DANBURY – Gianluca Bianchi won the 200-meter and 400 dashes and then in the meet’s final event he ran a strong leg on Greenwich’s winning 4×400 relay team to help the defending champion Cardinals secure their second straight team title at the 2023 FCIAC Boys Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Danbury High School.
Ridgefield’s superb senior distance runner Steven Hergenrother also had a great meet by winning the meet’s two longest races and finishing runner-up in the 800. Hergenrother won the 1,600 in 4:25.04 and the 3,200 in 9:21.33, and he was second in the 800 with a 1:54.82 which was just 0.11 of a second behind his victorious teammate Isaac Graber (1:54.71).
Bianchi, a senior, had an impressive victory in the 400 with his winning time of 48.24 seconds, giving him the victory by a comfortable margin of 1.38 seconds. Bianchi followed that up by winning the 200 in 22.06. Then he was on that winning 4×400 relay team (3:23.26) which won the meet’s final race by 5.4 seconds over Trumbull and that enabled the Cardinals to win the team title by six points over runner-up Trumbull.
The race for the team championship was close. Greenwich won with 92 points and Trumbull (86) nipped Greenwich by one point for second place.
Greenwich also got individual victories from David Akinnubi in the long jump (20 feet, 8 inches) and Aidan Karson in the high jump (6-3). Thomas Donovan was runner-up in the 110 hurdles (16.22) and Harrison Goldenberg also made a significant contribution to Greenwich’s championship. Goldenberg placed third in the 400 (49.85) and fourth in the 200 (22.87), and he joined Caleb You, Bianchi, and Antonio Ciccarelli on that victorious 4×400 relay team which clinched the team title.
Bianchi and Hergenrother were the only athletes who won two individual events in the boys’ meet, which took place concurrently with the girls’ conference championship meet.
Norwalk sprinter Jamar Alcena won the 100-meter dash in 11.14, he later was runner-up in the 200 (22.51), and Alcena was also a member of Norwalk’s winning 4×100 relay team (43.2).
Jonathan Joyner won the triple jump (41-10), Machal Henry placed second in the 100 (11.49) and fifth in the 200 (22.99), while Joshua Roos took second in the 1,600 (4:26.72) to help lead Danbury to third place.
Trumbull’s Evan Dadson won the 110-meter hurdles (15.62) and placed third in the 300 hurdles (43.05).
Rodolfo Blake III won the 300 hurdles in 42.4, Parker Broderick placed second in the 3,200 (9:22.81) and Ibrahim Danazumi took second in the high jump (6-0) to lead Fairfield Warde.
Derek Amlicke won the pole vault with his impressive vault of 14 feet, 6 inches, Michael Loya was runner-up in the triple jump (40-8), and Ben Lorenz was third in the 1,600 (4:217.25) and sixth in the 3,200 (9:37.1) to lead Staples.
Trumbull had a pair of victorious throwers in the field events – Angelo Pisacreta in the shot put (52-2) and Mike Prizio in the discus (132-4).
Griffin Smuckler won the javelin (156-2) and Ethan Walls placed second in the 400 (46.62) for Ridgfield.
Saul Liles of Norwalk placed second in the discus (129-4) and fourth in the shot put (45-10.75) and his field events teammate Jayden Baker was runner-up in the shot put (49-11).
New Canaan’s Javier Perez-Soto was runner-up in the javelin (154.5) and fifth in the shot put (45-0).
The meet’s two other runner-up finishers in individual events were Westhill’s pole vaulter Sean Horrigan (12-6) and Bridgeport Central’s long jumper Michael Hemmings (20-5).
Wilton’s Anderson Campbell was third in the 110 hurdles (16.57) and sixth in the 300 hurdles (43.66).