and fifth place went to Paul Giliberto who threw 82’ 9”. Chitanya Karanam took sixth place with a throw of 73’ 11” and JJ Kanaan took seventh with a throw of 65’ 8”.  In his first track meet Santi Croes-Ball threw 63’ 9” for eighth place followed by Ricardo Croes-Ball, who threw 50’ 11” to place ninth.  The Wyverns remained strong on the track as the running events turned to the 1500 meter race. In the girls event KO’s Ashley Neikrie won the event in a season-best time of 5:18.24 Lena Nowaczek placed fifth in 6:13.9, and Stella Risinger took sixth in 6:20.5.  In the boys 1500, senior Captain Matt Bzowyckyj took second place in 4:38.29 followed by Carson Zielinski who took fourth in 4:43.0, a season’s best time.  Sam Merkatz took seventh in 5:51.5–a best time. In the high jump event which was tricky for KO to compete in this season since the team had very little access to a high jump mat, the Wyverns still did well. For the girls, Stella Risinger took third place, with a jump of 3’ 10” and tied with senior Maddie Theissen who also jumped 3’ 10”.  Fourth place went to Maya Sirkis who also cleared 3’ 10”.   On the boys side, Elijah Infante represented KO well to take fourth place.  The girls 100 high hurdles Ashleigh Stepnowski took first place in a season best time of 18.12 beating out four other Hopkins runners.  In the boys 110 high hurdles Dan Raymond took first place with a season best time of 17.82.  The 400m events were all good performances from the Wyverns for the girls: Megan Murphy ran a season-best time of 63.52  to take second place followed closely by Annelise Vaughn who ran 64.11 to take third place. In the boys event, Isaias Wooden took third place for KO in his season-best time of 56. 95 followed by Hunter Meshanic in 6th place with his season-best of 59.40.  JJ Kanaan placed 10th in a fast competition with his season best time of 61.40.  The next event, the 100 Meters, the KO girls had many competitors.  The Wyverns were led by Jordan DiMauro who took second in the event in a time of 13.91 followed by Megan Murphy who placed fourth in 14.31.  Maya Sirkis took fifth place in 14.38,  and Alina Vaughn placed seventh in 14.76.  Anissa Lewis ran 14.83 to finish  eighth, Dani Tippner placed 10th with a time of 15.39, and Maddie Thiessen took 11th in 15.42.  Emily Evans placed 13th with a time of 15.73, Lucy Ybarra placed 14th with a time of 16.98, and Epiphany LaBoy placed 15th with a time of 18.47. In the boys 100 Meters, Dan Raymond placed first in 11.88, his best for the season, followed by Ben Merritt in a time of 12.14–also his best for the season. Jon Sohn placed fifth for the Wyverns in 15.53, a season-best time,  Cam Hart ran a 13.35, another season’s best time, to place eighth.   Tommy Vitarelli ran his best of 13.60 to place 9th, Garret Kelly placed 11th in 14.06 and Justin Rios had his season-best time of 14.48 to place 13th.  While the KO Runners were busy on the track, the Wyvern throwers stayed strong in the field. In the girls discus, Mckenzie Campbell took second place with a throw up 54’ 10”, and  Morgan Siegel placed third with her throw of 53’ 6”.  Hannah Krause placed fourth with her season best throw of 47’ 6’. In the boys event the Wyverns dominated.  Elijah Infante won the event with a season-best throw of 94’ 0”,  Marrich Somridhivej took second place in 81’ 5”, and  JJ Kannan placed third with a throw of 75’ 7”.  Paul Gilberto placed fourth with a season-best 74.02 and Santi Croes-Ball took fifth with a throw of 67’ 6” Jared Cotte tied for  fifth place with another throw up 67’ 6”,  Tommy Vitarelli  placed seventh with 55’ 08”, and Nick Brodrick placed eighth with his season-best throw of  51’ 04”. Ricardo Croes-Ball took ninth place in 41’ 11”. Overall it was a strong showing by the throwing team.  Back on the track, it was time for the 800 Meter event.  For the girls Olivia Reynolds placed first in a season-best time of  2:32.64 followed by Ashley Neikrie in second place with a time of 2:36.95. In fourth place Jess Mulligan ran 3:14.2, and Elsa June Ciscel placed seventh in a time of 3:13.39.  In the boys event Matt Bzowyckyj placed second with a season-best time of 2:12.06 followed by Braden Flowers in third place with a time of 2:18.93 also a season’s best. Frank Pu placed eighth with a time of 2:37.41, and Nate Brodrick placed 10th in a season’s best time of 3:09.55.  