Family Affair For Stonington Indoor Track

Not too many high school athletes call their head coach "Bro" and their personal event coach "Dad."

That is the case with senior Ryan Bolduc, whose older brother Seth is the Bears' first-year indoor track coach and whose father John is his shot putting mentor.

"I guess it's the same as home. My brother yells at me there and yells at me in practice, Ryan said with a laugh.

All kidding aside, Ryan has no beef with his brother, a former football and javelin throwing standout who graduated from SHS in 2006. Seth, who stands about 5-foot-11, has a hard time calling Ryan his "little" brother. Not with his stature of 6-foot-8, 300 pounds.

"I'm not a small guy, but Ryan was bigger than me as a baby-faced 12-year-old when I was a high school senior, so I'm used to it," Seth said. "Now he's a baby-faced huge young man."

Seth excelled in the javelin at SHS. Ryan's massive size allows him to take after his father, whose 56-foot-2 toss in 1978 still stands as the SHS shot put record. Most averaged-size kids would love to be the biggest kid in school, but Ryan's dimensions can be viewed as much as a detriment as an asset, said John, who was the prototypical shot putter size of 6-2, 260 pounds.

"The only 6-foot-8 shot putter I've ever seen is [former UConn basketball standout] Corny Thompson when I was a senior," John said. "Tremendous height gives you leverage, but technique-wise it's not easy controlling the mass during a spin release."

Ryan finished second in the ECC Small-Medium indoor track championships in the shot put with a season's best toss of 48-10. Pushing 50 feet would win an ECC title in many years, but Plainfield's Josh Choquette, who won at 53-3, is one of the state's best and there is no shame to finishing behind him.

Still, there are some who feel that Ryan, because of his hulkish frame and pedigree, should be number one. His size can become a cumbersome issue socially as well as physically.

"Ryan is self conscious about it at times," John said. "He's constantly asked how big he is, how old he is. We've tried to assure him he should be proud of the fact at how big a kid he is and just say he's 6-8, 300 some odd pounds."

But because of his size and name, Bolduc can't really blend in with the crowd.

"I have a lot of load on my shoulders," Ryan said. "Because of my dimensions and because my family was very good in shot put and football, people expect me to do the same. I've gotten used to it and try to do my best to fulfill my potential."

The Bolducs expect Ryan to produce a strong outdoor season in the shot and discus, perhaps approaching his father's record of 56 feet with improved technique.

"He's a lot more agile and stronger, and you can see how he's getting used to his huge body by the way he runs," Seth said. "I get a kick out of coaching him, because he's such a great kid. You'd think he'd have an inkling to do what he pleases since his brother and Dad are the coaches, but gets to work."

He plans to attend either University of Rhode Island, Western Connecticut or Ana Maria next fall. There's a good chance he'll play either football, where he was a starting defensive tackle at SHS, or track.

"I feel I have as good a shot put coach now with my Dad as I will have in college, but it is college and I look forward to getting stronger," Bolduc said. "I hope to play sports, but my main objective is to get an education."

Bears Shine at ECCs, States

Seth Bolduc led the Bears to their best ECC indoor finish ever with a second place at the Small-Medium Championships Feb. 5 at the Coast Guard. Griswold won the title with 98 points, 17 ahead of Stonington in the 10-team meet.

The Bears' relay teams captured first in the 4x180 (Jim Connelly, Nate McColl, Manny Calmar and Tyler Taveres), 4x360 (Connelly, Cory Candelet, Ethan Burke, McColl) and Sprint Medley relay (Alex Fernandes, Arrow Johnson, Burke and Candelet). Candelet won the 600.

In the Class M meet, Connelly won the 300 at 36.2 and ran a leg with McColl, Calmar and Tavares on the sprint relay team that finished third. Bolduc was third in the shot put for the Bears, who finished seventh.

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