05/24/2026
(This is Muz.) Freshman Sasha Capelle earned three gold medals to lead the Derby High School Girls’ Track & Field Team Saturday at the Naugatuck Valley League Championship.
Sasha started the day by anchoring the 4 x 800 meter relay team to victory. The quartet of Kezia Amartey, Sofia Rudus, Makaila Briscoe and Sasha sped to a time of 10:16.67 to gain a 16-second win over runner-up Seymour, while Watertown placed 3rd. Kezia and Makaila recorded personal 800-meter bests en route with times of 2:31.78 and 2:36.08, respectively.
Later, Sasha won the 800-meter run in 2:28.21, and then anchored the 4 x 400 meter relay squad to a win with a team time of 4:19.12. Makaila, Alison Echeverria-Soto and Ariana Davis joined Sasha in that victory.
Overall, the Derby girls placed 6th in the team scoring with 58 points. Naugatuck captured the title with 198 points, followed by Watertown with 85.
Meanwhile, Sasha’s brother, Joel Capelle, took home three medals of his own in helping lead the Derby boys’ team.
Joel, a junior, anchored the boys’ 4 x 800 meter relay team in a dramatic down-to-the-wire victory. The combine of Jayson Drayton, Shane McAdams, Jayden McNeill and Joel turned in a season best time of 8:29.51, edging past a tough Naugatuck team by less than a half second. For the first time in his career, Joel broke the 2:00 barrier in his 800-meter split (1:59.46) to catch Naugy's Keniel Scale, one of the top 800-meter runners in the league. Shane (2:12.48) and Jayden (2:08.44) posted all-time personal bests for their 800-meter legs of the relay.
It marked the first time since 2015 that both the boys’ and girls’ 4 x 800 relay teams took home gold from the NVL Championship Meet.
Later, Joel placed 3rd in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:33.31 and 2nd in the 3,200 meters with a personal best time of 10:06.45.
In the team competition, the boys placed 9th with 45 points. Seymour captured the team title with 117 points. Kudos to Seymour head coach Dan Dunaj, a DHS alumnus, for his team's excellent performance. The Greyhounds placed 2nd with 87.5 points.
For the Derby boys, Cesar Rueda notched a silver medal in the shot put with a throw of 40-feet, 3 inches.
Other medalists for the boys’ team included:
*4 x 100 meter relay team of Jarell Williams, Jayson Williams, Isaiah Pierce and Terrence Howell, 4th place, 44.65 seconds.
*Jarell Williams, 5th place, 400-meter dash, 52.0 seconds.
*4 x 400 meter relay team of Jarell Williams, Jayson Williams, Isaiah Pierce and Quincy Carter, 5th place, 3:45.4.
Other medalists for the girls’ team included:
*4 x 100 meter relay team of Ariana Davis, Sophia Chajchic, Korey Lambert and Alison Echeverria-Soto, 2nd place, 52.66 seconds.
*Kezia Amartey, 4th place, 800 meters, 2:36.17 seconds.
*Lazarae Delvalle, 5th place, pole vault, 7 feet, 6 inches.
*Melanie Fearon, 5th place, javelin, 80 feet.
*Sara Poric, 6th place, discus, 74 feet, 9 inches.
*Mia Burke, 7th place, shot put, 25 feet, 8 inches.
*Sofia Rudus, 7th place, 800 meters, 2:38.98.
Ansonia High School, which trains with Derby, but scores for Ansonia, also assembled several outstanding performances.
Jose Rodriguez won both the 100-meter dash (11.02 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (22.31 seconds). He also was selected by the NVL track coaches as the boys’ Most Outstanding Sprinter for the season, as well as sharing the boys’ Overall Performance award for the meet itself.
Teammate George Marini placed 3rd in the 200 with a time of 22.74 seconds.
For the Ansonia girls, Adriana Cotto placed 6th in the 100 in 13.1 seconds and 7th in the 200 in 28.15 seconds. Mikayla Jean tied for 6th in the high jump with a jump of 4-feet, 6 inches, and placed 8th in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 52.96 seconds. Naomi Bestman placed 8th in the 200 in 28.31 seconds.
