Boys and Girls FCIAC Previews

On the girls' side, Greenwich and Danbury battled it out all last year with Greenwich coming out on top for the FCIAC title but Danbury coming back and taking 2^nd at the State Open behind Glastonbury.  Greenwich graduated All American 800m runner Emily Philippides  but returns five of their top seven.  While that is good news for the Cardinals, Danbury returns six of their top seven along with the top two finishers from the junior varsity race.  Danbury girls will be trying to win their first ever FCIAC cross country title to go along with the 21 titles the boys have won. 

With two strong teams in the conference, Trumbull is often overlooked but they have grown into one of the best teams in the state as evidence by their 6^th place finish at the State Open last year.  The Golden Eagles had three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior in their top seven so an extra year of experience should benefit them.  They will be led by rising senior Margaret Loschiavo who has steadily improved the past three years and cracked the top 10 last year. 

Her teammate Alessandra Zaffina made it on the awards stage at East Catholic High School last year by virtue of her 17^th place finish at the CIAC State Open.  Her 11:06 3200m time is also the 6^th fastest returning time in the state.  If Trumbull's sophomore class can step up this year again, they might make the FCIAC girls meet one of the most competitive and deepest conferences in Connecticut this fall.

Individually, Lauren Moore of Danbury is going into the season as a slight favorite.  She was runner up in cross country to graduating two-time FCIAC champion Morgan McCormick, New England champion in the 1600m and broke 5 minutes winning the Class LL meet last spring  In short, Moore is fast and knows how to win. 

Waiting in the wings if Moore has an off day will be rival Gabriella Viggiano of Ridgefield.  The senior was less than a second behind Moore last fall and they battled it out several times last year with only seconds separating them.

Another contender is Greenwich's Zoe Harris.   She arrived on the scene her freshman year and took the runner up spot in her first cross country season, was the FCIAC 1600m champion and was part of Greenwich's All American 4 x 800m.  Her sophomore year saw her running relays a great deal, but now that she is out of Philipides' shadow, this might her year to be in the spot light.