Girls:
1) Glastonbury - The defending State Open champions opened their season with a runner up finish behind Kellenberg Memorial of New York at the Wilton Invitational. They defeated four other top ten teams including Greenwich, Pomperaug, Ludlowe and Guilford. The Tomahawks will be racing Saturday at Manchester, New Hampshire's Derryfield Park, site of this year's New England Championship.
2)
Hall High scored 31 points to easily win the
Windham Invitational two weeks ago. They are led by Jenna
Zydanowicz who is a legitimate contender for the State Open title and a solid
top five to back her up. They are also
heading up to New Hampshire this weekend.
3) Danbury took a surprise 2nd last year at the State Open and they have most of their top seven returning. They finished 10th without New England 1600m champion Lauren Moore who was taking the ACTs at thePTX 10 Invite in Kutztown, PA. On Tuesday, they were mildly upset when Trumbull squeezed by in their dual meet by a score of 28-29. They will join their boys team at the Amherst Invitational in Massachusetts.
4)
Greenwich has the makings of a top six team and
only finished 30 points behind Glastonbury at the Wilton Invitational. The previous week they easily defeated 9th
ranked Ludlowe 20-35. Next week, they'll
face 7th ranked Trumbull in a FCIAC showdown.
5)
Immaculate, a Class SS school finished 2nd
among all schools at the Somers Big Red Invitational in New York two weeks
ago. Top 5 State Open finisher Angela
Saidman returns for her senior year and is backed up by a solid pack but with a
big gap after number six. The Mustangs
are another team heading up 
to the Manchester Invitational this weekend.
6) Pomperaug finished a deceiving 5th place at the Wilton Invitation. All State runner Maddie Villa sat out the race and a few of their runners were affected by the heat on Saturday. Sophomore Kate Wiser ran the 5th best time on the Allen's Meadow course which was 10 seconds faster than last year's State Open champion Morgan McCormick. But we will have a much better idea of their potential when they follow three other Nutmeg teams up to the Manchester Invitational.
7) Trumbull is not to be underestimated. They finished 7th at the Wilton Invitational, only a few points behind 4th place Ludlowe. They were able to surprise Danbury in their dual meet this week when added Wilton freshman race winner Kali Holden into the line up and she finished as their #2 runner. This addition will make Trumbull's strong line up much stronger. We will see how much stronger this weekend when they travel to the Bowdoin Park Invitational in New York.
8) Ridgefield girls are a historically strong program that had had a rare off year last fall and didn't make the State Open. But they have quietly formed into a top ten team again. They easily won their dual meet on Tuesday on the same Wilton course that was run on Saturday. Their combined time would have put them right around Trumbull's 7th place finish to show they belong in the state rankings. But as the Tigers have done the past few seasons, they have no invitationals on their schedule so they can train and peak for the championship meets at the end of the season.
9) Fairfield Ludlowe finished a strong fourth at the Wilton Invitational with three freshman in their top seven. Freshman often improve a great deal when compared to runners who have been training for a few years. If that happens, don't be surprised if the Falcons move up in the rankings.
9) Guilford came into the season with a lot of expectations. They return five of their top seven, including Meredith Bloss who was 3rd in the State Open last year and earned All New England honors. The Indians finished 9th at Wilton but Bloss appeared to be affected by the heat and finished 9th. Also, they only finished six runners, so one may have dropped out of the race. No other invitationals are on their schedule this season.
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