Sports
Strong Showing for Host Wildcats at 2011 SWC Championship Meet
Boys take sixth, and girls place tenth at 2011 meet.
The Bethel Wildcats track and field teams hosted the 2011 Southwest Conference track and Field Championships on a soggy Monday afternoon. The Wildcats boys team placed sixth, and the girls finished in tenth place. The boys team improved upon their ninth place finish at the 2010 SWC Championship meet. Rival Brookfield took home top honors for the boys, and Weston won the girls side.
Coach Yvonne Grimes had a number of top performances on her boys team. “One of the highlights of our day was Andrew Albin winning the 400m with a season best 50.07,” Grimes said. “He also placed 4th in the 200 and anchored the 6th place 4x400.”
The regular season is the proving grounds for track and field athletes. There are specific times and distances that must be attained to qualify for the SWC tournament, as well as the state tournament later in the month. The more athletes that qualify for the tournament, the better chance a team has of scoring more points.
“Nick Danraksa also had a personal best performance taking the silver medal in the 300 hurdles, and qualifying for the state meet with a time of 42.93,” Grimes said. This came at a great time as this effort allows him to compete in the state meet next Tuesday.
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Other notable performers for the Wildcats were Josh Barrera who placed 4th in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m. Brendan Zielinski took a 6th place medal in the 800m, as did Will Bonagura in the pole vault. Bonagura also took sixth in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
In the field events, sophomore Trevor Ochs placed 3rd in the javelin with a throw of 164-10.
“The rain made competing difficult, but we were happy to be on our own track and competing in from of a largely Bethel crowd,” Grimes said. “We are looking forward to more improvements at the Class MM state meet next Tuesday at Middletown High School.”
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Notable performances on the girls side were Elisa Navarro, Alexandra Hernandez, Deanna Weiner and Lizzie Morton finished fourth with a time of 53.53 in the 4x100 relay.
Lucy Daniels finished eighth in the 400 meter dash in 1:02.43. Victoria Maceira took seventh place in the 3200 meter run with a time of 12:22.24. Navarro placed fourth in the long jump with a distance of 14’ 9.”
