By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
17th Ocean State XC Invitational
Goddard Memorial Park, Warwick RI
The season has become more defined as many of the best teams in the Northeast converged upon Goddard Park in Warwick, RI on Saturday to compete in the 17th Ocean State Invitational. Connecticut was led by Xavier and Mercy with East Lyme’s Sam Leone finishing third and Chase Gilbert grabbing the runner-up spot in the Championship races.
Championship Boys Race
Coaches certainly have some intuition as evident by choosing Xavier to be the top ranked team in the Marathon Sports-New Balance Connecticut Cross Country Poll. None of the top teams met each other until Saturday when the Falcons went against Greenwich and East Lyme, the top three teams in the poll. Massachusetts’ St. John’s Prep, the 6th ranked team in the Bay State, pulled off a mild upset by defeating 3rd ranked Lexington with 2nd ranked Natick settling for 4th behind Xavier.
The Falcons won their battle against their in-state rivals, taking 3rd with 133 points, only nine points ahead of CT’s 2nd ranked team Greenwich with 3rd ranked East Lyme scoring 144 points. Xavier was led by sophomore Nolan O’Connor who finished in 16:34, good for 17th place. With all their scorers coming in within 37 seconds, their depth was on full display.
“I was thrilled with how the boys competed,” coach Chris Stonier exclaimed. “To pull a narrow victory over the other Connecticut teams felt good. I was surprised how deep we are. It was one of those rare days as a coach where we left the meet truly satisfied. We won by the skin of our teeth. We are showing our cards and they are good, but our hand needs to improve.”
As for his young developing star, Stonier continued, “We didn’t have a low stick but sophomore Nolan O’Connor believes he can be that guy. He is still learning how to compete at this level.”
Boys Championship race winner Everett Pacheco of Monument Mountain Regional High has improved 38 seconds since last year when he finished 18th. Close behind him was Footlocker finalist, Silas Gartner of Falmouth with East Lyme’s Sam Leone taking 3rd in 15:45.8. Other CT runners in the top ten include 6th place finisher Tycen Labelle of Griswold (15:57.2), Greenwich’s Ryan Newcomb took 8th (16:20.7) and Alex Cook of E.O. Smith took 9th in 16:22.3.
Boys Championship Race-Sam Leone 3rd (Ron Knapp-MSR)
Championship Girls Race
In the Girls Championship race defending champion Abby Hennessy of Westford Academy, MA repeated with Old Saybrook’s Chase Gilbert taking 2nd once again. Hennessy was a heavy favorite after finishing 3rd at New Balance Nationals Outdoor in the mile with a Mass state record of 4:34.69. The gifted senior was the only girl under 18 minutes, crossing the line in 17:35.7
Girls Championship Race-Chase Gilbert 2nd (Ron Knapp-MSR)
Gilbert led a Connecticut contingent of five runners in the top ten. She ran 18:02.2, an 11 second improvement from last year on the same course. Hazel Delucia of Lyman Memorial moved up five places from 2024, finishing in 18:47.1, good for 7th. South Windsor’s Sofia Holovatska (18:47.6), Katie McMorrow of New Fairfield (18:52.8) and Mercy’s Sarah Roberts (18:54.2) took the next three spots.
Girls Championship Race-CT Place 5 in Top 10 (contributed by Coach Jim Keller)
l-r: Katie McMorrow, Sara Roberts, Chase Gilbert, Hazel Delucia, Sofia Holovatska
Lexington, the 2nd ranked team in Mass, won as expected, scoring 63 points with Westford Academy, the 3rd ranked team, only 13 points behind. Mercy, ranked 3rd in the Nutmeg State, was the top CT team in 6th place, but the Tigers were expecting a little more.
“Today was another reminder of the ways we need to improve on race day as a program,” Coach Matt Conyers said. “We need to be better in some areas, collectively, and we will look at this race as another way to grow.”
Defending Class MM champion New Fairfield was 8th with 200 points with defending Class S champion Lyman Memorial finishing 9th, nine points behind.
