At the end of last decade, a Bendtsen dominated the landscape for the Wolcott boys cross country.
That was Chris Bendtsen, who won NVL and Class M state individual championships in his senior season in 2009. The NVL title was Bendsten’s third in a row.
Nine years later, another Bendtsen laid claim to the NVL boys throne in the championship meet on Wednesday at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Watertown. This time it was Wolcott sophomore Nick Bendtsen, Chris’s younger brother, who topped the field in a time of 16:32.4. Bendtsen stepped into the holes left open by NVL standout graduates Ken Little, Jr. (Derby), and Kyle Hotchkiss (Kennedy). Those two runners went 1-2 in the 2017 race while Bendsten took 12th overall.
Bendtsen wasn’t the only Wolcott winner on a great individual day for the Eagles. Wolcott girls cross country junior Kathryn Rodrigues took the top spot in the NVL girls race in a time of 18:32.8. Rodrigues finished over a minute and half ahead of the second place finisher in a dominating effort. She claimed the NVL individual title a year after finishing second to Watertown senior standout Bethany Ottowitz. In 2018, Rodrigues claimed her individual title, and she did it in a course record time.
In a great story from Steve Barlow of the Waterbury Republican-American, he wrote that Bendsten and Rodrigues run with each other twice a week and push each other to be better. Well the work they have put in individually and together has certainly worked out, and as a result, Wolcott owned the NVL individual crowns in 2018.
The Eagles will next compete in the Class SS and M state championship meets. The Wolcott girls run in the Class SS state meet at 1:30 p.m. at Wickham Park in Manchester. The Wolcott boys follow with the Class M meet at 2:05 p.m.
