BURLINGTON — Whether it was on the track or in the field, Thetford senior Luke Miller and White River Valley junior Cassandra Armstrong were dominant, as they each finished as runners-up at the Vermont High School Decathlon Championship this week. 

Miller, who was competing in his first decathlon, secured top-three finishes in six events, including a victory in the 400-meter dash. He finished with 5,763 points, which was 378 points behind Raf Campanile of Mount Mansfield Union High School in Jericho. 

“The community is really nice. It’s nice to be able to meet all these new people and support each other,” Miller said.

Midway through Tuesday, Armstrong spoke about her performance so far. “I think the first day of decathlon is usually my better day,” Armstrong said. “And so going into today, I knew that and my goal was top five and to beat my (personal record) from last year.”

She ended up notching four top-five finishes, including a win in the pole vault, earning her 4,871 points, which was 1,166 points behind the winner, Sabine Brueck of North Country Union High School in Newport.

Hartford senior Bennett Moreno also had a stellar day, finishing fourth in the boys’ division. He secured a first-place finish in the final event of the decathlon, the 1,500 meters. According to 802 Timing’s website, the entity that scored the event, Moreno’s time of 4:03.80 set a meet record. He also came in second behind Miller in the 400. 

“I think part of endurance training, and the magic of pretty much any event in decathlon, is you can train in a variety of different ways and show up here ready to compete really well and have a great time,” said Moreno.

“As a distance runner, just being able to get out four or five times a week, do the repeat miles, do the stuff that teaches you how to survive long amounts of hard work — it translates pretty well to the decathlon,” he added.

The championship, which was held at Burlington High School, featured more than 60 girls and 60 boys from schools across Vermont competing in six field and four track events over the two-day affair. On the track, athletes competed in the 100 dash, 400 dash, 110-meter (boys) or 100-meter (girls) hurdles and the 1,500.

While in the field, the boys and girls competed in the discus, javelin, shot put, pole vault, long jump and high jump.

Other notable individual performances from around the Upper Valley include top-10 finishes in the boys’ decathlon from White River Valley sophomore Jack Hughes (eighth) and Windsor senior Tanner Crane (tied-10th). Oxbow senior Rueben Keefe won the high jump.

For the girls, Thetford senior Ava Hayden and Hartford senior Geneva Durgin finished in the top 20 at 16th and 20th, respectively. Another Thetford senior, Maya Dixon (21st), finished just outside of the top 20.

Armstrong’s White River Valley teammate junior Addison Isham, also had a nice performance, coming in 19th overall and securing a top-five finish in the 100 hurdles along the way.

St. Johnsbury (265 points) took team honors in the boys’ decathlon and Champlain Valley Union (280) won the girls title.

White River Valley (seventh, 233) and Windsor (ninth, 215.5) finished within the top 10 for the boys out of a field of 23 schools. Oxbow (11th, 195) and Thetford (14th, 172) secured spots within the top 15, and Hartford (18th, 97) was in the top 20.

On the girls’ side, White River Valley (231) and Thetford (229) finished in the top 10 at seventh and eighth, respectively. Hartford (21st, 81), Oxbow (23rd, 54) and Windsor (24th, 49) finished toward the bottom of the 25-team field.

To view both the team and individual results in their entirety, visit https://live.802timing.com/meets/54463.

Michael Coughlin Jr. can be reached at mcoughlin@vnews.com.