By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — The Staples High girls and boys track and field teams are coming off spring campaigns with mixed results, but notched some stellar individual and relay showings.

Senior girls build foundation for team’s future

The girls squad built off a solid indoor winter campaign, where the team was a runner-up in the FCIAC Championships and competed in the New England Championships, Penn Relays and the Nike and Adidas Indoor Nationals.

Staples had some strong performances in the spring season FCIAC and Class LL State Championship meets.

The Wreckers had a small group of seniors led by Valentina Davis and Eva Glennon.

“Eva is a long and triple jumper who sets an example by being the athlete that sets a standard in her work ethic and it always gives her a challenge to perform well in big events. Our younger athletes can learn a lot from that approach,” Coach Jesse McCray said.

“Valentina has really taken a young group of sprinters made up of freshman and sophomore year. We just love her for the leader and the performer [100 meter, 200 and 4×400] that she has become,” McCray said. “Our sprint squad is very young and she brings guidance, confidence and leadership to the squad. I couldn’t ask for a better person to have that role.”

One of the top performers was sophomore Taylor Black, who placed eighth in the 200 meter run at the Class LL State Championships in a time of 26.17 and was among the Wreckers’ top 100 runners. 

“She is a member of our 4×100 and 4×400 team which have had a very good season and she holds the indoor record for as a member of our 4×200 m team from the indoor season,” the coach said.

Sophomore Mary Stevens and freshman Elyse Ferraro are outstanding 400 meter runners. Ferraro placed third in the 400 at the FCIAC meet this spring.

In the field events, junior Addison Coughlin is a high jumper who placed third at the Class LL meet. Junior Daisy Seaborne has been a strong performer in the pole vault; she is the indoor champion (10 feet) and placed third at the spring Class LL meet.

“Sophomore Manar Abis is turning into one of the area’s top multi-event athletes in the long jump, pole vault, and hurdles in which she recently placed in all three events at the FCIAC Championship. She has a personal best of 10 feet in the pole vault, 16-9.5 in the long jump and 16.25 in the 100m hurdles,” McCray said.

Staples’ distance squad is young, with sophomore Sarah Bogdan proving to be the team’s most versatile runner in the group taking over the reins from senior Leigh Foran, the coach said.

Sprinting and field events were strengths for the Wreckers this spring. 

“We have been able to build quality and depth in the short sprints and add quality performances in the long sprints. The vertical and horizontal jumps have been big for us this year,” said McCray. “We have had a lot of depth in the pole vault, long jump and triple jump,” adding that senior Eva Glennon performed well in the triple jump in addition to Coughlin in the high jump during postseason.

In the Class LL State Championships, the Staples girls placed 14th as a team.

Coughlin placed third in the high jump clearing 5-02. Seaborne was third in the pole vault competition with her 10 foot clearance and Abis was fifth in the pole vault with a 9-06. In the triple jump Eva Glennon took ninth with a 33-00.25.

In the 100 hurdles, Abis came in sixth in 16.25 seconds. Taylor Black was eighth in the 200 in a time of 26.17. Kaela Cohen placed 11th in the 300 hurdles, clocking in at 50.32. Elyse Ferraro was 10th in the 400 in 1:02.86. In the 3200, Bogdan came in 11th in 11:34.86.

The 4×100 relay team of Taylor Black, Elyse Ferraro, Mary Stevens and Valentina Davis took ninth in 50.28. The 4×800 team comprising Bogdan, Avery Kaler, Charlotte Berner and Abigail Kane was eighth in 10:22.16.

In the State Open, Coughlin was fifth in the high jump clearing 5-02 and Abis was sixth in the pole vault with a 10-06.

“Our distance group is very young and it will take a while to develop, but they have a great attitude and they work hard and that is more than half the battle. And that goes with our throwing events. We may be the youngest group of throwers in the county and we are just freshman and sophomore dominated in those events. This group will make remarkable strides once they physically and emotionally develop into varsity athletes,” McCray said.

“Overall we have been successful because the past few seasons we have had some outstanding athletes in the sprints and jumps that have moved on to competing in college,” the coach said.

“In that time the sophomores as freshmen were going to nationals with them, training with them and just being able to fill in small roles and the older girls took that pressure off of them. In addition, we offer these girls to see the sport at the highest level and that makes them motivated to succeed. They basically have to grow up pretty fast and because they have been around great people like Eva and Valentina they are allowed to come into their own,” McCray added.

Boys persevere despite adversity

From injuries to illness, the Staples boys had plenty to overcome, but made the most of the season under the circumstances.

The Wreckers did well in the dual meet season, posting a 5-1 record and winning the FCIAC’s Central Division, despite injuries. Staples was hit hard by illness just as the postseason got going.

“It was terrible. We had a couple injuries on top of that,” Coach Laddie Lawrence said.

Despite that, the Wreckers had some postseason success. 

The team placed eighth in the Class LL State Championships behind Samuel Zwick-Lavinsky’s title in the 3200 when he set the pace in 9:26.58 and T.J. Pierre, who placed second in the long jump event with a 21-05. Pierre’s best event is the triple jump but, in keeping with the theme of the campaign, saw his title hopes cut to an 11th-place finish because of an injury suffered during the competition.

Staples had two other strong finishers in the 3200 as Morgan Samuel came in third in 9:31.27 and Benjamin Buchalter was 11th in 9:46.73.

The 4×800 team of Oliver Samuel, Benjamin Lorenz, Karsten Langone and Cole Cummings placed eighth in a time of 8:18.15.

The Wreckers had representation in the State Open with Pierre placing 18th in the long jump with a 20-01.50, Zwick-Lavinsky eighth in the 3200 in 9:26.60, Samuel 15th in the 3200 in 9:46.79 and the 4×800 relay with a slightly different look of Samuel, Calum Madigan, Langone and Lorenz placing 16th in 8:14.83.

Staples had some competitors out during the season who made it back for FCIACs or States but they were a bit behind in the build-up back toward full stamina due to the layoff. Additionally, hurdlers battling injury were unable to compete in their event but were able to participate in relays.

“We wanted to do better but circumstances being what they were we did what we could,” Lawrence said.

The team MVP was Pierre and the Coach’s Award went to thrower Joseph Kervin, the fourth-highest scorer for the team in the regular season and a captain, whom Lawrence said developed tremendously as an athlete and a person in his four years with the program.

Other captains were distance runner Ben Lorenz, middle distance runner Michael Bernier and hurdler Luke Rabacs.

Rabacs earned the Thomas DeHuff Award, given to one athlete in the school who best exemplifies the spirit of a scholar, spirit of an athlete, willingness to try and desire to share. Lawrence said Rabacs hits the mark to a tee. One example of how Rabacs stood out is that when Lawrence had hernia surgery last summer Rabacs mowed his lawn. “I tried to pay him and he wouldn’t take any money,” Lawrence said.

Regardless of how this, or any, season goes, the Staples coach — who this year completed his 56th season — always finds it to be a difficult time given he has to say goodbye to athletes he has worked with and seen develop over time.

“I get very emotional this time of the year,” the Staples coach said. “It’s a nice group of seniors and we’ve got some great kids coming back.”

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.