LITCHFIELD — Stepping onto the Plumb Hill track early on Saturday morning, May 17, Nonnewaug track and field was the team to beat.
Going into the 2025 Berkshire League outdoor track and field championships, Nonnewaug boys and girls track had an undefeated regular-season record. The Chiefs followed through by easily winning both titles.
“Honestly,” freshman hurdler Max Dmitriyev said, “I think everyone expected a win.”
Last season’s championship, the boys team lost only by a half-point to first-place Shepaug, but boys coach Deborah Flaherty said this year was a whole different feel.
“Last year, the week leading up before, I was a nervous wreck,” Flaherty said. “I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t sleep. This year, I actually sat down with the boys a day or two before the meet, and I was totally calm. Like, we got this, you know? I wasn’t like that last year, so maybe I knew it was better.”
Although this 2025 title was the boys first win since 2016, the girls have managed back to back championship titles for four years.
“I’m really proud of everyone’s performance,” junior captain Sophia Garguilo said. “The weather was kind of weird, but I think when it came down to it all of us were in the right mindset and that’s why we had such a good outcome.”
With both teams getting the results they deserved, Flaherty says there’s a lot more behind the victory than just showing up.
“You can never pre-plan everything, but we don’t just show up and see what happens,” Flaherty said. “We number-crunch, I mean the coaches do. I would go through and I would just look at where we were standing and all season long, we were on top, but where the nervous part came in was as we got closer and closer to BLs, the distance between us and the No. 2 team just kept getting smaller and smaller. It wasn’t that we weren’t getting better, because we were, but other teams had kids that were getting better in other places.”
Dmitriyev reflects on his first Berkshire League championship in a positive light.
“I enjoyed the experience,” Dmitriyev said. “It showed me how much better I have to get to reach the level some the competitors. Winning the BLs is a good experience, and it motivates me to do even better the next couple years.”
With both athletes and coaches celebrating the accomplishments of Nonnewaug boys and girls track and field teams, Flaherty and Garguilo were proud.
“I thought we could win, I thought we should win, and we did,” Flaherty said.
Garguilo agrees.
“We really deserved this,” Garguilo said. “All season we’ve been working hard, training hard, and everything had been building up to winning BLs. I’m excited to see us compete at the state level next.”
