Cosmos' Wheeler, Terriers' Tuttle capture state titles

Youth prevailed for a pair of local athletes at the 2017 Vermont Indoor Track & Field Championships as Springfield freshman Cadence Wheeler and Bellows Falls sophomore Reno Tuttle emerged with individual titles.

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2017-02-06 / Sports Terriers' Tuttle, Cosmos' Wheeler capture state titles «» View full-size Springfield's Cadence Wheeler won the triple jump at the state championships. - RANDY SHUTTER/RS PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/TJ.JPGhttp://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/Tuttle.JPG By TIM TAYLOR sports@eagletimes.com NORTHFIELD, Vt. — Youth prevailed for a pair of local athletes at the 2017 Vermont Indoor Track & Field Championships as Springfield freshman Cadence Wheeler and Bellows Falls sophomore Reno Tuttle emerged with individual titles. Tuttle, the only underclassman ranked in the top 16 in Division 2 shot put, erased a sour memory from a disappointing showing at the New England qualifier the previous week. Meanwhile, the disappointment was much more recent for Wheeler, who had struggled through two previous events before claiming his gold in the final event of a very long day. On his second leap in the triple jump, Wheeler hit 38 feet, 6 3/4 inches. That would put him 14 1 /2 inches further into the sand pit than the runner-up, teammate Elijah Pianka (37-4 1/4). The Cosmos' Chris Gurney placed fourth at 35-10 ¾. "This young student athlete persevered through a long, tough, learning-intensive day, to ultimately come out on top,” said Springfield coach Jim Fog. “I'm proud of all that Cadence and his teammates have achieved this season." Wheeler survived big letdowns in the high jump and pole vault, where he passed at the first two heights in both, then failed to clear the bars. He would place fifth in his first event of the meet, the long jump, but at 18-7 was almost 10 inches short of his PR, a distance which would have been good for bronze. Earlier in the day, Tuttle landed a heave of 45-8 ¾ on his next to last throw to earn his gold. His throw surpassed top-ranked Chelsea's Tristan Laroque, who hit 45-1 ¾ in the previous round. "It feels good. it feels good definitely to get it under my belt," Tuttle said. "I didn't do good last weekend at all. I think what made the difference is a good warm-up, a lot better warm-up. I was all fired up. It feels good. "I just wanted to get better than last week. Last week I threw terrible, so I just wanted to get farther. When I threw 43-6 to start I just wanted to go up." The winning throw easily topped Tuttle's previous PR of 42-11, not to mention the dismal 39-9 ¼ from the New England qualifier. Pianka was unable to retain his title in the high jump. Nobody came close to the 5-10 reached by Rivendell's Owen Pelletier and even though Pianka matched the 5-6 good for second, he placed fourth based on misses. Bellows Falls' Gabe Hakimoglu also cleared 5-6 and would finish third, a pretty good day for the freshman. The Terrier's Cody Tallent was the top local competitor in running events. The senior ran his final indoor 3200 and placed fifth with a time of 11:20.15. The Bellows Falls boys would place 10th as a team. It was also a good day for the Cosmos, who are not eligible to compete for the team title as they are a club sport. "Our competitiveness at states show what Springfield athletics is capable of,” said Cosmos assistant coach Stephen Lawrence. “We're fortunate to have a great group of kids who step up early and still finish strong." In the girls meet, Windsor's Emily Smith placed fourth and Bellows Falls' Leanna Mager finished seventh in the high jump. Both cleared 4-6 (second through eight place all hit 4-6). Four other area athletes finished in the top 10. Bellows Falls' Hunter Smith took ninth in the 55 hurdles (10.53) and Springfield's Allan Poller was eighth in the high jump (5-0) and ninth in the 55 dash (7.18, PR). Placing 10th were Windsor's Justin Smith in the 1,000 (3:07.88) and Bellows Falls' Ian Wallace in the 1600 (5:28.39). Other local efforts included Windsor's Hunter Judd, 13th in the long jump (15-03 ¼) and 17th in the 55 dash (7.44); Gurney, 15th in the 300 (41.7, PR); Springfield's Kim Phan, 16th in the 55 hurdles (10.98, PR); Poller, 18th in the 300 (41.88, PR); Green Mountain's Deidre Moore, 18th in the 300 (50.04); the Chieftains' Emily Barr, 19th in the 300 (50.35) and Springfield's Maxim Leninsky, 24th in the 300 (42.7, PR). NHIAA state championships Newport's Peter Thibault was the lone local competitor in Sunday's state meet. He placed seventh in the Division II shot put with a top throw of 43-3 despite only competing at one meet prior to states. Note: For more photos of the state track meets, see page A-10.