Consistency leads Shelton’s Kozak to CIAC Heptathlon win, Stonington’s Mooney wins Decathlon

NEW BRITAIN — Junior Audrey Kozak of Shelton was on a mission at the CIAC heptathlon at Willow Brook Park on Wednesday. “Last year was not so good for me in the heptathlon,” Kozak said. “I was 16th and I knew I could do better and I was determined to do better this year.” Consistency has been Kozak’s forte this outdoor season including at the CIAC Class L meet, where she won the 100-meter dash and long jump, and took second in the triple jump. That consistency continued at the heptathlon. A win in the long jump (17-8.75) and second places in the 200 (25.99, school record), 100 hurdles (15.70) and high jump (5-0.25) led to a first-place finish overall with 4,095 points. Rosa Volpintesta of Bethel was second with 3,762 points and Meg Barnouw of Fairfield Warde was third with 3,727. In the decathlon, Joshua Mooney of Stonington dominated the two-day event and won with 6,331 points. Finishing second was Michael Johnson of Lewis Mills with 5,941 points and Avery Cipcic of Suffield was third with 5,647. “I’m so happy right now,” Kozak said. “I trained hard for this, especially in the events I don’t normally do. I started training a bit for the 800. I’ve been working on the shot put and throwing it in my back yard. “This win is a good boost for me going to the National meet this weekend where I will be doing the long jump and triple jump. It’s also a good boost going into my senior year for the indoor and outdoor seasons.” Shelton coach Gary Schmidlin expected Kozak to be tough in the heptathlon. “Audrey had an excellent indoor season and that led to a solid outdoor season,” Schmidlin said. “Audrey is an outstanding athlete with a great work ethic, someone who is very coachable.” The 800 was the last event of the heptathlon and Riley Powers of Newtown finished strong to win the event in 2:19.45. “I was trying to get as many points as I could, so I just ran hard the whole race,” Powers said. “It feels great to win and finish in the top six overall.” Powers ended up fifth with 3,605 points. In the decathlon for Mooney, wins in the 100 dash (11.17) and 100 hurdles (14.26) and a second in the long jump (20-3.75) fueled his win. “My goal all year was to win the decathlon,” Mooney said. “I was second last year and winning has been my focus. I’m going to the New Balance National meet (in Pennsylvania) but the Nationals won’t mean as much to me as this win. “The 100, 110 hurdles and long jump were the key events for me and I am very happy right now.” Gage Rovelli of Coginchaug won the javelin (161-11) and was fourth overall with 5,517 points. “My first time at the decathlon I threw 130 in the javelin, so I was working on improving that,” Rovelli said. “I couldn’t be happier right now with a win in the decathlon and fourth overall.” In the 2000 steeplechase, Ryan Pereira of Danbury was second in 6:57.76. Ryan Dunning of Fitch won in 6:42.46.

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