By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
The 41st Wickham Park XC Invitational, sponsored by Marathon Sports and HOKA, is considered one of the major cross-country meets in New England each fall. The 5k course at Wickham Park will also host the New England Championships in November.
The Wickham Park XC Invitational, traditionally over the Columbus Day weekend, has been moved to the last weekend of September which means this will be the first very large meet for many of the 116 high school and middle school teams that have entered. But several CT high school teams are traveling out of state to either the Ocean State Invite at Goddard State Park in Rhode Island or the Bowdoin Park Classic at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, NY. In short, this will be a real show down weekend where fans of Connecticut cross country should get a very good idea of who some of the major contenders could be for conference and class titles at the end of the season.
Of note, the three major teams that aren’t racing this weekend are Ridgefield, the top ranked team in Marathon Sports CT High School Coaches XC Boys Poll and the #2 ranked Xavier who are both preparing for the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina next weekend. Danbury, the third ranked team, will head to New Jersey to race the Shore Coaches Invitational at historic Holmdel Park next weekend as well. But let’s take a look at some of the top teams who are competing at one of the three major meets the last weekend in September.
Results will be available at https://www.nestiming.com/
2:15 pm Boys Medium Division (Class M & MM)
E.O. Smith’s summer training was apparent when they surprised Staples and New Canaan to take the Wilton Invitational. They are currently ranked 5th in the CT Coaches Poll. Rocky Hill, the Class SS champion returns almost their entire line-up. They won the medium race at the Winding Trails race last weekend and were seven points ahead of Avon. Notre Dame West Haven is a rising program and was 3rd in the small school race at the Wilton Invitational. From out of state, look for East Greenwich from Rhode Island who was 4th in their state championships last year with almost their entire line-up intact. Oyster River (NH) was 3rd in the Small School race at the Manchester Invite (NH) last weekend.
E.O. Smith has a pair of boys who should be in contention. Spencer Slayton was just under 16-minutes on Wilton’s flat 5k course and Brendan Cook…
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