Boys Varsity 1 Race
In the Varsity 1 Boys race Fairfield Warde had a strong showing behind the efforts of Edward Kushel (16:16.6), Hudson Schunk (16:34.6) Maximillian Mocarski (16:40.8). The trio all finished in the top 5 in their race to help the Mustangs to a 3rd place finish.
Girls Varsity 1 Race
Three CT teams finished in the top ten in the Varsity 1 Girls race. Southington was 4th with Hall in 7th and Darien in 9th.
Meghan Elterich of Fairfield Warde must have done some serious training over the summer because the junior went from running around 22 minutes on Wickham’s course last year to 20:07.8 to finish 7th on Saturday.
Boys Varsity 2 Race
Brookfield’s Landon Wall took 5th in the Boys Varsity 2 race in a time of 16:45.1; a performance that would have put him top 30 in the Championship race. Also placing well was SWC rival Lorenzo Lopes of Immaculater who cracked the top ten, finishing 9th in 16:53.8. Fitch’s
Julien Silva was one of 62 boys who broke 17 minutes in one of the three varsity races, taking 12th in 16:58.1.
Tolland and Woodstock both broke the top ten, taking 8th and 9th respectively.
Girls Varsity 2 Race
This race featured a 1-2 finish by CT teams as Cromwell continued their strong season finishing first with118 points to edge runner-up East Lyme with 120 points. Another top ten finish came from Ledyard with an 8th place with 296 points. Cromwell was led by a 14th place finish by Sophia Rodrigues in 20:43.8 as the Panthers placed 3 in the top 25 finishers.
The top finisher for state competitors was RHAM’s Ellie Ballard with her 6th place in 20:21.7 while Ledyard’s Maggie Littler was 9th in 20:32.8 to edge Anna Konon of East Lyme by a half-step at 20:32.9.
The Bowdoin Park XC Classic
Bowdoin Park, Wappingers Falls, NY
This weekend, while many teams competed in the Ocean State Invitational, a select few Connecticut teams traveled to Wappingers Falls, New York, to participate in the Bowdoin XC Classic on Saturday.
Girls 5K – Varsity 1
The New Milford girls travelled west to secure a 4th place in the Varsity 1 race as they totaled 116 points behind NJ’s Haddonfield Memorial with their low 27 points. The Green Wave were paced by two top 20 finishes with a 12th place from Alesia Smalls in 20:26.1 and a 15th from Skyler Quigley in 21:07.5.
Boys 5k – Varsity 1
Nathan Lee of Brunswick School continued his winning ways as the private school harrier finished in 15:36.5 for the fastest time of the day in all races. Teammate Teddy Hojlo finished closer behind in 4th at 15:39.9 for the 4th fastest time of the meet.
Boys 5K – Varsity 2
As the site of the Nike Cross Regional in late November, RI’s Bishop Hendricken chose to travel west instead of staying local at the Ocean State meet that proved beneficial as they won with 60 points led by Colby Flynn in 15:51.6. As the only CT team competing, the Haddam-Killingworth boys finished 12th with 330 points led by Daniel McCourt (42nd) in 17:24.4.
Girls 5K – Varsity 2
The Lady Cougars fared better in their race finishing 4th overall with 143 points in the race won by Cumberland RI with 49 points. Charlotte Behnke scored a top 25 finish with her 20:38.7, good for 22nd place. She was closely followed by Julia Downing (20:51.4) and Grace Mitchell (21:02.5) as the only HK finishers in the top 30 places.
13th Harry Geraghty XC Invite
Nevers Park, South Windsor, CT
On Friday at the 13th Harry Geraghty XC Invite several teams stayed local for racing over the fast and challenging course at the Nevers Park in South Windsor with Windsor girls scoring 28 points to win the Varsity race. The Warriors were led by Maya Donzella as she clocked 19:39.9 over the 5k course. The Boys Varsity race featured a 1-2 finish by Portland’s Burke brothers as Hayden nipped Breckin by a scant 16:48.3 to 16:48.6 margin. However, it was Hall’s placement of 5 in the top 15 finishers to earn the team title with 55 points.
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