NEW LONDON, Conn. – Two weeks ago, Robert E. Fitch Senior High School had its indoor track ECC Division 1 Championships at the local USCGA facility in New London. 

On Feb. 8, seven Connecticut schools would meet up to compete for the winning titles. Starting at 2:30 pm, Fitch competed against teams from New London, East Lyme, Norwich Free Academy (NFA), Woodstock Academy, Waterford, and Killingly. At the end of the day, the winners would end up being Norwich Free Academy for the women with 145 points and East Lyme for the men with 159 team points. In the following week, Fitch High School attended their CIAC Class L Championship. They fell to numerous schools but still congratulated themselves for a great indoor season. 

“We did very well, a lot of PR’s.” said Walt Blanker, Fitch girls indoor track coach, “That’s what you ask for, a lot of kids to improve their times, distances, heights, at the right time which would be the Championship.” 

“I think everyone there just had really good energy, everyone was clearly very excited.” said an anonymous athlete for the Fitch indoor track team, “I think some people were nervous, obviously, but it was very good sportsmanship and I think everyone was just happy to see others do well.”

Some students had a late start to their season, while still attending practices, their schedules were not yet open entirely to being able to attend some of the meets with a refrained schedule. This did not cause any problems for the aspiring athletes. They had waited for their time in order to be part of experiences that people say are found in high school. 

“I think this was a very good year for me, I’ve learned a lot from being on this team and I’ve learned to thrive in hard situations and to make the most out of the opportunities I have made this year, going to ECC’S broadened my perspective of what I can do,” said an anonymous student at Fitch.

“I would if I was younger, but I’m at the end of my career, so this was my last hurrah,” said Blanker.