CIAC State Open: DeBalsi, van der Els win individual titles; Tolland, Staples take team crowns

It was a familiar face at the finish line of the girls' race at the CIAC State Open Friday afternoon at Wickham Park.

For the third straight year, Staples senior Hannah DeBalsi captured the individual title. DeBalsi coasted to an easy, wire-to-wire win en route to a time of 18 minutes, 8 seconds. Highlighted by a runner-up effort from Katherine DeLoreto (19:01), Tolland copped its third consecutive team plaque with a 97-131 win over runner-up Glastonbury.

In the boys' race, last week's 1-2-3 finishers in the Class LL Championship finished the same at the Open with Brien McMahon senior Eric van der Els taking individual honors in 15:47. Ridgefied''s Gabriel Altopp was second at 15:55 and third was Glastonbury's Randy Neish in 16:05. Staples went home with the hardware in the team competition with a 102-115 decision over Danbury.

MileSplit CT will have more coverage of the State Open coming soon. For complete results, video interviews of the top finishers and photos, click here.

Boys Highlights