Stratford High's Taccogna Medals at the CIAC State Open

Stratford High School’s Isabella Taccogna grabbed local headlines and another medal in Saturday’s Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Track and Field State Open Championships. Taccogna earned the privilege to compete in the State Open event by finishing second in last Saturday’s CIAC Class L Girls High Jump finals.

Taccogna finished sixth overall in this afternoon’s Girls High Jump Event with a height of 5’-02.00 inches. She matched the height of the four girls ahead of her but based on high jump rules, of missed attempts, took sixth and an automatic qualifier to the New England Regional Championships being held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston Massachusetts on Saturday March 5th.

Bloomfield’s D’Jior Deisser took the top spot and was crowned the 2022 CIAC All State Champion with a height of 5’-04.00 inches.

Taccogna, in a post event comment, stated “ this is a dream come true” and is looking forward to further training the next two weeks in preparation for the big March 5th matchup.

Taccogna highlighted the day for the locals as the lone entry qualifier from Stratford High alongside two entry qualifiers from Bunnell High School.

The Bunnell entries of Mikael Francis and Samatha Coimin and their rookie season of indoor track and field fortunes came to an end on Saturday as the state open field proved to be too tough.

Coimin came into the day 17th ranked statewide in the girls high jump event but during the week of training suffered two lower body injuries and a third injury during warm-ups just prior to her first jump of the day. She did not make the day’s entry height of 4’-10.00 inches.

Coimin placed 5th a week ago in the Class L Girls High Jump Finals. The Junior Bulldog now prepares for the girls outdoor season slated to start on March 19th.

Francis came into the day also ranked 17th statewide in the boys long jump event. A rough start for Francis kept him from advancing to the championship round. Francis ended the day with a best jump of 18’-03.00 inches.

A week earlier saw Francis finish fifth overall in the Class L finals with a jump of 19’-07.25 inches.

Francis will also prepare for the boys outdoor season on March 19th.

Haddam-Killingly’s Aidan Law captured first place and the 2022 All State Champion honors in the Long Jump Event with a jump of 21’-03.25 inches.

For Stratford High, Coaches Anthony Dellavecchia and Caitlyn Ruble look ahead to the task of preparing Taccogna for the road trip to Boston and the New England Regional Finals on March 5th.

They are also looking into the record books to see if Taccogna is the first girl high jumper in Stratford High School history to make it to the regional finals.