Ledyard boys, girls christen new track with a sweep on opening day
Apr. 15—LEDYARD — It was the first career outdoor track meet for Ledyard High School sophomore Jackson Poulton and his first actual competition of the school year after football and indoor track were canceled.
"I enjoy it so much. I love competing against other people," Poulton said. "I'm very excited to be competing for Ledyard."
Poulton couldn't have gotten off to a better start.
He finished first in the 100 meters (11.5 seconds), shot put (41 feet, 6 inches), long jump (18-0) and as a member of the 4x100 relay (48.0), as the Ledyard boys' and girls' track teams christened their new track and field complex Wednesday afternoon with a sweep over Montville in an interdivisional Eastern Connecticut Conference matchup.
The boys topped Montville 114-28, also getting a pair of individual victories from Emren Victorino in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. The Ledyard girls beat Montville 84-59, with Natalie Poulton (shot put, discus), Tori Schweitzer (1,600, 3,200) and Teia Lee (100, 200) each winning two individual events in the victory.
"It has a lot more cushion," Jackson Poulton said of the new track. "The old one was more like concrete stuff. Last week I decided not to put my shoes on and I did all the warmups in my bare feet."
Ledyard senior Kira Kassim, meanwhile, competes in an event which is difficult to practice at home. The javelin.
Until the first day of practice this spring, Kassim had not thrown a javelin since competing in the Class M state championship meet in 2019, with the 2020 season being canceled due to COVID-19. She said she stretched her arm a great deal in the interim and lifted weights to help strengthen her shoulder, as well as working on her run-up.
"It paid off," she said of the work in the offseason. "I threw 100 (feet) on my second day of practice."
Kassim, who was second in the ECC meet in the event as a sophomore, began her senior season with a win Wednesday, finishing with a top throw of 88-6.
"I'm definitely super grateful to have the opportunity," Kassim, who also helped lead the volleyball team to the ECC South Division championship match this year, said of being able to compete in track once again. "You just have a general appreciation for everything."
Ledyard girls' coach Dave Tetlow began his 47th season with the new track, while Ledyard boys' coach Tim Strong — the head coach of his third sport this school year as he also coaches the Ledyard boys' cross country and Montville boys' basketball teams — picked up his first career victory.
"(The kids) like it a lot," Tetlow said of the track. "It's working out very well for practice. It's working out well for everything. (Last year), I would stop up on purpose to see how (the construction) was going. ... There was no indoor track this year, so it's going to be tough; we're going to be catching up. We have to play catch up all the time."
Stephen Duhamel (1,600) and Zachary Handler (800) each won an individual event for the Montville boys and contributed to a 4x400 relay victory. On the girls' side, Montville's Katelyn Plikus (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles) and Karina Huang (high jump, triple jump) won two events each and the 4x400 relay team of Julia Beaupre, Kiera MacCracken, Kylah Bilheimer and Plikus capped the meet with a win in 4:45.5.
"It's 20 degrees colder here than anyplace else," Montville girls' coach Joel Finnegan said. "It's great to be with the kids again. It's great to see (Montville boys' coach Tim Egan), who I've coached with all these years, it's great to see Dave Tetlow. ... We have a very nice group of kids out here. We didn't have indoor track, so it's been baby steps initially. There's been a lot more teaching going on this year. It's just great to see the kids out here having this opportunity."
