The 28th Annual Wilton Invitational took place this Saturday at Allen's Meadow and lived up to the pre-race hype with some of the best runners in the state battling it out.
Drew Thompson of Fairfield Prep ran with the pack for the first mile when he gradually increased his lead. He continued to extended it until he was up by 32 seconds at the finish of the 5,000-meter course in 15:52. When asked what motivate him to be able to win against such a strong field, he stated, "I just love the sport and running fast and competing. I have a real love for my team and coaches." This was Thompson's first invitational win and as a junior, he looks to be on pace to reach the success of other Prep runners such Connor Rog, Christian Alvarado and Brian McGovern.
Thompson's individual effort was not enough for the Jesuits to overcome last year's Class LL champion Amity, who won 50-68 thanks to a 1:21 gap between the Spartan 1-5 runners. Long time Guilford coach Jon Faitsch who took over as head of Amity this fall, liked what he saw in their first invitational of the season. "I'm very pleased" he stated. "We lost a lot last year. Five of seven were junior varsity and really stepped up."
Amity was led by Kyle Beaudette who ran 16:24, a comfortable seven seconds ahead of Trumbull's Charlie Tauble.
Pomperaug boys won the small school division 39-48 over Joel Barlow. While Barlow's Michael Bortolot and Ben Ruffing went 1-2 in the small school race (4th and 6th overall), Pomperaug used its tighter pack with a :59 second 1-5 split to defeat the Golden Eagles.
Pomperaug girls have what one coach called "a powerhouse team" this year. Last year they were the SWC and Class L runners up and finished 6th at the State Open. On Saturday, they easily won the small school race by taking 1-5 places and defeating Guilford 15-55. But it was in the overall standings where they really showed their stuff.
They defeated a much improved Greenwich team 34-93 with one of the top programs in the FCIAC Wilton scoring 121 in overall standings to take 3rd.
Veteran Pomperaug coach Mark Goodwin, in his normal understated tone felt this meet was a chance to "get their feet wet." He continued to say "this is part of the process with our goal at the end of the year. The team is learning along the way and this was just a quiz to see where we are now."
If this meet was just a quiz, Wilton's junior Morgan McCormick is starting the year off the year with an A+. She won her first dual meet on Tuesday and came back against some of the best runners in the state to win her first invitational. She covered the 4000m course in 15:09 to defeat All State Sophomore Ivy Walker by three seconds.
After McCormick finished 6th in 16:29 last year at this meet, there has been some obvious improvement. McCormick feels she has "adjusted to the pace and the distance" after her first season running cross country last fall. "I like the longer distances better. I try to go out easy and push the pace in the middle and that gives me more confidence."
More than 900 high school runners competed in Saturday's Wilton Invitational. The meet consisted of freshmen, junior varsity and varsity events and a separate middle school race with a few hundred more athletes who competed immediately after the high school awards.