NEW LONDON - The cheers erupting from the pole vault area resonated through the upper floor of the Coast Guard Academy gymnasium on Saturday. It seemed like every vault attempt that Norwich Free Academy senior Chris Weir was taking was a record-making event.
In reality, it was probably because of the ease with which the senior was clearing the bar.
“I was going in 100 percent (Saturday) and giving it my all and it worked,” Weir said.
Weir didn’t reach the heights he had hoped, but still easily captured first place in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I indoor track championship. He finished at 13-feet, 6-inches, topping Bacon Academy’s Aaron Young by a foot.
Still, he had wanted to get to the number which gave him the top seed coming into the event, 14-1.
“I was very disappointed with my 14-foot jump,” Weir said. “I almost had it by the skin of my teeth, but we will get it next time.”
Weir successfully defended his title. He won last year in a jump off.
He now heads into the Class LL state championship as the number one seed. He is the only athlete to have cleared 14-feet this season in the division and has a slim five-inch cushion over his nearest competitor.
“I’m feeling OK with it,” Weir said. “I just have to clear everything on my first try and work at getting better. I’m hoping for a 14-6.”
Jump Off
Speaking of jump offs, NFA junior Jaheim Spruill and senior Armstrong Alcius had one in the high jump. They were the last two standing and decided, like they had in practice all week, to battle it out.
In practice, the two clear, according to Spruill, as high as 6-feet, 6-inches. There is a little motivation- a little trash talk.
“We get in each other’s face, talking, building that adrenaline,” Spruill said.
The junior said he tried to do that in the ECC championship.
“(Alcius) was so focused, he wasn’t paying attention,” Spruill said with a laugh.
In the end, no one won. Neither cleared 6-feet, 2-inches, with Spruill being declared the winner for having cleared 6-feet first. Spruill came the closest, but as he hit the mat, he saw the bar make a delayed fall.
“At the last second, it fell,” Spruill said with a grimace. “I was like ‘Darn, don’t fall, don’t fall. I need to clear this. I was disappointed.”
Heed this warning
Look out prospective collegians, David Osagie is coming.
That’s what the NFA sophomore let everyone know after winning the ECC Division I 55-meter hurdle crown.
“I want to be a state champion,” Osagie said. “I want to say to everyone going to college right now, ‘Look out, I’m coming.’”
It may sound boastful, but Osagie knows what that means for him over the next two-and-a-half years – a lot of work.
“Everyone can better if you try hard enough. Determination, dedication, attitude,” Osagie said.
Osagie was pretty impressive on the track. He was second in the preliminaries to Ledyard senior Collin Wiltshire. But in the finals, he gave it his all, finally forging ahead over the last hurdle.
“I saw him,” Osagie said. “He was ahead of me and I said, ‘I can’t let this happen.’ When I was going over (the last hurdle), I zoned out. I was just concentrating on the finish line.”
It’s talents like Osagie that have NFA coach Tom Teixeira optimistic about the future. The Wildcats fell short to East Lyme in both the boys and girls competitions for the fourth consecutive year.
“Our teams are really young, both boys and girls, most of our point scorers are either 10th or 11th graders,” Teixeira said.
“We will grow. I think it was a very successful meet, we just don’t have the depth, or the senior talent, to take a meet like this. Hats off to (East Lyme).”
Tough road ahead
Woodstock Academy coach Nicole Brousseau had considered seeing if she could move up into the Class L state championship so senior Mark Dumas could compete for a state title in the shotput.
“That would sacrifice others on the team and I couldn’t do that,” Brousseau said.
Dumas has thrown the shot 49-11.5 feet this indoor track season. He didn’t do that on Saturday, but his 44-9 was good enough to get him a first-place finish.
“I was a little off (Saturday), I don’t know why, but all I know is that I’m going to come back better. I’m going to be a lot better,” Dumas said. “I might have got a little into my own head. I just have to get out of it.”
Brousseau said Dumas was felled by the flu last week which may have something to do with it. The reason why Brousseau considered petitioning to move up was who Dumas has ahead of him. Michael Browning of RHAM has thrown 59-6 this season.
Two others have also cleared 50-feet this year.
In Class L, no one has and only one in both Class LL and S have done so.
“He has thrown 10-feet further than my best so to get a (state title) it’s going to be a battle, but I think there is a possibility,” Dumas said. “If I do very well and if he has an off day like I did (Saturday), there is a chance.”
