By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
Editor’s Note: Article was drafted prior to the pre-season poll posted earlier this week at: Ridgefield Boys & Glastonbury Girls Earn Votes as Top Teams in Marathon Sports CT HS Coaches 2024 XC Pre-season Poll.
Everyone once in a while, a particular team seems to own an era. Staples, Xavier, Danbury and now Ridgefield have owned the sport for several years in a row. In the post Covid era, the Tigers have two State Open championships, a runner-up finish and will be looking to defend their title on Halloween. But anything can, and usually does happen between now and Thursday October 31st. Let’s take a look at who some of the top returning teams are and who might be taking home some team honors by the end of the season
Ridgefield (LL), Coach: Bryan Kolovasky
Ridgefield outlasted Danbury for the Open title by a score of 60-74 after using the Class LL race as a tempo run and finishing 2nd to the Hatters. They easily won New Englands but just missed out on their ultimate goal of qualifying for Nike Cross Country Nationals by finishing third at Regionals. While they lost State Open and New England champion Steven Hergenrother to Princeton, they returned the rest of their line up Magnus Manley and Charles Lovett, two of the top five returners from last year’s Open. The Tigers have eight returners under 10 minutes for 3200m including Manley (9:11), Lovett (9:13), Trevor Fuller (9:19) and John Humphrey (9:27.75) and are ranked 12th nationally in the tullyrunners.com preseason poll. Several members of the team have spent a significant amount of time in Flagstaff this summer training at altitude and creating bonds that will bring honors back to Tiger Hollow.
Xavier (L), Coach: Chris Stonier
One of the all time greatest cross country programs in CT history, Xavier was 3rd last year at the Open and New Englands. They return five of last year’s top seven plus a solid JV and two incoming freshmen who have found a great deal of success at the middle school level. Jack Ouellette and Owen Martin return for their senior seasons and have already earned All American on two separate occasions in outdoor track.They are two of the top returners in the state and could lead the Falcons to 6th straight class titles. If Xavier makes New Englands again this year, they will extend their CT record for most team appearances to 29.
East Lyme (MM), Coach: Mike Flynn
East Lyme had been knocking on the…
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