MHS Boys and Girls Stay on Track Against Wethersfield

The challenges facing the Manchester High School boys and girls track and field teams, to continue their successful seasons, were handled comfortably in separate meets on Tuesday afternoon.

The Indians girls team improved to 4-1 overall and in the CCC North with an 85-65 victory over Wethersfield in Manchester. Meanwhile, the Indians’ boys team defeated the Eagles 92-58 in Wethersfield to maintain their perfect record. Manchester improved to 5-0 overall and in the CCC North. Following the Hartford Public Invitational on Saturday, Manchester travels to once-beaten Glastonbury on May 10 in what could be a showdown for the boys regular season division championship.

Manchester, which had two double-event winners, won 13 of the 18 boys events. The Indians placed first, second and third in three events – the 200-meter dash, high jump and long jump.

Kweku Aidoo, a first-year junior, swept the jumps to lead the Indians, winning the high jump in a personal best of 6-feet (his previous best was 5-foot-8 inches), the long jump in 17-10 and the triple jump in 38-9. Senior Algernon Johnson won both sprints and junior Kodjo Erasmus won both hurdles. Johnson won the 100-meter dash in 10.8 seconds and the 200 in 21.8. Erasmus finished first in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.40 and in the 300 intermediate hurdles in 42.1.

Kharey Ben-Harris and senior Zac Philbrick finished second and third to complete a sweep in the 200. Ben-Harris was runner-up in the long jump with Marquis Jimenez third. In the high jump, Ryan Dube was second and Jimenez third.

Manchester’s performance in the 200 helped set the tone. “It’s good that we swept it,” Philbrick said. “That gave us a little bit of hope today. We weren’t sure what we were coming into because we knew Wethersfield’s a good team. We needed to show ourselves that we could do this today. The 200 was an example that we could pull through this.”

Philbrick ran the anchor leg of the winning 4 by 400-meter relay and he ran the first leg of the 4x100 relay that was disqualified. Junior Chris Parla played a pivotal role in the victory, coach Thayer Redman said. Parla (4 minutes and 48 seconds) was runner-up to sophomore Patrick Dibble (4:40) in the 1,600 and won the 3,200 in 10:52. Parla also ran the first leg of the 4x800 relay, giving Manchester the lead it could  not protect.

“We’re a young team,” said Wethersfield coach Jeff Webber, who reported his team is still winless against the Indians in the 14 years he’s been coaching. “The meet started by us winning the first two relays and we believed we could do it. But Manchester’s a known powerhouse in track. We knew that in order for us to win today, we could not afford to make any mistakes and Manchester had to perform less than they usually do. Neither happened.”

Other winners for Manchester were senior Seth DeValve (52.0) in the 400 and Matt Reichelt (2:09) in the 800.

The victory by the girls team came from the depth, from gaining more second- and third-place finishes than Wethersfield. Each team won nine events. Junior Arianna Rivera won three events for the Indians – the long jump in 15-7½, the 100 hurdles in 16.30 and the 300 hurdles in 47.12.

Senior Emily Anderson was a two-event winner, placing first in the 1,600 in 5:47 and in the 800 in 2:36. Senior Liz Moran (2:39) was third in the 800 and ran the anchor in the victorious 4x800 relay. Junior Jackie Ofria (13:02) won the 3,200 and senior Chelsey Watson (96-1) was the winner in the javelin.

Coach Sheldon Simpson said sophomore Nicole Clemons’s second-place finish in the 100-meter dash provided important points for the team total. “We needed Jackie Ofria to win the 3,200 to close out the meet for us,” Simpson said.

“We’re trying to finish out the season strong. We have three outstanding hurdlers but most of our points have been coming in the distance events. They consistently score the most points. Most of our throwers are young but when we need them, they seem to step up and throw well for us.”