By Marty Ogdon (CT)
Boys In Depth New England Preview
Boys Qualifiers Speed Ratings – Courtesy of Scott Bliss (VTHSXC.com)
Just looking at the geography of the United States, the five individual states which compete in the New England Championships for cross country are in the bottom half of the states if you look at both size and population. But if you combine their population, we are collectively ranked 13th in the nation, just behind New Jersey and in front of Washington. Now if Massachusetts ever decided to compete in the New England Cross Country Championships like they once did, it would put our population just behind New York and in front of Pennsylvania. If we start looking at New Englands as our “state meet”, it is on par with the biggest most competitive states in the nation. Over 250 of the top athletes in the region will descend upon Wickham Park this upcoming Saturday with the boys toeing the line at 11:30 am and the girls scheduled to start at 12:15 pm. Each state may enter six teams and any other individual placing in the top twenty-five positions in its state meet with the 25 individuals earning medals and the top three teams taking home plaques.
Boys Individual Previews
With five states sending the best of their best, the definition of “good” takes on a whole new meaning. All conference and even all state athletes get buried in the pack and whoever emerges from the scrum truly deserves the title of New England champion.
Newtown’s (CT) Soheib Dissa has raced the Wickham course six times in his career and hasn’t been seriously challenged this season on the course. He ran 15:24 on this rough and tumble course that is not known to be speedy. Only all time greats such as Alex Ostberg and the Sherry brothers, Gavin and Callum have run faster. Dissa finished over 100m in front of Amity’s Luke Cushing at the State Open, but he should have company from Rhode Island champion Marshall Vernon of La Salle Academy who won on the fast Ponaganset course in 15:00.75, missing the 7 year old course record of 14:46.09 by La Salle’s DJ Principe. Taking second was Wickham Invite winner Sean Gray of Portsmouth who was 11 seconds back. Dissa and Vernon had a great battle at the Yale Invitational indoors when Dissa outkicked the boy from the Ocean State over the final few steps despite losing his shoe in the first couple of laps.
Hendricken’s Colby Flynn has been consistent all season and was third at states, also running 16:23 at Wickham this season. He has a great chance to help his team to a podium finish with his low stick.
Two time New Hampshire champion Matthew Giardina of Bishop Guertin was off last year at New Englands and finished 22nd but is a 14:39 5k runner on the track and should be in the lead pack. New Hampshire runner up Sullivan Sturtz of Keene is the top returner from last year’s meet and defeated Giardina in the NH Division I meet the week before their championship.
Maine’s top runner Sam Laverdiere of Lake Region was about 30 seconds behind Dissa at the Virginia XC Showcase and should be in the top 10-15 finishers. He had a broken collarbone over the summer which hindered his early season racing. Laverdiere defended his Southern Maine Regional title, clocking 16:06 at Twin Brook, 23 seconds better than last year. Aidan Ring of York hung tough for the first half of the race and finished in the runner up spot.
Emmett Johnson of St. Johnsbury cracked the top ten last year at New Englands and won the VT Division I meet two weeks ago in 16:23 on Thetford’s tough 5k course. He was followed by Teddy Tremblay of Bellows Free Academy and SJ’s #2 Andrew Thornton-Sherman who have gone back and forth against each other. All three have an outstanding shot at top 25 finishes.
Boys Team Preview
Defending New England champion Ridgefield (CT) finally put their cards on the table at the State Open running their top five all at once. With the Tigers at full strength, they not only defeated a historically strong East Lyme team, they ran the fastest combined time in course history. Ridgefield was ranked third in the last Dyestat Northeast Ranking and that was posted before the State Open which was a much better performance. They will face Vermont DI state champion St. Johnsbury who is currently ranked 4th in Northeast region. The Hilltoppers would have beaten the rest of VT D in a dual meet, scoring 23 points. But this will also be a second chance for East Lyme to go after Ridgefield as well. They were only 20 points or 30 seconds away from winning the Open, so with a slightly better performance or if someone is off from another team, they have an outside shot at the title.
Last year, CT swept the top podium spots with Danbury and Xavier taking 2nd and 3rd. All six of the Nutmeg State teams finished in the top 12, so look for more of the same if all the teams are healthy. E.O. Smith, Staples, Xavier and Danbury all have potential to crack the top ten for whoever runs well.
From Rhode Island Bishop Hendricken has already won 25 state championships and 13 New England wins. They defeated Hanover, NH to win the Wickham Invitational and finished 8th at Great American Festival against several regionally ranked teams, including Ridgefield who was 6th. East Greenwich had their highest finish ever at the RI state meet and defeated perennial contender La Salle by a single point.
Bishop Guertin won the New Hampshire Meet of Champions and has a strong top four, but will need their number five to move up if they want to get in the top five. Pinkerton seems to always be a player at New Englands and was only 14 points behind BG at their state meet and will be looking for some revenge on their in-state rival and will try to break into the top ten.
