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.
The girls State Open will be on Halloween so expect to see an array of goblins and ghosts to be in attendance on the sideline. But the athletes will have to hold off on the merriment while they face their own demons and of course the famous “Green Monster” in the middle of the race that will determine whether the teams and individuals get either a trick or a treat after they cross the finish line. There are a lot of unknowns in this year’s girl State Open. There are plenty of teams that have a solid top three or four but this year it will all come down to who develops their 5th runner.
New Fairfield (M), Coach: Jim Keller
Two years ago, New Fairfield was the “Little Engine That Could”. They were a mostly young team made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores and surprised many by finishing 3rd at the State Open and 6th at New Englands. Last year everyone returned and they lived up to expectations, easily winning another Class title, finishing 4th at the Open and 10th at New Englands. This year the same quartet of Katie McMorrow, Hannah Greco, Rose and Ripley Penney return and are now veterans of many cross country battles. Their 5th runner Maureen Connors was thrust into the line up and improved a great deal as the season went on returns with a year of experience under her belt. Plus they add some members of the Flash Middle School program who should provide added depth.
Glastonbury (LL), Coach Brian Collins
One of the most consistent programs over the past 20 years has to be Glastonbury. You can never go wrong picking them high in your preseason poll. The Guardians have made New Englands the past ten years straight and won the meet as recently as 2022. Last year they were 3rd at the State Open but beat all CT teams to finish 4th at the regional meet in Maine. The good news is they return Brooke Strauss who has two State Open runner up finishes and an individual championship on her list of notable achievements. The bad news is they graduated three varsity runners and will be in search of a fifth. But again onto the good news, Glastonbury always seems to develop girls to become state class runners. Once they find a fifth girl, they are sure to move back up high…
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