BHS and SHS Send Three to 2022 CIAC State Open in Track and Field

This past Saturday, February 12th, three local high school students earned distinct honors in qualifying for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference State Open in track and field taking place this upcoming Saturday February 19th.

Stratford High’s Isabella Taccogna, a Senior, will represent the crimson and gold in the Girls High Jump Event. She finished in a tie for second overall in the Class L event on Saturday with a jump of 5’-00. She tied Shaelyn Murphy of Maloney High School. Only Meg Barnouw of Fairfield Warde was better with a jump of 5’-02 inches.

With the 5’-00 jump Taccogna established a new girls SHS Indoor school record. She broke the previous Indoor record of 4’-06 inches set by Candice Ryder back in 2017.

Taccogna is ranked 6th best in the state going into the State Open on Saturday.

Bunnell’s Samatha Coimon, a Junior, will represent the Bulldogs in the same event by virtue of a fifth place finish. Coimon’s mark of 4’-10 inches culminated a long afternoon of action in the high jump event that saw twenty-four entrees.

Coimon is ranked 17th best going into the State Open on Saturday.

Making it to the CIAC State Open is no easy task. In order to qualify each athlete must achieve a qualifying mark to even compete in their respective conference finals, then another higher mark in their respective class divisions. From there the competition becomes fierce. Each athlete needs to achieve a class division medal by finishing in the top six.

The CIAC recognizes each divisional winner with the honor of being named “All State”.

To go even further into the CIAC State Open, officials place all four division winners automatically in the event. The next best 14 are named in order of finish into the event to decide the ultimate best in the state for the year. To add even another qualifying sequence, ties are decided by any misses an athlete may have had along the way.

The suspense was over last evening when everything was tallied and finalized. It became official last night and athletes were notified.

While Taccogna and Coimon highlighted the locals on the girls side, Bunnell’s Mikael Francis, a Senior, had a fine afternoon in his own right on the boys side.

Francis went on to take fifth place in the tightly contested Class L Long Jump Event. Francis’s leap of 19’-07.25 was his personal best Indoor mark in the Long Jump.

Francis also had his personal best in the 300 Meter Dash with a time of 39.48 seconds. He finished 12th overall in the event in a field of forty-two entries.

The three town athletes will now look to fine tune their talents this week before heading into Saturday’s contest.

The State Open will take place at the Floyd Little Athletic Center beginning at 12:00 noon.