North Central Connecticut Conference

The North Central Connecticut Conference will be hosting its annual Cross Country Championship on Friday, October 22 at Windsor Locks High School.  The events start at 2:00 with the Girls’ Varsity race followed by the Boys’ Varsity race at 2:30.  The meet concludes with the Girls’ JV race at 3:00 and Boys’ JV at 3:30.

The meet promises to hold some drama for both genders as a close regular season ended last Wednesday with the Tolland boys’ and girls’ teams ending the season undefeated by virtue of narrow victories over previously undefeated Ellington squads.  Other teams that could play a factor in the boys’ race are Canton (9-2), Suffield (8-3) and a rapidly improving Granby (7-3) team.  For the girls, Avon (8-3) hopes to use a very deep squad to challenge Ellington and Tolland for the conference title and individuals from Canton, Stafford, East Granby, Granby and Suffield could both play a factor in the team scoring.

On the individual front, Ellington’s Hunter Norte and Tolland’s Kate Clarke ran through the regular season undefeated and both will be trying to maintain a perfect record in conference races.  Other top boys’ performers over the regular season include Tolland’s Dave Macklem, Granby’s Mike Sullivan and Eric Setta, Tolland’s Colin Ponce and Greg Sartori, Ellington’s Alec Carlson and Ken Sitek, Suffield’s Matt Rigby and Bill Chapman, Christian Vaicunas of Windsor Locks and Canton’s Chris Bussiere.  Defending NCCC champion Marissa Kellner of Ellington will try to avenge her one loss of the season when she races Tolland’s Clarke again.  Other top performers should include Joanna Grab and Kate Yorgensen of Tolland, Joanna Gesuelle of East Granby, Michelle Garneau of Granby, Marla McPherson of Avon, and Tara Heffernan and Emily Gale of Ellington.

2004 Regular Season Records

*Tolland and Granby will count the result of Friday’s meet twice to make up for a cancelled meet during the season.