What's on Tap this Weekend!

A good portion of the state will be staying local this weekend.

Picturesque Wickham Park will be populated with runners from Connecticut and its vicinity on Saturday for the annual Wickham Park Invitational. This will be the first time that athletes get a chance to test their progress on the site of the upcoming class and state meets. The state's No. 1 runner, Eric van der Ells of Brien McMahon, will be at the Manhattan Invitational this weekend. Based on performances this year, Norwich Free Academy senior Conner Gralton and Cheshire sophomore Brendan Murray are the top-ranked CT runners entered in the elite race at Wickham. Tolland teammates Katherine Deloreto and Caitlin Swanson, who have both dipped under 18:40 this season, are the Nutmeg State's strongest harriers in the Championship Race.

Also on Saturday, more than a half dozen schools will be represented at the Reebok Manhattan Invitational at New York's Van Corlandt Park. In the Eastern States' race, van der Els, Glastonbury's Randy Neish and Darien's Armstrong Noonan are among the elite runners. In 2014, Darien graduate Alex Ostberg became only the second runner to break 12 minutes for the challenging 4,000-meter course. Darien, Stamford and Glastonbury will also be on the line. Brien McMahon (Varsity A race), Pomperaug (Varsity F), Immaculate and Ridgefield (Varsity G) will also be sending boys' squads to Manhattan.

Recent Nonnewaug Invitational winner, Immaculate, will test its mettle in the featured Eastern States' girls' race. The Mustangs' Angela Sandman and Jenna Gasparrini both ran sub 19 minutes at last weekend's meet, and could be in the mix in the 4K event. Pomperaug (Varsity A race) and Danbury (Varsity C) are also entered.