Coach Goodman noted, “Even though the Track and Field team has had to be separated this season with different practice areas, the athletes really made an effort to be one, supportive team today. They did a really good job of being a cohesive, supportive group. Well done!” The girls 300 intermediate hurdles Ashleigh Stepnowski ran well placing fourth with a season- best time of 54.75.  In the boys 300 IH, Dan Raymond took first place with a time of 46.63, his season-best, followed by Nate Brodrick in second with a time of 61.75 also a season-best.  In the 200 Meter event the KO girls showed their strength. Cici Chagnon won the event in a season-best time of 28.06 followed by Jordan DiMauro who placed second in 29.02. Maya Sirkis placed 4th in 30.02,   Sattah Phouthakoun placed fifth in 31.53–a best time for her.  Maddie Thiessen took eighth with 33.08 and Lucy Ybarra took ninth in 36.71.  For the boys, Ben Merritt won the event with a season-best time of 24.58, and David Shi placed fourth with his season-best time of 25.29.  Jon Sohn had a season-best time of 26.09 to place sixth, Cam Hart ran a 28.98–a best time–to take 10th, and Justin Rios ran 29.28 also a best time to place 11th. Having to be separated from the rest of the events, was challenging for the throwing team. Coach Kraus: “All the throws being far from the track was tough for the throwers.  They really wanted to see the rest of the team, and give their support.  Still, they maintained their focus and supported the runners and jumpers with their good efforts.”  In the final throwing event of the day, the Shot Put, Morgan Siegel took second with a throw of 19’ 01”, followed by Mckenzie Campbell placing third with a throw of 17’08”, and Hannah Krause took fourth with a throw of 15’ 6”. In the boys event, Elijah Infante showed his strength throwing 40 ft and 4 in to take first place. Jared Cotte took second place with his season-best throw of 34’ 2.5”, and Hunter Meshanic took third place with his season-best throw of 32’  9”.  Paul Gilberto had a season’s  best throw of 25’ 8” to take fifth place,  and Nate Brodrick took sixth place with his season-best throw of 25’ 4”. Santi Croes-Ball took seventh place with 20’ 4.5” and Ricardo Croes-Ball took 8th with a throw of  19’ 8.5”.  In the premier distance race of the day–the 3000 Meters, for the girls Lena Nowaczek took second place with a season-best time of 14:52 and Stella Risinger took third in 15:09.   On the boys side, third former Carson Zielinski won his first track and field event with a season-best time of 10:44 followed by Sam Merkatz who placed fourth in a season-best time of 11:56.  In the final running event of the day, the 4 by 400 meter relay the KO team ran well.  First place in the girls event went to the A relay from KO who were Jordan DiMauro (67.7), Cici Chagnon (65.8), Olivia Reynolds (64.2), and Annelise Vaughn (64.0), who combined to win the event in 4:21.7 a season’s best time.  The B relay from Kingswood Oxford also ran well with Ashleigh Stepnowski (78.5), Jess Mulligan (77.9), Alina Vaughn (69.6), and Ashley Neikrie (72.7) placed third in 4:58.7.  In the boys event KO, placed second with Braden Flowers leading off in 58.2 followed by Hunter Meshanic in 62.0. Then Isaias Wooden ran a 57.2 third leg, and Matt Bzowyckyj finished with a 54.7, combining for a season-best relay time of 3:52.0. The B relay placed fourth, and were comprised of Justin Rios (67.4), Cam Hart (73.3), JJ Kanaan (63.8), and Garret Kelly (66.5).  They ran a season-best time of 4:30.9. The C relay from the Wyverns were:  Marrich Somridhivej (66.8) to Frank Pu (66.7) to Nate Brodrick (83.4) to Chaitanya Karanam (65.2). They took fifth place in 4:42.10 which was a season-best time. While the 4 by 400 relay is traditionally the last event in a track and field meet, on this day the last event was the triple jump.  In the girls event, Olivia Reynolds won with her season’s best jump of 26’ 4”, followed by Charlotte Eberle in second with her  best jump of 24’ 5”,  followed by Epiphany LaBoy placing third with her season’s best jump up 21’ 5.25”. In the boys Triple Jump,  all three Wyverns had season-best jumps.  Matt Bzowyckyj took second place with a huge best leap of 37’ 8”, David Shi took fourth with a season-best jump of 36’ 6.5”, and Braden Flowers closed out his jumping career with a best jump of 35’ 4.5” to take fifth. It was an exciting way to end the meet with the entire team watching and cheering on the final rounds of the boys jumps.