Success of Warde Girls' Track Traced to Early Years

Good timing for a track team has its members peaking at championship meet time.

Led by medal magnet Julia Arduini, who earned two first place finishes and a second, the Fairfield Warde girls' outdoor track team combined a series of personal and season bests for 55 points and a sixth-place finish at the FCIAC outdoor track championships in May.

Arduini significantly improved her seed marks in both the javelin and the shot put, tossing the javelin two feet, two inches past her seed mark of 130 feet and lofting the shot one foot, one inch past her 35-foot mark in that event.

"I wanted to get a further distance, but for some reason, my spin wasn't working out," Arduini said. "It was just frustrating because the girl who beat me was from Trumbull, and last year the same exact thing happened. I think I did very well overall, but it's also a little frustrating at the same time."

Similarly, 32 years ago, the Andrew Warde High School girls' track team placed fifth out of 11 teams at the regional meet held at Roger Ludlowe High School. Jackie Vines, Pam Angel, and the mile relay team advanced to compete in the division championships and performed admirably.

The Warde girls' track team had a very good season in 1976 by establishing many new school records. Jackie Vines threw 34 feet, seven-and-a-half inches in the shotput, and she cleared four feet, 10 inches in the high jump, earning two spots in the record book. Pam Angel broke the one-mile and two-mile records with times of 5:53 and 12:07.

Katie O'Connor, seen competing in the 100-yard dash in the photo above, set marks in the 80-yard hurdles and 100 yard dash, clocking 11.6 and 12:01, respectively. Peggy LeVino ran the 220 in 28.3 to lower that record, and she ran with Katie O'Connor, Liz Iida, and Katie Connelly to set the 880 relay record.

The 440 and mile relay teams also set records. In the 440 relay, Pam Allsop, Margaret Iida, Katie O'Connor, and Jackie Vines combined to run it in 54.02 seconds, while the mile relay team of Pam Angel, Donna Provolo, Jackie Vines, and Katie Connelly ran 4:22.5. That's Julie Francis in the photo above competing in the mile run.

Other records were set by Jorie Wright, with a throw of 98 feet in the discus, and Tina Nelson, going 14 feet, three inches in the long jump.

It's no surprise that this year's edition of the Warde girls' track team did so well. A solid foundation for the program was established over a generation ago.

Paul

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Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".