William Hall senior Ari Klau and senior Hannah Parker of Coe-Brown Academy, N.H., captured the respective championship races at the annual Wickham Park Invitational Saturday afternoon.
Hall, who was the No. 2 seed in the field, held off a tight challenge from fellow Connecticut rival, junior Randy Neish of Glastonbury, to win with a time of 15 minutes, 58 seconds for the challenging five-kilometer course. Neish crossed the line at 16:18 to snare runner-up honors. Rounding out the top five was freshman Brendan Murray of Cheshire (third, 16:31), junior Liam Kimball of Timberlane, N.H. (fourth, 16:32) and senior Oliver Hickson of Staples (fifth, 16:34). Staples slipped by William Hall, 66-72, to take the team plaque.
In a down-to-the-wire race, Parker emerged the victor in the girls' race with a solid 18:56 clocking. She passed eventual second-place finisher and top seed Morgan Sansing of Pinkerton Academy, N.H., the final 50 meters of the race. Sansing was timed in 18:59. Coe-Brown junior Brooke Laskowsky (third, 19:09), Tolland sophomore Hayley Collins (fourth, 19:10) and Coe-Brown junior Liz Danis (fifth, 19:11) were also among the top finishers.
MileSplit CT will have a full story with quotes on Sunday.
For complete results of the Wickham Park Invitational, click here.
For access to more than 1,200 photos, click here.