Local high school notes: Ledyard's Tetlow reflects on the long history of the relays

Dave Tetlow, asked the origin of the Ledyard Relays, now named in his honor, calls it a long story.Last Saturday marked the 43rd anniversary of what are now the Dave Tetlow Invitational Relays at Ledyard High School and Tetlow, in his 51st season coaching indoor and outdoor track at the school, was multi-tasking in the press box, handing out medals, delegating a few more jobs and speaking of the history of the relays."The first early years when I first started coaching back in '73 it was called the New London County Relays and we used to take turns hosting it at different schools," Tetlow said. "Then there was a problem at one of the schools and it was going to get dropped and I got (then-athletic director) Bill Mignault to allow me to start it."Mignault, the hall of fame football coach, became part of the long story.Tetlow promised Mignault he would pay for any cost of the meet. But then Tetlow had to ask for money for the entry fee to his own meet."I said, 'When I said it wasn't going to cost you anything, I assume you're at least going to pay our entry fee,'" Tetlow said. "He said, 'That stands to reason. You're saving us bus money; if you went someplace else I'd have to pay the entry free and bus money.'"Over the years, the relays became synonymous with Tetlow, who manages it pridefully. There's traditionally a printed program with a timed schedule of events listed. Tetlow's former athletes still assist him in working at the meet even if they now coach elsewhere, such as Norwich Free Academy coaches Ted Koziol and Jeff Wadecki.There is a distance rule, disallowing anyone from running more than one race of 800 meters or longer past a certain point in the meet.Ledyard principal Amanda Fagan and assistant principal/athletic director Jim Buonocore officially changed the name of the event to the Tetlow Relays in 2022."Very, very nice," said Tetlow, who coaches the boys' and girls' teams indoors and the girls' team in the spring. "... It's more fun. It's not like you have to try to win the team total. It's not like you have all this pressure."In addition to relays on the track, such as the traditional 4x100 and 4x400 races, there is a hurdles relay, called the shuttle hurdles, and relays in the field events, by which three athletes combine for a team total."It makes it a little fun," Tetlow said. "If you're going to an individual race where you're trying to win the meet, sometimes you have to yank a person out so all of the sudden they might not do high jump or triple jump or javelin."Today, they can plan on coming as a group and saying, 'Us three are going to be together. We're not worried about some team total."Ledyard has also prided itself on its relay entries in any meet. The Colonels won four of eight boys' and girls' relays at the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II indoor track championship this winter.Said Tetlow: "I can come up with four very good quality athletes that can bump heads with individual stuff but they might not be the best to win it. Now I put four together and we can win. We always put them together. We can do that very well. And the kids look forward to that."Dropping dimesBoden Frost of the Fitch boys' lacrosse team had three goals and 12 assists in the Falcons' 23-11 victory over Montville on April 25.That's a state record for assists in one game, as confirmed by LaxNumbers.com, and ties the state record for points in a game with 15, a record co-held by East Lyme's Drew Sager, who had eight goals and seven assists on April 17."Guys are just clicking," said Frost, a senior midfielder. "I'm just feeding them and they're putting it in. It's all on my team."I already broke my assist record from last year. I guess I'm just passing this year. Last year I had like 50 in the whole season. This year I'm already at 80. It's me and my teammates. They're finishing my passes."That's a lot of inkEast Lyme held two signing days this week for senior athletes who plan to play in college. Athletic director Kevin Marcoux hosted a ceremony for fall student-athletes on Monday and for winter and spring athletes on Tuesday.A list of Vikings who plan to continue on in their respective sports:Girls' cross country, Aranza Torres (Smith); field hockey, Ava Korineck (Eastern Connecticut State), Zofia Maziarz (Eastern Connecticut State); football, Matt Leone (Endicott), Ronin McNamara (Curry), Aidan Patterson (Westfield State), Nick Petrini (Plymouth State); girls' soccer, Ava Lombardo (Springfield); boys' soccer, Gabe Delgado (Post), Tristan Seguin (WPI); volleyball, Addison Soleau (Eastern Connecticut State).Baseball, Liam Cochrane (Hudson Valley CC), Alex Dreyfus (Central Connecticut State), AJ Montejano (UConn Avery Point), Alex Salerno (Coast Guard Academy); cheerleading, Allison Baker (Nichols College); girls' crew, Fiona Samuelson (St Mary's, California); girls' lacrosse, Penelope Lawlor (Springfield), Lily Poletto (Roger Williams); boys' lacrosse, Jack Campbell (Nichols), Spencer Kennedy (Plymouth State), Juan Morales Jr. (Nichols College); softball, Abby Robinson (Springfield College).v.fulkerson@theday.com