Please enjoy this news story from The Day featuring BA's own, Liam Sweeney!
Bacon Academy's Liam Sweeney is the heir apparent in the shot put after learning from the best
Story from The Day
New Haven — Liam Sweeney remembers competing in the shot put at the Class S state championship as a sophomore.
“I was really anxious,” said Sweeney, now a senior at Bacon Academy. “It was like my heart was beating out of my chest. But as I’ve competed in more and more big meets, I think I’ve gotten a lot more used to it.”
Sweeney, Saturday’s Class S boys’ shot put champion with a throw of 58 feet, is the heir to the throne.
With the graduation of last year’s Class LL and State Open shot put champion Chris Amy of Norwich Free Academy and Class M state champion Tommy Matlock of East Lyme, Sweeney is now the best of the Eastern Connecticut Conference. Sweeney, at 5-foot-10, also has the best throw in the state this season at 58-5.
He beat Khile Francis of Bloomfield on Saturday by 2.25 inches.
“I was very consistent today. It was super close, that’s always thrilling,” Sweeney said. “I think everyone thrives under pressure. It’s a lot easier to kind of lock in when you’ve really got a reason to be competitive.
“Getting to compete against people who are so elite for three years is definitely really helpful, getting that perspective.”
A few moments after his win, Sweeney was at the finish line on the track to meet Bacon teammate Boden Paul, who won the boys’ 1,000 meters in a personal-best time of 2 minutes, 38.22 seconds. Paul, a 6-foot-5 junior, was the No. 3 seed but outsprinted Joel Capelle of Derby (2:39.36) and Ryan Ortoleva of Old Lyme (2:40.29) down the backstretch.
Bacon, which also had a second-place finish from junior Jeffrey Eldridge in the pole vault (12-0), finished second as a team with 35 points, although a considerable distance behind team champion Bloomfield (108).
“The last lap, I wanted to stay in my position,” said Paul, who was the 600-meter champion at last week’s ECC Division II meet and also finished third in the 300-meter sprint. “I trust my kick enough on this backstretch, just sit, kick and trust my kick.”
The ECC finished second through fourth in the girls’ 1,000, behind Wheeler’s Kaitlyn Kumpf, Stonington’s Molly Musselman and Bacon’s Kiersten Page. Kumpf was fifth in the 1,600 and Wheeler’s Elyse Overmoyer sixth and Kumpf was also fifth in the 3,200.
Bloomfield also won the girls' team title with 110 points. Stonington was third (24) and Old Lyme fourth (20).
Other top finishers among local girls were Montville’s Kamryn Plikus (2nd, pole vault), Grasso Tech’s Alyssa Lombardi (3rd, high jump), Plainfield's Abigail Lawton (4th, 300), Norwich Tech’s Nyomi Barboza (5th, pole vault), Montville’s Ashlynn Audoin (5th, shot put) and Montville’s Hannah Suarez (6th, high jump). Stonington was second in the sprint medley and 4x400 relays and sixth in the 4x200 and 4x400.
