North Branford Indoor Track Competes at Hillhouse Winter Relays

The competed at the Hillhouse Winter Relays on Dec. 27 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. Competition included more than 30 schools representing the entire state of Connecticut. 

All events in the meet were based on a relay format, including field events. Due to the increase in numbers in the program, North Branford was able to enter most events except for pole vault, 55 hurdles and triple jump. Scoring for the field events was based on adding the top three scores in the event.

The T-Birds saw a lot of success in the field events with three second-place finishes including the boys’ long jump team of (17-11), (17-4 ½) and Michael Cermola (16-4); the girls’ shot put relay of Jessica Wharton (27-5), Alexis Johnson (24-1) and Stephanie Sileo (23-8 ½); and the girls’ high jump team of Jordan Miket (4-6), Bryana Saroka (4-2) and Leah Martino (4-0).

The boys’ 4x200 team of Martino, Bobby Miller, Gary Falanga and Conor Healy placed third at 1:42.81, while the 1,600 sprint medley team of Bernie Cermola, Matt Edwards, Falanga and Miller took fourth (3:58.94) as did the shot put relay team of Joe Griskauskas (33-5 ½), Jim Griskauskas (29-11 ½) and Jordan Rippe (37-2 ½) and the girls’ long jump team of Rachel Boyers (13-9 ½), Saroka (13-8 ½) and Martino (11-8 ½).

The boys’ 4x400 team of Edwards, Ryan Proto, Bernie Cermola and Falanga placed fifth (3:44.35) and the 4x800 team of Proto, Zack Augur, Bernie Cermola and Sean O’Connor finished sixth with a time of 9:32.87.

Other Strong Performances

• DMR of Augur, Chris Olsen, O’Connor and Mark Fillion: 10th at 13:09.44
• Girls 4x200 of Miket, Katie Stevens, Marisa Tomaso, and Boyers: 9th at 2:06.77
• Girls’ Sprint Medley of Sarah McDonald, Kayla Nowak, Rachel Sokolff and Tomaso: 10th at 5:04.05
• Girls’ 4x800 of Marissa Bale, McDonald, Chelsea Meagher and Megan Rabuffo: 11th at 11:58.15
• Girls’ DMR of Jen Levine, Megan Oakes, Sara Olsen and Sokoloff: 13th at 16:39
• Girls’ 4x400 of Bale, Meagher, Rabuffo and Stevens: 14th at 5:15.98