Girls In Depth New England Preview
Girls Qualifiers Speed Ratings – Courtesy of Scott Bliss
Girls Individuals
Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss ran fairly relaxed most of the State Open before pulling away over the final mile to win in 18:19 over the hilly 5000m course. Strauss’ best Wickham time of 17:54 from CCCs made her the 4th girl to ever go under the 18 minute mark on the course. New Hampshire brings in lacrosse star Mikita Barry of Bedford who has been All New England in indoor track and is in her first season of cross country. She battled Hopkinton’s Madeleine Lane for 4000m before pulling away to win the New Hampshire Meet of Champions in 17:24.63 with Lane less than four seconds back in 17:28.26. Barry won the Wickham Invitational and her only loss this season was at the Manchester Invitational when Strauss beat her by over 50 seconds.
With three time New England champion Ruth White moving on to the University of New Hampshire, that has left Maine wide open for last year’s runner up, Teanne Ewings who has gone undefeated against New England competition. While she hasn’t run as fast as last year, she should still be a serious contender for the title.
Rhode Island’s Keaney Bayha of Pilgrim won the RI state meet in 18:19.23 on Ponaganset’s fast 5k course. This was her first state title. Sophomore Abbie Tighe of North Kingstown was only nine seconds behind to take 2nd and will be looking to move up on her 34th place finish at New Englands last year. Cecelia Ludwig, a freshman from Cumberland, could surprise. She placed third at states with a time of 18:40.06 and ran 19:23.0 at Wickham to take fifth in the Large School race. She’s gritty and may have gotten increased confidence with her race at the states, a best by 40 seconds on a legit 5K.
Zoe Carroll of York, ME is in her first season of cross country but has several near miss All New England finishes in track. She won the Southern Maine Class B Regional championship in 18:49 and will be looking for her first NE medal. The Northern Maine Class B champion Amelia VanDongen of Mount Desert Island has been running faster than last year when she was 33rd at New Englands.
Course times can be deceiving if you aren’t familiar with the region. Estella Laird from Green Mt Valley of VT ran 19:16 on Thetford’s very tough 3.15 mile course which should definitely put her well under 19 minutes at Wickham. She ran for CVU last year and finished 18th at New Englands so she has plenty of big meet experience.
The host state has several girls who could stick with the lead pack late into the race. Liv Sherry of Conard was 2nd at the Open with Chase Gilbert of Lyme Old Lyme only a few seconds behind. Tess Sherry of Conard is one of only a few girls in the field who have ever beaten Strauss and was 4th last year. A pair of freshmen are making a lot of noise this fall. Glastonbury’s Lauren Parrett has already gone under 19 on Wickham’s course, along with Greenwich’s Sophie Passalacqua. In three years, New Fairfield junior Katie McMorrow has finished 8th, 7th and 7th at the Open but has finished no better than 31st at New Englands. Perhaps the third time’s the charm for the Rebel and she will finally earn an All New England medal. Hazel Delucia of Lyman Memorial has greatly improved last year when she was 88th at New Englands. If she can get under 19 minutes she should easily be All New England.
Team Preview
Champlain Valley Union, the 2nd ranked team in the Northeast Region had an easy day to win the VT Division 3 meet. But earlier in the season they finished 2nd at Eastern State behind New York US #1 Bethlehem Central. But they haven’t had their #1, Alice Kredell in the line up the past couple of weeks. That loss will bring them back into the pack, but if she pops back into the line up, they will be tough to beat. History is also on their side as they have won seven New England titles in 20 years and are the defending champions. They also finished 2nd to Oyster River, NH at the Manchester Invitation. Oyster River also won the Wickham Invitational but has had some significant challenges since then and are missing a couple of their scoring runners. Their depth was on display last Saturday as they just barely squeezed by Hanover by three points to win their state’s Meet of Champions.
Cumberland simply dominated the Rhode Island State Championship taking five of the top ten places. They should be able to improve upon last year’s 11th place finish and could get a podium spot of things go their way. North Kingstown held on by only four points against La Salle to grab the runner up spot.
In the past 20 years Glastonbury has won six CT State Open and two New England titles. The Guardians are rounding into shape just at the right time, setting PRs or near PRs to overtake Class LL champions Greenwich last Thursday. The Cardinals did run better at the Class meet, but that isn’t why Glastonbury pulled out a huge win. The Guardians simply ran out of their minds, dropping four minutes off their combined time from one week to the next to become the 10th fastest team All Time on the course. If they are able to duplicate that performance they could pull off a major upset or at least make things closer than expected against two regionally ranked teams.
Greenwich and State Open runner up Mercy could put together solid races to place in the top four or five. New Fairfield has made New Englands for the 3rd straight year and Class SS champions Haddam-Killingworth has made New Englands for the 2nd time, a rarity for such a small school. New Milford has won New Englands as recently as 2021 and will look for a top ten finish.
