By Shane Rabacs ’18

The boys’ track and field team won the class LL state championship Thursday, June 2, defeating Danbury by 2.5 points.

The event was delayed Wednesday after thunderstorms occurred in the middle of it. The Wreckers were in the lead then and were just able to hang on, placing fourth in the 4×400 relay, the last race of the day, in order to secure a win.  

“We were surprised at the end of yesterday’s event to find ourselves in the lead,” coach Laddie Lawrence said. “Normally this season, when we’ve gone against Danbury, we’ve found ourselves several points behind.”

This is the first state championship for Staples in 5 years. They last won in 2012, led by Henry Wynne, Jonathan Heil and Max Hoberman. This is also Lawrence’s 40th career state championship as coach.

“I’ve never been more proud of a group of guys than I am with this team.”Brian MacCordy  ’17 said. “When I say everyone contributed, I truly mean that: the throwers, the jumpers, the short sprints, the relays, the distance runners. All scored major points we needed.”

Zak Ahmad ’17 won the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:18. Luke Lorenz ’19, Henry Haas ’19, Tyler Wright ’18 and MacCordy finished second in the 4×800 meter relay. And Harrington and Ben Seiple ’18 came in second and third, respectively, in the 3200 meter run to help Staples win.

The Wreckers now look forward to the CIAC state open championship on June 5 at Willow Brook Park in New Britain

“We had always done so well in cross country winning multiple titles,” MacCordy said, “but this was the first time we were able to get past Danbury and win a track title. I’ll never forget this one for sure.”