By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
RESULTS (with splits courtesy of Paynes Corner Timing)
Despite the cold, blustery early spring weather, distance runners of all abilities converged upon Xavier High in Middletown on Wednesday evening to compete in the 7th CT Distance Festival running in competitive heats based upon their abilities in either 1-mile or 5000m races.
In the rarely contested 5000m on the track, Xavier’s Jack Ouellette was content to run with the lead pack of four runners the first mile and a half of the race until he broke away leaving East Lyme’s Sean McAuley and Joseph DeLuise of Oxford in his wake. Ouellette, the defending State Open and New England champion in the 3200m usually waits until the last lap to make his move but must have felt the pace wasn’t to his liking. He easily won in a time of 14:56.51 with Ethan Sholk of Lincoln-Sudbury, MA using a strong last mile to finish 2nd with a time of 15:00.49. Ouellette’s time is #12 nationally while Sholk is ranked 2 places back. McCauley, the State Open runner up in the 3200m this indoor season, held off fast improving Deluise who stalked him most of the race. The pair finished in 15:22.11 and 15:23.73.
The girls 5k saw NY Federation runner up Leyla Bhusri of Shenendehowa Central set a hot early pace clocking off 81-82 second laps which put her on meet record pace. But the cold, windy day and the fact she was far ahead of the pack forced her to slow up the second half but the NXN qualifier in cross country still managed to hang on for the win in 17:37.56, the 5th best time nationally this spring. Rhode Island’s Mackenzie Lickert of St. Raphael held on for 2nd place in 17:49.92. This event drew some of the best girls in the northeast and the first CT girl was Jordan Stygar of E.O. Smith, who was 6th at the State Open in the 3200m this winter. She finished in 18:43.41 with SCC 1600m champion Eleanor Chamberlain of Sheehan breaking 19-minutes for the first time with a performance of 18:59.17.
The boys mile was a who’s who of distance runners in the Northeast. Andrew Thornton-Sherman of St Johnsbury has already set several several state records in Vermont and is one of the top high school middle distance runners in the nation with best of 2:24.97 for the 1000m, 1:51.37 for the 800m and a 4:12.87 mile to his credit this winter. He passed through the first 400m in about 65 seconds with a notable lead on the rest of the field that was well…
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