Boys Summary
Hall was the favorite going in, and the Titans captured their first Open championship with the same speed ratings they had in their win at Divisionals, though the compression number more than doubled, partly because frontrunner Isaac Mahler had a big boost while finishing 3rd behind Ridgefield's Steven Hergenrother and Suffield's Griffin Mandirola.
Ridgefield again made a giant leap at the Open while pushing its speed rating up by about 9 points to 169. Champ Steven Hergenrother helped with the heavy lifting there obviously, but the bulk of the movement came in 3-4-5 spots that saw a 33 second jump in performance, and the entry of sophomore Charles Lovett into the lineup in the 5th spot was especially key.
Of the rest of the qualifiers for New England, Danbury, Xavier, and Staples all saw substantial drops in their speed ratings (though compression numbers were good) from their Divisional races but did what they needed to do to move on with a top 6 finish. New Milford had a great day with nice improvements in the speed ratings and compression number behind Collin Walsh's 5th place, but again the biggest key was in the 5th spot, as junior Caleb Cerra pushed that final-place time up from 18:18 in the Class L race to 17:39 at the Open, a potential difference of about 50 places.
Boys Top 6 Teams
| Team | Open Sr and (Split) | Open Time Avg. and 1-5 Split | Open Score | Div. Open and Time Avg Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hall | 171.2 (27) | 16:35 (1:21) | 86 | 171:2 (13) - 16.32 (0.39) |
| Ridgefield | 169.0 (32) | 16:42 (1:37) | 113 | 160. 6 (44) - 17:04 (2:13) |
| Danbury | 165.6 (11) | 16:52 (0:34) | 120 | 168.8 (11) - 16:40 (0:34) |
| New Milford | 165.0 (29) | 16:54 (1:27) | 134 | 161.5 (41) - 17:02 (1:12) |
| Xavier | 164.6 (23) | 16.55 (1:09) | 140 | 169.2 (21) - 16:38 (1:04) |
| Staples | 161.4 (19) | 17:05 (0:58) | 262 | 165.2 (28) - 16:48 (1:23) |
Boys Top 25 Runners