MySportsResults.com - News - Recap of First Weekend of 2024 CT XC

By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp

And we are off. The 2024 cross country season has begun with nearly 30 teams competing at the 35th Annual Neubauer XC Invitational at Sheehan High and the Blue Dragon Invitational at Veterans Memorial Park in Middletown on Friday. On Saturday 40 more teams competed in the 43rd Stratton Brook XC Invitational in Simsbury and the 1st University of Hartford Invitational at Keney Park in Hartford.

35th Annual Neubauer XC Invitational

Sheehan HS, Wallingford CT

RESULTS

In the girls varsity race, Hand’s Annecy Vlieks, last year’s Class M runner-up, defended her win for the third straight year. Now a junior, Vlieks went right to the front and quickly built up an insurmountable lead finishing the hilly 4,500m course in 17:31.1. She finished a little over a minute in front of Sacred Heart’s Mackenzie Spooner who grabbed the runner-up spot in 18:42.0. Not far behind was host Sheehan’s top runner Eleanor Chamberlain. She used a strong finishing kick to hold off Foran’s Adrianna Gonzalez by four seconds crossing the line in 18:52.0.

North Haven and Woodstock went punch for punch in the team battle with the NightHawks prevailing by a score of 62-67. North Haven was led by freshman Kendall Montabana in 7th place.

The boys varsity race was slightly closer most of the way, but in the end premeet favorite Christian Menounos of Woodstock Academy prevailed over Cromwell’s Dylan Bathrick by a margin of 14:48.2 to 15:04.0. Menounos was 14th at the State Open last year and is projected to be one of the top runners in the state in his senior year. Bathrick, one of the top 800m runners in the state held off North Haven’s Matt Denardis who was nine seconds behind in third with Woodstock’s Cotton Sallum coming home in fourth place. Woodstock Academy will be looking to move up on their 6th place finish last year in Class M, starting off their school year with their first win of the season, edging Cromwell 48-56.

It was a special day for retired Sheehan coach Charley Farley. He was on hand to help out and came across his former runner Kelly Howard (now Vanacore) who has held the Titan’s 3200m school record for 18 years. Kelly was on hand to cheer on her daughter, sophomore Harper Vanacore, who finished 8th in the varsity race and looks to follow in her mom’s footsteps.

Blue Dragon Invitational