Both Danbury boys and girls will try to defend their titles they won last year. The boys will once again be challenged by Staples, with Ridgefield not far behind. Danbury girls will renew their rivalry with Greenwich who won the indoor State Open title. But giving chase will also be Fairfield Ludlowe, led by freshman sensation Tess Stapleton.
The jumps and distance events will definitely be something to watch on the boys side. Justin Forde of Brien McMahon will be a one man show. He has already cleared 7 ft in the high jump, 48-5 in the triple and 22-10 in the long jump. With those nationally ranked performances, you'd think he would be a heavy favorite to win all three events. But he will face Chet Ellis of Staples who has already cleared 6'10 in the long jump and Jack Jones of Trumbull who is the top seed in the long jump with a 23'3 and not far behind in the triple with a 45'8. These two juniors will continue their battle next year and not far behind them is Ludlowe's freshman Carter Lambo who jumped 21'0 this season.
At the Loucks Games, Staples trio of William Landowne, Christian Myers and Benjamin Seiple ran 9:02, 9:14 and 9:15 for 3200m. Throw in last year's FCIAC 800m champion Alex Mocarski, who ran 4:14 for the full mile the same day and you have the potential of some meet records going down.
The girls meet has several great match ups including the long jump where five girls have already gone over
17 feet, led by Stapleton who won the Loucks Games with a 18'8.5 jump.
Any time Greenwich's Emily Philippides steps on the track, a record might be broken. She already holds the meet record from her sophomore year, but she is close to the all time FCIAC 800m of 2:10.66 set by Denise Doherty of New Canaan 37 years ago. The Princeton bound Philippides has already broken 2:10 this indoor season at New Balance Indoor Nationals, but she is waiting to run the time on the outdoor oval.
In 2018, the distance events have been dominated by Danbury junior, Lauren Moore who won the indoor State Open in the 1600m. Well, two time State Open Cross Country champion, Morgan Mccormick of Wilton is returning to form after taking the winter off and has brought her time down to 5:12 and 11:00 only running in dual meets. Both runners like to come from behind and have strong driving kicks over the 2nd half of the race, so this could really come down to the wire.
To see the FCIAC meet and all time records, go to The Running Academy's Cross Country Camp record's page.
Check out Milesplit's predictions in the team battles on the next two pages.