Monday Banner Day for Track & Field, Tough Day for Lacrosse

Track & Field:

Monday turned into yet another miserable, rainy, windy day but it turned out to be a perfect day for the Brookfield boys track & field team to win an SWC championship. The girls team also faired well in the championship held at Bethel High School, finishing in sixth place.

Led by a strong senior class and overall team depth, the Bobcats ran away from the competition, outscoring second place finisher Newtown by over 30 points. The team totaled 121.2 points to take home the trophy.

Senior captain Spencer Mannion, who was out with injury when the team came up just short in the Indoor Track & Field SWC Championship this winter, was back and healthy.  

Mannion led the team with its only first place finish, a thrilling win in the 800 Meter Run. Mannion showed off a strong finishing kick, overcoming the second place finisher in the final 100 meters to win at the line.  Mannion, who in the spring signed a letter of intent to run at Quinnipiac University where he recieved both an academic and athletic scholarship, also finished second in the 1600 Meter Run.

Fellow senior captain Christopher Ackell also had a strong day. He was edged out by a record-setting performance by Newtown's John Wlasuk in the Javelin and Discus, finishing in second place while taking third place in the Shot Put. Wlasuk won all three throwing events while setting SWC records in each.

Senior Kirk Gardner also had three top three finishes to help the Bobcats. Gardner finished second in the 110 Meter Hurdles and took third place in both the Triple Jump and Pole Vault.

Other top three finishers for the boys team were senior High Jumpers Jack Gernert and Tyler Appleby, who both cleared 6-0 to take second and third place respectively, and senior Long Jumper Ryan Murphy, who took second place.

The boys 4x400 Meter Relay team of junior Noah Adams, Murphy, junior Leaon Gordon and junior Colin Burke finished third.

On the girls side of the ledger, the Lady Bobcats finished just out of the top five with 62 points. Weston was the overall winner totaling 108.25 points.

Sophomore Djenne Parris led the team, enjoying an outstanding day. Parris took first place in both the 100 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash while finishing second in the 400 Meter Dash.

Junior Angela Berardi took second place in Javelin with sophomore Paulina Harron finishing right behind her in third place. Samantha Mazur was the runner-up in the Discus.

Both teams will be back in action next Tuesday as they compete in the Class MM State Championship meet to be held at Middletown High School.  The boys team is the defending champion and will be looking to add another trophy to their mantle.

Lacrosse:

Both the boys and girls lacrosse teams suffered losses in the first round of the SWC Playoffs on Monday. The teams both traveled to Redding to face higher seeded Joel Barlow teams and endured miserable conditions that led to even more miserable results for Brookfield.

The Lady Bobcats took the field first and lost for the second time in as many games to the Lady Falcons. To end the regular season, they fell in a game played at Brookfield last week to Joel Barlow 18-15.  In the quarterfinal it was more of the same as Brookfield fell 17-12.

In the loss, which was the third straight for the previously red-hot Brookfield squad, the Lady Bobcats fell behind 11-3 in the first half. They outscored Joel Barlow in the second half 9-6 but it wasn't enough to overcome the early deficit.

Before the deluge of rain hit the area over a week ago, the Lady Bobcats had been riding a seven-game conference winning streak. The quarterfinal loss marked a sudden, shocking end to conference play for a team that had felt it was hitting its stride.

The boys team, which also ended its season with a loss at home to Joel Barlow, didn't fair any better in the playoff rematch. The number two seeded Rebels dispatched the Bobcats 16-4.

Brookfield, for the second year in a row, was under the guidance of a new head coach. Mike O'Neill took over a young squad that only has two seniors and three juniors on it. O'Neill is in the first stages of building the program up to where he would like it to be. In his first season he was able to steer the team into the SWC playoffs and earn a berth in the upcoming Class M state playoffs.