Like Father, Like Son ... And Daughter—

Terry Family Members Jump To Gold At Nutmeg Games

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown’s Bob Terry and his children, Kayla and Cole, may be separated significantly by age but the three family members recently trained together for, and competed at, the Nutmeg State Games. What’s more, they scored a family hat-trick of sorts as all three Terrys ran off — make that jumped away — with gold medals at Veterans Memorial Field in New Britain on August 1.

As if each of the family members winning golds wasn’t enough, they all happened to claim firsts in their age divisions of the same event — the long jump competition.

“I was giddy about the fact that all three of us won the same event in our individual age groups,” Bob said.

This was Bob’s third straight Nutmeg Games after a couple of decades removed from competitive track and field. A strong performer at Masuk High School in Monroe and at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., he decided, in 2008, to lace up the running shoes and get back into competitive track once again. “It was fun to get back into it,” Bob said.

Turned out he was still “on track.” Bob earned a handful of first- and second-place finishes in those two Nutmeg Games and, this year, claimed two more firsts and a second.

He won gold medals in the 45–59-year-old age group in the long jump and pole vault events, and earned a second-place finish in the high jump. He also broke Nutmeg Games records along the way.

This was Kayla’s first track meet. The 8-, soon-to-be 9-year-old, is following in her dad’s and older brother’s footsteps. Cole, 11 going on 12, participated in the Nutmeg Games for the second straight year and the siblings had success along with their dad.

Kayla won the 8-and-under long jump competition with a leap of 8-6.5. Cole won the 11–12 division with a jump of 13-4.5, successfully defending his title from a year ago, and Bob won his age group with a jump of 18-9.5, giving him age group All-American status.

Kayla also came in second in the 100 meter with a time of 17.9, and Cole was fourth in the 100 in a time of 15.8.

“It was really, really fun,” Kayla said of participating in her first meet.

“Pretty good — exciting, that’s for sure,” added Cole, who has been involved with track and field for two years and runs in the Newtown Hawks Youth Track program.

Bob pole vaulted 13-0 for first place, again meeting the age group All American standard and, in doing so, set a Nutmeg Games record. He also came in second in the high jump with a leap of 5-6, good for the age group All American standard. Bob tied in height with the winner, but lost on overall attempt heights. Both he and the winner set new Nutmeg Games records.

Setting marks and winning medals was a thrill for the Terrys but the real win-win is to be involved with such a nice group of individuals, and to have his children be a part of it, Bob said. “The track and field community is a great bunch of people,” he said.

Look out competition. ... Next year, Bob’s wife, Tracy, plans to participate in the games as the Terrys try to not only continue their success, but build on it.