Photo by Catherine Avalone – New Haven Register.
Coginchaug senior Bailey Thayer runs the second leg of the 4×800 relay at Thursday’s Class S championship meet. Thayer, Allie Alsup, Samantha Drop and Jessica Drop won the state title in a meet record time of 9:34.99.
NEW HAVEN >> Before heading to Manhattan for the prestigious Millrose Games this Saturday, the Coginchaug girls 4×800 relay team decided to break another record.
With sophomore Allie Alsup running a personal best in the first leg, senior Bailey Thayer and junior Samantha Drop running the middle legs, and junior Jessica Drop in the anchor spot, the Blue Devils captured the CIAC Class S state 4×800 meter championship with a meet record time of 9 minutes and 34.99 seconds on Thursday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.
Coginchaug’s unofficial new record shattered the mark of 9:43.90 set by Immaculate (Danbury) in 2012.
“They are very excited to break the meet record,” Coginchaug coach Kate Germond said. “It obviously brings it to a new standard for them. It’s very exciting and gives them something to work off of going into Saturday.”
Weston placed second in 9:55.01.
The Blue Devils were coming off a record setting performance in the Shoreline Conference championship last Saturday. But they turned things up a notch in Thursday’s Class S relay race.
“Our plan was to break the record so we just said let’s go out and do that,” Jessica Drop said. “We saw some competition, more than we’re used to here at Hillhouse, so we said let’s go put down a good time and show what we have.”
Jessica Drop also set a Class S state record in the 1000 meter run. Her winning time was 2:55.10, breaking the mark of 2:55.95, which was set by Northwest Catholic’s Sarah Gillespie in 2011.
It was also personal time for Drop.
“We’re just hoping to be better each time we go out,” Drop said.
