Southwest Conference
(SWC) Girls
By MARTY OGDEN
The South West Conference has traditionally been very competitive with different teams making their way into the top 10 rankings in the state over the years. Last year, Newtown, Pomperaug and Immaculate finished fourth, fifth and eighth at the State Open and six girls finished in the top 14 at the Open.
This year should be no different. The top returner from the conference meet is Angela Saidman of Immaculate who won last year as a freshman. She will be challenged by fellow sophomore Ivy Walker of Pomperaug, who sat out the conference meet last year but came back to take fifth in the cross-country State Open. Both are the third and fourth returners from the Open and have the best shot of taking down Tolland's 1-2 punch of Katherine Deloreto and Haley Collins.
Immacualate's Angela Saidman
Erin Tressler is the No. 2 returner and will hope to challenge the two super sophs. But Immaculate's Danielle Marcone had an outstanding track season running 5:10 for 1,600 meters and could be in contention as well. Another darkhorse is Weston's Katherine Murphy, who has been injured the past two years, but still managed to run 5:17 for 1,600m and 2:21 for 800m.
The team title will come down to depth since Immaculate, Newtown and Pomperaug all have two runners in the top six returners. Newtown does have four runners in the top 24 returners. Pomperaug should have some contributions from the Rochambeau Middle School program, who dominated the state middle school championship. The Panthers are also expecting the state middle school champion Madison Villa to have an immediate impact on the varsity team. With no one team head and shoulders above the others, it will come down to who gets a new runner to join their team or which junior varsity athlete steps up this season and fills some big shoes.