CIAC class meets: Tolland, Glastonbury girls' repeat; Ostberg, DeBalsi sizzle

By KEN CASTRO

Alex Ostberg and Hannah Debalsi remained unbowed, and a number of entities discovered that defending is an unenviable task.

Ostberg and Debalsi, both with lofty rankings in hand certainly appear ready to mix it up nationally based on their most recent efforts. For a host of coaches, however, its back to the proverbial drawing board in preparation for the upcoming Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) open championship. At the conclusion of Saturday's CIAC 12-race class meeting, only Tolland (Girls M), who swept the top five spots on the day, and Glastonbury (Girls LL) repeated their championship success from a year ago.

Ostberg, the Stanford-bound, Darien High senior cut through the Wickham Park course with precision, particularly over the second portion of the outing; the end result produced a razor sharp clocking of 15:21.

“I’m still training through this part of the season so for me the goal was just to come out and win today,” said Ostberg. “Today was a little bit more relaxed for me, I only wanted to go out and run well and I think I might have run better that I thought so I’m really happy with that. I’ve got some bigger goals coming up over the next month with Foot Locker, and I used this race to get a check on my fitness level. Considering I did a hard workout yesterday and I was able to run fast today, I think I’m in good shape and looking forward to what’s ahead.”

In a frustratingly familiar scenario for opponents, Ostberg gradually pried himself from the remainder of the lead portion of the field at the outset before turning up the volume on the way to victory.

“My training has been excellent this year in terms of my mileage and intensity. All of the components are really showing right now. The key is to stay healthy and run fast when it matters; at the Northeast Regionals and nationals,” said Osberg.

Wilton's Spencer Brown rolled in 62 seconds in arrears of Ostberg for second, following a four-up battle to the line with Michael Noonan (Darien), junior Jonathan Davis of New Milford and Palmer Weimann of Farmington. Ostberg returns this week for another shot at the Wickham venue. As per usual, his outlook is one of positive progression.

“I have two hard workouts this week and I’m coming into next week (CIAC Open) with the same mindset. If all goes well, I’m eyeing sub 15-minutes on this course. It’s a little scary thinking about it right now, but coach and I have been discussing it,” he said. “I think it’s possible to knock off 20 seconds over the next two weeks; probably at New England’s.”

Debalsi fired off a sizzling 5:53 per mile pace in an overwhelming victory in the Girls LL competition. Teammate Erica Hefnawy positioned herself in third and held, providing Staples with a viable presence at the head of the field. But it was Glastonbury with Allison McArdle and Gaelyn Kattman, finishing in the lead five runners that provided their club with the overall team triumph.

“I don’t believe that today was their best day, but every day is different and I think it was a combination of everything that did well throughout the season,” said longtime Glastonbury head coach Brian Collins of his charges ability to defend their title. “We knew Staples would be a concern (coming in). Hannah (Debalsi) is in her own world, no one is going to touch her-not in Connecticut or nationally. We expected that Erica (Hefnawy), who has run well consistently would be right behind her, and she was. Fortunately, our three through seven came on at the end and that made the difference.”

Hall senior Ari Klau penciled in the second best time of the day in capturing the boys LL go-around. Klau, active from the gun held tight, staying in close quarters with a fluctuating group of four and six athletes. Klau capped his win over the final 300 meters, driving up the final approach to the line, finishing in 15:48.

“We are just starting to begin our peak,“ said Klau, who acknowledged his knack for overworking in previous seasons. “This time, I’ve learned to go easier and go more by feel and work on being relaxed. I came in here fresh and I knew I could do it. The conditions were right today-It couldn't have worked out better.”

Ridgefield's Austin Gilbert and Gabriel Altopp, both at 16:11, trailed Klau to the finish, however the defending class champions could not respond to late race surges from the eventual winners Amity and second-place Danbury.

“The last part of the mile we gained a ton of points,; we passed a lot of people before the hill. If we had waited until the hill, it might have been different” said head coach Bob Orgovan. “When I looked at this meet, I thought that Ridgefield, Staples, Danbury and us were all in a dead heat and whoever had a better day would come out on top and I think that's exactly what happened. If we ran it again, I'm sure the outcome would be different.”

RESULTS