The Holy Cross cross country teams used one of the sport’s basic tenets, pack running, to engineer a sweep of the Naugatuck Valley League championship meet for the second straight season.
The Crusader boys got a first place finish from senior Jake Ferrare, who completed his journey to the top. Ferrare was fourth in 2021, then finished as the runner-up last year to Woodland’ Sam Ambrocio. This year, Ferrare outran Woodland’s Gabe Diamante for the championship.
Where the NVL title was won for the Holy Cross boys was in its pack. The Crusaders got eighth, ninth and 10th place finishes from senior Aidan Devaney, junior Ray O’Connell and senior Ryan Depaulo. Senior Patrick Cugliari wasn’t far off with a 15th place showing. Those seniors helped the Holy Cross boys capture a third straight NVL crown.
The Crusader girls got a fourth place from sophomore Sofia Alonzo to pace their solid day. The next four Cross runners came in from 13th to 16th place. They were junior Reagan Zupkus, junior Gina Barry, sophomore Meghan Donnelly and senior Shania Howard. That pack finish brought the Crusader girls their second straight NVL title.
Woodland had a pair of individual runner-ups; the aforementioned Diamante on the boys side and junior Leah Zainc on the girls side. The Hawk girls came in second behind the Crusaders, 62-75. Woodland senior Faye Carnemolla was sixth overall, followed by sophomore Ella Iannone in seventh.
The St. Paul girls were fifth overall, thanks to a ninth place finish from senior Madalyne Bielecki and an 11th place from junior Gretchen Radcliff. WCA finished seventh as a team, followed by Wolcott in eighth and Crosby in ninth.
The next best boys team finish came from WCA, which took sixth. Sophomore Jordan Thomas ran to an 11th place finish to lead the way for the Spartans.
Wolcott was seventh, paced by the 12th place finish of senior Ed Podzunas. Woodland took ninth, St. Paul was 10th, and Crosby finished 12th.
FULL RESULTS: Click here to see where everyone ended up.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from the meet.
