Hall High School showed up to the Windham
Invitation with something to prove and they showed they will be a force to be reckoned with. They took the
top three spots in the Varsity I race led by Trey Cormier, Willem Landis and
Miller Anderson. Their depth was on display as they took five of the
top 11 places to score a miniscule 23 point and their entire top 7 finished within 35 seconds of each other. To top off their outstanding day, their
junior varsity took 12 of the top 20 places.
The Varsity II boys race was much closer with EO Smith defeating Lyman Memorial 96-98. Lyman's Silas Olsen was able to take the victory in 16:51 but each one of Smith's runners finished just ahead of their Lyman counterpart. E.O. Smith clearly proved cross country is a team sport with their top five runners only 47 seconds apart.
In her first cross country race, Hall sophomore,
Jenna Zydanowicz came away with the win in Varsity I. The
4:58 miler, defeated
Bethany Ottowitz of Watertown by 10 seconds.
Zydanowicz was backed up by junior Francesca Lynch and sophomore Rose Kitz who went 4th and 9th to lead Hall to the title over East Lyme 65-89.
In the girls Varsity II race, fellow sophomore, Kylie
Raymond of Somers tied Zydanowicz for the fastest time of the days with a 19:25. This was 19 seconds faster than her time at
Windham last year.
In the team competition, Avon showed off a little more depth with their 5-6 and 7th runners, but the heart of E.O. Smith's line up was too much and they defeated last year's Class MM runner up 80-92.
There is sure to be a shakeup of the Woodbridge Running Company CT Coaches XC Poll when it is released on Monday. To check out the preseason rankings, click here.