Five teams finish in top 10 of their races
Wolcott senior standout Kathryn Rodrigues came home from Manchester’s Wickham Park with the Class SS state championship she wanted.
Rodrigues, the defending Class SS champion, finished first on Saturday in a time of 18:59. Rodrigues said she wanted to finish her senior season in strong fashion, and wins at the NVL and Class SS meets go a long way toward fulfilling that goal.
Rodrigues was the lone local winner, but far from the only good performance. Wolcott junior boys standout Nick Bendtsen took third place (16:34) in the Class M boys race. Bristol Central runners Mark Petrosky (sixth, 16:30) and Nate Deangelo (seventh, 16:34) placed in the top 10 overall in Class L, and St. Paul harrier Kailyn Bielecki took 11th overall (21:06) in Class S. In terms of team finish, Bielecki’s effort earned her the ninth spot. St. Paul took 12th as a team.
Bristol Central had the best team finish from the area, taking second in Class L boys behind the champions from Xavier. The rest of the Rams’ top five runners were Frances Porrini (17th overall, 17:22); Jose Ramirez (31st overall, 30th team, 17:50); and Austin Freve (35th overall, 34th team, 17:58).
The Sacred Heart boys finished sixth as a team in Class S. Fujie Lan finished 29th overall, 28th for his team in 19:02. Jesse Breidenbach (31st overall, 30th team, 19:07); James Bona (40th overall, 38th team, 19:41); Alex Valente (55th overall, 51st team, 20:10); and Julian Cammarasana (67th overall, 61st team, 20:48) followed Lan across the finish line.
The Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central girls teams duked it out for eighth place in the Class MM meet. The Lancers finished with a score of 288, just ahead of the ninth place Rams, who had 291. Avery Bracchia led Eastern with a 15th place finish (21:17) while Natalia Popielarz was 20th (21:31) to pace Central.
The St. Paul boys took 10th as a team in Class SS, led by a 35th place finish from Aidan Reilly (18:49). The Wolcott girls were 11th in Class SS girls, led by Rodrigues and a 25th place finish overall (23rd team) from Veranika Hyrn (22:12).
Next up is the state open meet on Friday at Wickham Park. The girls run at 2 p.m., followed by the boys at 2:45.
Photo caption: Wolcott senior Kathryn Rodrigues won her second straight Class SS state championship on Saturday. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
