H-K, Glastonbury Shine at Out of State Invites

Haddam Killingworth boys and girls went down to Jackson, New Jersey to compete in the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational on Saturday.  The boys dominated the competition scoring 26 points to Pitman, NJ's 73 in the Section E race.  Their 16:51 five-man average was the second fastest time of the day out of the five varsity races behind Kellenberg Memorial, NY.

The Cougars were by senior Daniel Schumann who won the race in 16:13, which was the fastest time of the day across all the races.  Jonah Spector took 3^rd in 16:22, with Andrew Meredith in 17:00 and Conor Mccabe right behind in 6^th in 17:09.  Rounding out their scoring was Kurt Soderge with took 11^th in 17:34. 

Their female counterparts fared equally well, defeating Nazareth Academy of Philadelphia 31-79.  They had the 9^th fastest time of the day with a 20:40 five- man average.  Kelsey D'Amico took the win with a 20:02 and she was followed by fellow senior Julie Kelly in 4^th place with a 20:20.   Lexie Bouthillier, Grace Lindell, and freshman Meara Bodak completed the scoring by going 9-10-11.

Both teams finished 10^th in last year's State Open and 7^th in 2015, barely missing qualifying for New Englands both years.  Performances such as these will give both teams a chance at being one of the very few Class SS schools to ever qualify for the regional meet.

Over 2000 individual runners entered from 86 schools New England, and the maritime provinces of Canada for the Maine Festival of Champions.  The Belfast course will be the site of this year's New England Cross Country Championships. 

Glastonbury, the top ranked team in the Woodbridge Running Company Connecticut Coaches Poll, came away with a win to solidify their place in the ranking.  They scored 87 points versus Yarmouth, ME who finished 2^nd with 166. 

The Tomahawks were led by Erin McGill in 7^th place with a 18:54.   Angela Braga and  Brittany Anderson finished only seconds apart in 15^th and 16^th.  Grace Sparrow took 24^th in 19:34 with senior Alexandra Ross rounding out the top five in 20:03.

On the boys side, Canton's Maximillian Sparks finished 2^nd to Maine's top cross county runner,  Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth High School.  Sparks finished a minute and three seconds faster than he did last year at this meet.  His time of 15:41 was 31 seconds behind Laverdiere's 15:10.   Sparks, who finished 20^th in the State Open last year, now has the 3^rd fastest time of any Connecticut runner over a 5000m course this season. 

While many Connecticut teams have traveled out of state the past few weeks, most will stay home next weekend for Wickham Invitation.   Nearly 200 teams will descend in East Hartford from five states across New England. Many of the best teams in Connecticut will complete including six of the top 10 girls teams and seven of the top 10 boys teams in the CT  Coaches Poll.  

Look for complete coverage from CT Milesplit next Saturday.