Pomperaug Sophomore Kate Wiser dominated from start to finish at the 30th Annual Wilton Invitational and knocked 43 seconds off her time from last year. Last year's State Open runner up has shown she has done the necessary summer work to potentially move up one spot in the standings.
Wiser, who loves the feeling she gets from working out and crossed trained this summer, must reach one of her goals of "staying healthy". On Saturday, she certainly was healthy. She defeated a field that featured four other returning All State cross country athletes.
Angela Braga, who led Glastonbury to the State Open Championship last fall has returned to once again lead the Tomahawks with her second place finish on Saturday. Her team finished second behind Kellenberg Memorial from Uniondale, New York. Brian Collins who has coached Glastonbury to four State Open titles and four runner up finishes in the past 14 years is excited about this year's team. They graduated four of their top seven but Collins feels "we will be in the mix this year. We are young, but I think we are a top four team."
Pomperaug, who was 3rd last year at the Open, sat All State runner Maddie Villa to give her some rest. Her addition would have certainly moved the Panthers up in the rankings from their 5th place finish..
Check out the girls race video from start to finish.
The boys race was much tighter with four runners sticking together for almost two miles. Robert Dillon of Shelton set the pace and pulled away from Azaan Dawson of Fairfield Prep over the final half mile. The Shelton senior said "I felt in control most of the way, but the heat did start to bother me."
Runner up, Dawson is only a sophomore but stated "I want it now. I'm not going to concede to anyone just because they are older than me. I was pleased with my race but Dillon was just a little better than me today. I still have over a month to go in the season and I will get in some speed work which will help a lot. "
Shelton boys who were fourth last year in the highly competitive SCC and are much improved. They had an outstanding time trial at the New Haven 5k on Labor day and it transferred to the trails at Wilton on Saturday taking three of the top 10 places to claim the victory over the 21 team field. They return their entire top seven from last year's team and hope to move up on their 11th place finish in the State Open this year.
Subscribe to Milesplit to check out all the action from Saturday's boys race.
See what girl's winner Katie Wiser has to say about her training and her favorite football team.
Robert Dillon talks about his competition in the SCC and at the State Open.