North Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC) Boys
By MARTY OGDEN
Ellington boys have ruled the NCCC the past four years and will be going for a five-peat this year. They have the advantage of the top two finishers from last year's meet, Dave Clavet and Tom Arbeiter, but unfortunately lost their next two scorers to graduation which will be tough to replace. Nonetheless, Coach Aaron Flamino will try to work his magic like he has in the past few years. In a conference of mostly Class SS and M schools, sub five-minute milers with a good summer of training can make a big impact in a team's depth so the Purple Knights just might be able to pull off another championship this fall.
But Ellington will be challenged strongly by Bolton, which is led by Chris Cassello, the Class S Champion, and two other returners in the top 11. Suffield, who was third last year, doesn't look like they can challenge based on last year's results. But several of its runners improved a great deal during spring track and will add Connecticut middle-school cross-country champion Nick Sinofsky to the mix. That just might be enough to make them a darkhorse.
Individually, while Clavet and Arbeiter look to be shoe-ins to repeat with sub-4:30 1,600m on their resumes, Connor Ratte of Coventry has had tremendous track seasons, earning All New England in the 1,000m indoors and ran a 4:18 1,600m to finish third in the State Open during outdoor track. If he can convert that speed to cross country, he has an excellent chance to dethrone the Ellington duo.