(All photos by LISA ROMANCHICK)
By MARTY OGDEN
Staples girls ran away with both the team and individual titles at the 27th Annual Wilton Invitation at Allen's Meadows in Wilton. Senior All American Hannah Debalsi led all finishers wire to wire and took the title with a time of 15:00 over the 4,000-meter course.
While her goal is still to compete at the Footlocker National Championships in December, she used this as a tempo run and pulled away from the pack by first 200m of the race.
"I was looking forward to good workout on a grass course" she said after the race.
Debalsi was able to defeat Wilton's Mary Lynch by 41 seconds and led a wave of Staples's runners who took 3-5-7 and 15th place. Coach Amanda Morgan was hoping for a challenge from Ridgefield who only brought their JV.
"I wanted the girls to be nervous," she said. "Last year we took the regular season so easy, I wanted the team to learn to run well in big meets.
In the boys' race, Brien McMahon's Eric van der Els, another All American, was challenged by Amity's pace setter Kyle Beaudette for a little over the first half mile. Van der Els maintained a pace that even the pace cart couldn't keep up with. His time of 15:32 tied last year's winner Spencer Brown for the fastest time on the 5km course.
Amity showed why they are the preseason #1 team in the state according to the CT Coaches Cross Country poll. Head coach Bob Orgavan stated their "goal was to close their 1-5 gap" which they brought down to 57 seconds. Amity placed 1-5-7-8 and 12 to defeat Fairfield Prep 33-63.