Athletes to Watch: Randy Neish, Glastonbury


RANDY NEISH

While Brien McMahon's Eric van der Els and Gabriel Altoop of Ridgefield were fighting for the individual title in the closing stages of the Class LL meet this past Saturday, Randy was just a few seconds from making it a three-way battle. The Glastonbury senior placed third overall with a time of 15:59.0, just seven seconds behind the winning effort of van der Els. If he shows up with his 'A' game, Randy has potential to win the State Open this Friday and improve on his fourth-place finish from a year ago. Last month he had an impressive victory at the Woods Trail Run in Vermont where he traversed a very-difficult course at Thetford Academy in 16:12. He also broke the tape at the Central Connecticut Conference Championships where he posted a time of 16:25. If the race comes down to the last stretch and Randy is with the leaders, watch out! He has the speed to make it happen. He's run 1:53 for 800 meters and 4:16 for the mile.