The Wilton girls winter track and field team will be looking to defend its FCIAC East Division title this winter, while the the boys team is rebuilding with perhaps its youngest team ever.
The indoor season officially kicks off this afternoon (3 p.m.) with the annual Reindeer Relays at Zeoli Field House.
As is usually the case, the Wilton girls will be powered by a strong contingent of distance and middle distance runners.
Junior Morgan McCormick is coming off a history-making season in cross country, becoming the first Wilton runner to win the FCIAC, class and State Open championships in one season. She will be a favorite to take several distance titles on the FCIAC and state level.
Seniors Elizabeth Healy and Nina Mellin and juniors Elizabeth Lynch and Emma Westerholm will also look to score points in the distance and middle distance events.
In the 300 and 600 meters, Healy, Westerholm and two other returning seniors, Ashley and Julia Viterelli, are back, but the Warriors will need to replace most of their top short sprinters from last year.
“We’re a little thin there. We have two months to develop somebody,” said head coach Jeff Gee. “We’ve got a lot of freshmen. There’s potential there.”
Healy is the defending FCIAC East Division champ in the 600 meters, and McCormick is the defending division champ in the 3200. Ashley and Julia Vitarelli, along with Healy, made up three-fourths of the team’s division champ 4x400 relay.
Gee expects Wilton to have competitive relay teams.
“We’ve scored well in the relays over the years and I think our relays should be able to score at FCIACs and the class meet, and make it onto the Open,” he said.
In the field events, the team has some strong returning jumpers and throwers.
In the shot put, senior Brady Faria and junior Covadonga Perez Pelaez have made big strides over the last few years, and both of them broke the school record during the season last winter.
“They should move up the ranks at the FCIAC and class meets,” said Gee.
Faria placed fifth last year at FCIACs, and Perez Pelaez was sixth.
Senior Meri Santomero returns in the high jump and hurdles, while junior Lacey Ellers and sophomore Andreen Reid are both back in the long jump. In the pole vault, the Warriors will look to senior Izzy Meltzer and sophomore Anna Rava.
“We’ll be depending on our field events more than we have in the past,” said Gee.
Captains of this year’s team are Julia Vitarelli, Faria, Healy and Mellin.
Wilton finished eighth at last season’s FCIAC meet.
Boys team
The Wilton boys team is very young, but does return some top talent.
“Half of the team are freshmen, which is sort of unprecedented. A lot of it is figuring what people can do,” said head coach Jim Gerweck. “The good thing is the young guys are going to get the opportunity to compete a lot in the meets.”
Leading the way will be senior Aaron Breene, the defending FCIAC champ at 1000 meters. He scored nearly all of the points for Wilton at FCIACs, as the Warriors finished eighth.
The team’s other top returner is junior Chris Colbert, who will be looked on to score in the sprints and hurdles.
Wilton is most experienced in the throwing events, with senior Joe McFadden and juniors AJ Pykosz, Brendan Quinlan and Trevor Brown.
Junior Richie Tomaselli also returns in the sprints, while juniors Rich Dineen and Andrew Noonan will lead the way in the hurdles along with Colbert.
In the distance events, the Warriors will look to seniors Sean Cunningham, Carsten Langholm and Andrew Nisco.
“It’s a very young team. It’s going to be a learning process,” said coach Gerweck.
— J.B. Cozens