NEW BRITAIN – Vanessa Agyemang had struggled with the hurdles all season. Last week she was a disappointing second in the Class M championships in both the 100 and the 300 events.
Agyemang, a Bloomfield senior, had been sick at the start of the season and it took her a while to recover. She had no problem with the long jump, winning that event in Class M on Monday, but the hurdles were tough.
“It felt like it was a lot to get back,” she said Saturday. “I hadn’t run my (personal record), I wasn’t even close to my PR.”
Saturday at the State Open at Willow Brook Park, it all came together, for Agyemang and her team. She won the long jump title (19 feet, 3 1/4 inches) and captured the 100 hurdles in 14.26 seconds, a personal best.
“I was so happy I got first, then I saw my time and I was like, ‘Wooo,'” said Agyemang, who will compete in track at West Virginia University next season. “Finally being able to PR and get back in a good spot … that felt really good.”
Bloomfield became the first girls team to win four straight State Open titles with 64 points, ahead of runner-up Naugatuck (40). Agyemang was the only individual winner for the Warhawks, who also won the 4×100 relay (46.89).
“These seniors have won every year so you don’t want to lose,” Bloomfield coach Anne Burrows said. “Everything’s kind of got to fall into place – I mean, it didn’t – but enough stuff fell into place.
“It’s definitely special. They deserve it. I don’t know if Bloomfield will ever see this happen again.”
Bloomfield has seven seniors; six, Burrows said, will continue on to compete at Division I colleges, and one at a Division II school.
The Bloomfield boys were State Open runners-up to Bethel, which scored 61 points to the Warhawks’ 59.
Junior Javonni Reynolds ran a personal best to win the 300 hurdles for Bloomfield, beating out Charles Dalles of Coginchaug while setting a meet record (37.01). Dallas had beaten Reynolds for the Class S title Monday night in the 300 hurdles.
“It feels great,” said Reynolds, who finished third in the 110 hurdles. “I had to get out hard. I knew if I didn’t get out hard enough he would catch me on the backstretch.”
Mercy’s Roberts gets the win: Mercy senior Sarah Roberts remembered last year’s State Open when Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss nipped her at the line in the 800 meters for the title.
And Saturday, Old Lyme’s Chase Gilbert, one of the state top distance runners who had already won the 1,600 title, was threatening to do it again.
“I was thinking about it when I felt Chase on my shoulder like, ‘No, the same thing cannot happen,'” Roberts said.
Roberts ran a personal best of 2:09.00 and hung on to beat Gilbert, who finished right behind her in 2:09.25.
“On the backstretch over there, I felt her on my back and I was like, ‘I just have to give it everything I have,'” said Roberts, who will run at Marist next season.. “Especially after last year, the same thing happened to me with Brooke and she got me at the finish line. I was like, ‘I need to stay as strong as I possibly can.'”
Manchester’s Eady a double winner: Samiya Eady won the 100 meters at the State Open as a freshman. But the last two years, the title has eluded her. Saturday, the Manchester senior won both the 100 and 200, and in the latter, broke Terry Miller’s record from 2018, winning in 24:06.
“This is my first time ever winning two events in the State Open and it’s my last year,” said Eady, who will run at Sacred Heart next year. “I’m just so happy.”
Eady beat Lauren Kropo of Naugatuck, last year’s champion, in the 100 with a time of 12.04. Kropo, who finished second, then won the 400 in the next event on the track.
“She pushes me, I push her,” said Eady, who finished third in the 100 last year and won the 200. “We’re just constantly going at it. I have so much respect for her. To see her go in the 100 and do a 54 in the 400, that inspires me.”
High jump record broken: Christian Gaskins of E.O. Smith set a meet record in the high jump but still remains a quarter inch short of the state record.
Gaskins, a sophomore, won the title with a jump of 7 feet, 1 inch, breaking the Open record by a half inch.
“I was cramping up; I ate too much candy (before he jumped) and I didn’t drink enough water,” he said.
He and Ethan Rowe of Bloomfield were the only two left at 6-10, which Gaskins cleared but Rowe did not and finished second.
“I’m competitive so when there’s someone near me, I’ve got to beat them,” Gaskins said.
Shirley wins 3,200 title: Harper Shirley, a Manchester junior, won the 3,200 title on a day that was quite different than last Saturday when she won the Class LL title. It was a lot warmer than last Saturday’s cold, rainy and windy conditions.
Shirley won in 10:46.14 and Glastonbury’s Lauren Parrett was right behind her (10:48.51).
“I just strategized, I sat behind Lauren and kicked the last lap – it was definitely a struggle, she was right behind me,” Shirley said. “I feel really good. I’m really proud of myself.”
Shirley finished second to Gilbert in the 1,600 but ran a personal best (4:49.28).
For complete results of the State Open, go to live.pctiming.com/meets/74724
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