SCC Boys
By MARTY OGDEN
The boys' Southern Connecticut Conference team crown is
up in the air. Defending champion Amity
loses the core of their team along with longtime coaches Bob Orgavan and Thom
Jacobs. But it returns one of the top runners in the state, Kyle Beaudette, and
a JV team from last year that scored 26 points. Amity will now be led by longtime Guilford coach John Faitsch, who has
proven to have the ability to produce winning teams.
Creeping up on the rest of the conference is Xavier, who has quietly rebuilt its distance tradition that dominated the state for so many decades. While they don't have the star power of Amity or Cheshire, they have five returners who have run in the 4:30s for the 1,600m and around 10 minutes for 3,200m. That might not score a lot of points in track, but it certainly transfers to a cross-country team that will attract some notice.
Right in the mix will once again be Fairfield Prep and Cheshire who finished second and fourth last year at the conference meet and fifth and 13th at the State Open behind Amity's fourth-place finish.
But it will be the race for the individual boys' title will get the most notice throughout the state. The top two returners from the conference and the State Open, Andrew Thompson of Prep and Brendan Murray of Cheshire will once again battle it out with Beaudette also in contention. Defending champion Thompson, who also finished right ahead of Murray in the Open comes off a spring in which he ran a 9:13 for 3,200m. But in outdoor track Murray turned the table and barely defeated him at the State Open and New England's running a best of 9:11. Throw in Beaudette, who has run a 4:24 1,600m and Guilford's Finn Davidson, who improved to a 4:25, you have the makings of one of the best races in the state come this October 22..