Gallery
Here are my photos from Friday’s meets. (Full disclosure: I didn’t get the chance to cover all of the races.)
The CIAC cross country state championship races were held on Friday at Wickham Park in Manchester. Here’s a look at how the local teams did in the races:
Class L boys (Bristol Central, Bristol Eastern, Kennedy, Crosby)
The Bristol Central boys cross country team had an uphill battle in the Class L state championship race.
The Rams — and everyone else in Class L for that matter — were chasing top-ranked Xavier. The Falcons proved to be too tough, claiming spots 2-5 on the way to an impressive team championship. That doesn’t take away from Central, which put together a good effort in its own right.
Led by senior twin brothers Pacifico Flores and Devin Flores, the Rams claimed second place behind the Falcons. The Flores brothers ran up the final hill together, with Pacifico crossing first in 10th place overall and Devin following in 11th place. Coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk was thrilled for the Flores brothers, who have taken a backseat to younger runners but done so with an abundance of grace.
It is, after all, a team effort that guided the Central boys to their second State Open appearance under Stafford-Kirk. Sophomore Nate DeAngelo finished 15th, followed by juniors Jose Ramirez in 21st and Mark Petrosky in 23rd.
Bristol Eastern finished 13th out of 24 teams in Class L, but that’s only a small part of the story for the Lancers. All seven Eastern runners who competed in the state championship race posted their best time. Coach Kyle Fuller was very happy with the effort of his runners, especially seniors Ben Wadowski (48th), Sean Sullivan (85th), Zach Martin (98th) and Logan Zdun (135th), who closed out their Lancer careers with a bang. Junior Parker Dayton was the next Eastern runner to finish after Wadowski and took 63rd place. Sophomore Gabe Bartolome (74th) and junior Nick Provenzano (81st) came across next, followed by Sullivan, Martin and Zdun. Martin and Zdun were the sixth and seventh runners for the Lancers and didn’t count toward the team score.
Kennedy, which lost Kyle Hotchkiss and others to graduation, got a great effort from junior Alex Brites. Brites took 18th place and finished as the top Eagle runner.
Crosby was paced by senior Elijah Lewis, who finished 91st.
Class S boys (St. Paul, Sacred Heart)
After Central, the best team finish of the day belonged to St. Paul. The Falcons took sixth in Class S behind junior Aidan Reilly’s 17th place finish overall. Fellow junior Tucker Raymond claimed 28th and was followed by senior Jordan Rinaldi (37th), junior Jeremy Rinaldi (61st) and junior Joseph Gaffney (81st) in the St. Paul Top 5.
Sacred Heart finished 12th out of 25 teams in Class S. Junior Fujie Lan led the Hearts with a 46th place finish overall. Sophomore Jesse Breidenbach finished 59th, followed by junior Nick Salerno (88th), sophomore Ian Warren (96th) and junior Christopher Iles (106th).
Class SS girls (Wolcott)
Wolcott took 10th place as a team behind the first place finish from junior Kathryn Rodrigues. Freshman Veranika Hyrn was the next Eagle to finish the race and came in 30th overall. Junior Kerianne Rodrigues (78th), sophomore Hannah Wright (100th) and freshman Alexandra O’Meara (139th) followed.
Class MM (Bristol Eastern, Bristol Central, WCA)
Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central finished 11th and 12th overall, more than a week after the Lancers salvaged a share of the CCC South Patriot Division title with the Rams.
Eastern sophomore Avery Braccia finished 15th overall, followed by freshman Fiona Gallagher (52nd), junior Kelsie St. Germain (61st), senior Paige McLaughlin (75th) and junior Alyssa Lavoie (103rd).
Central was paced by freshman Natalie Dube, who finished 37th overall. Senior Alexandra Sirko (66th) was the second Ram to cross the finish line. She was followed by sophomore Natalia Popielarz (80th), senior Kiara Suazo (81st) and sophomore Isabella Crandall (85th).
WCA sophomore Jonna Pierce was her team’s top runner and finished 93rd overall.
Class S girls (St. Paul, Sacred Heart)
St. Paul and Sacred Heart claimed 11th and 13th overall in the team standings.
Junior Kailyn Bielecki crossed the finish line first for the Falcons and was 11th overall. Junior Katherine Mazzarelli (44th), freshman Catherine Wootton (60th), senior Jess Persechino (97th) and senior Abby Poirot (112th) rounded out the St. Paul Top 5.
Senior Jenna French was 22nd overall, which made her the top runner for the Hearts. Sophomore Melany Boivin finished 34th for Sacred Heart.
Class SS boys (Holy Cross)
Holy Cross was paced by senior Ben Bowler, who finished 67th overall. He was followed by juniors Jack Paulin (75th) and Marcas Racevicius (87th).
Class M boys (Wolcott, WCA)
NVL individual champion Nick Bendtsen, a Wolcott sophomore, led his team with a ninth place finish overall. Bendtsen was the lone Eagle runner in the Top 100.
WCA also had one runner in the Top 100, and that was junior Harrison Foley, who finished 65th overall.