The boys indoor track and field team from West Hartford’s Hall High School notched its fifth consecutive divisional indoor track and field championship.

By Ronni Newton

The boys indoor track and field team at West Hartford’s Hall High School has been crowned divisional state champions six times in the school’s history – and remarkably five of those wins have been in consecutive years.

On Feb. 11, the Hall boys took first place in the Class LL indoor track and field championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven, continuing the streak of first place finishes that started in 2017. (Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no championship meet held in 2021.) The only other time the team won a state championship was in 1955 – before even the coaches were born.

Hall scored 88 points Friday, with Greenwich coming in second with 55.

“The point total is the biggest we’ve had,” head coach Jeff Billing said. “We scored points in 12 of the 15 events. This is the most well-rounded team we have coached.”

Not only does the team have exemplary senior leadership, he said, but there was great representation by sophomores in the scoring. “They didn’t have a season as freshmen, and it’s hard to imagine that we are not going to get even better,” he said.

In both 2020 and 2019, Hall took the divisional championship by a single point (48 points to Ridgefield’s 47 in 2020, and 60 points to Norwich Free Academy’s 59 in 2019). Those wins were not secured until the final event of the meet, the 4×400 relay.

Friday’s meet started off great for Hall, with wins in the 4×200 and 4×800 – which are the first two events. “About halfway through you could see it would be hard for anyone to catch us,” Billing said.

Accolades at Friday’s meet included three relay teams that took first place – and many of the runners were underclassmen.

The 4×200 (sophomore Jon York, junior Sam Sandler, sophomore Tommy Nash, and sophomore Charlie Cameron) took first place, as did the 4×400 (York, sophomore Gabe Sisk, Sandler, and senior Toby Ruffo), and the 4×800 (junior Colin Goldschmidt, senior Jake Ludgin, senior Sean McDaniel, and Ruffo). Ruffo was a triple winner Friday – also taking first place in the 600. All first place finishers earn all-state honors.

Additional top-six finishes, which scored points for the team, include:

• Second place for York in the 300
• Second place for McDaniel in the 600
• Second place for junior Nathaniel Aronson in the 1600
• Third place in pole vault for sophomore Liam Wright
• Fourth place in the 600 for Sisk
• Fourth place in high jump for senior Nicolai Yanko
• Fourth place in the sprint medley relay (sophomore Julian Serrano, Nash, Sandler, and senior Jamie Rendon)
• Fifth place in the 1000 for senior Walker Beverly
• Fifth place in the 3200 for sophomore Isaac Mahler
• Sixth place in the 1000 for Rendon
• Sixth place in the long jump for Sandler

“Senior captain Toby Ruffo had an incredible day,” Billing said, clearly a standout performance with a win in three different events.

As anchor of the 4×800, the team was leading Manchester by 2 seconds when Ruffo received the baton – but he was up against Aidan Puffer – an All American and one of the top runners in the country. “Aidan passed him on the second lap. Toby hung on him until the last 100 meters then outkicked him,” Billing said.

The 600 was one of the most exciting races of the day. Ruffo led a Hall contingent that finished in first, second (McDaniel), and fourth (Sisk) places, with 22 points for the team in that event alone.

Ruffo also anchored the winning 4×400 relay. “He got the baton in first and extended the lead, giving us the win in the final event of the day, putting an exclamation point on the team’s overall victory,” said Billing.

Other standout performances include the contributions of Sandler, who ran a 22.8 leg to secure the 4×200 win in a time that is just 0.19 seconds off Hall’s record and the fastest time in the state this year.

Sandler also pushed the sprint medley team into the lead with his 400m leg, and kept the team in first place through the third leg of the 4×400. Hall’s time of 3:30.02 in that relay was the fastest in the state this year.

York also ran a 22.8 leg in the 200, placed second in the 300, and as lead-off of the 4×400 put the team out in front.

“The fourth huge day was from senior Sean McDaniel, who ran a superb third leg of the 800 to move us from fourth into first, and put Toby in position to be able to beat Puffer,” said Billing. Then he came back and finished second in the 600.

Hall’s legacy is not reserved confined to indoor track and field. Over the past three seasons, they were Class LL cross country champions in 2021 and outdoor track and field champions in 2021. The seasons for outdoor track and field and cross country were canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, as was the 2021 indoor season state competition.

It’s great finally having the conference, divisional, and state open meets this season, Billing said – and they’re the only meets where the teams are scored.

This year’s indoor season is far from over, and Billing said the team is looking forward to the State Open next Saturday, competing for the overall team title and the chance to send a few relay teams as well as individuals to the New England Championships in Boston in March. “Then our season will finish up at Nationals in New York in mid-March,” Billing said.

Hall won the State Open Indoor Championship in 2019, assistant coach Mike Lage noted, with 43 points, topping second-place Hillhouse which scored 38.

“We have lots of youth in the line-up and are looking forward to the future,” Billing said.

“I’m really grouch of this team,” he said, and from a coaching perspective he wants the team to enjoy every moment.

Hall’s track program remains deep, and with so many top-level athletes in the pipeline Billing is hopeful that more championships are forthcoming. “It’s the goal right now in our program, every season.”

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