Championship Races

Norwich Free Academy coach Kara Kochanski has 3 goals set for her Wildcats this season…ECC Champions, Class LL Champions, and State Open Champions! Invitational wins are gravy and focal points for improving as a team and as individuals. Yesterday’s focal point was the Wickham Park Invite, a site which will see action 3 more times this season as the Manchester course will host the Class meets, State Open and New England Championships this season. NFA, led by the steady accomplishments of Sarah Eagan and Cassy Hunter, slipped by powerhouse Manchester Central (NH) and Keene (NH) yesterday to win the championship tilt. Sarah led all ECC runners for the 5K course clocking 19:09 with Hunter on her heels at 19:13. They were the only two ECC runners to break 20 minutes on the hilly terrain, which is Wickham’s hallmark. Lindsay Fisher contributed a 19^th place finish, Kathleen O’Brien was 26^th, and Rebecca Smolenski took 37^th to help the Wildcat cause.  Eagan and Hunter both closed the gap on Daniel Hand’s Sarah Cotton who had beaten both Wildcats by a substantial margin at the Haddad invite a few weeks ago. Cotton won the Championship race today breaking 19 minutes.

In the Championship race, Fitch got two top 15 finishes behind the efforts of Brandy LeClair’s 20:23 (11^th) and Samantha Kiely’s 15^th place. The Falcons took 10^th in the race overall. 

The boys’ race saw the NFA Wildcats finish 14^th as a team with Dan Cardin 17:33 leading his team across the line.

Seeded Races

Again the girls’ teams did a bit better than the boys in the seeded version of competition at Wickham as Griswold led the second tier of ECC competitors with a 5^th place finish, followed by Lyman 21^st, Bacon 25^th and St. Bernard 27^th. Ledyard did not score.  The best individual finisher was Ledyard’s Linsey Ackley who was 7^th in 20:33. Kendall McGrath was the best finisher for Griswold at 21:26 finishing in the top 25. Team leaders were Courtney Benoit for Bacon, Rebecca Runkle for Lyman and Kyra Coughlin for the Saints.

This race produced the best individual ECC times of the day as Dan Fields led Lyman and had the best ECC time on the afternoon at 17:00 for 5K, good enough for 4^th in the race. Andrew Hill of Bacon was on his heels at 17:09 (8^th), Justin Missey-Higgins of St. Bernard cruised to 9^th in 17:13 and Chris Chapman of Fitch powered to a 14^th place in 17:28. Craig Van Alsten led the East Lyme contingent. . Nate Hernandez was the top finisher for Ledyard’s Colonels and Nick Emard was top man for Griswold. Team scoring had Fitch in 9^th, Griswold 11^th, St. Bernard 16^th Ledyard 21^st Bacon 27^th, Lyman 31^st and East Lyme did not score.

Unseeded Races

Waterford’s Sarah Huang demonstrated she is an ECC contender for top-ten honors with her 20:01 clocking at Wickham taking 5^th and leading her team to 8^th. Shannon McBride of Wheeler was the first across the line for her team, which did not score.  Shatasha Wattley led Montville to 31^st place.

Boys’ action saw Mike Preble of Montville lead his team to 34^th place while Jules Parenteau led Wheeler to 35^th on the day.

Upcoming ECC Competition

The power in the ECC is concentrated in the Large Division with Sarah Eagan and Cassy Hunter et al the prohibitive favorite to win. Everyone else will be running for second at the Norwich Country Club on October 22^nd.  Fitch and Griswold are the best bets for top-three honors. Individually, NFA’s Eagan and Hunter, Waterford’s Huang, Ledyard’s Linsey Ackley and Cedar Nelson, Fitch’s Brand LeClair and Sam Kiely Woodstock’s Cassie Guliani and East Lyme’s Brianne Mirecki and Colleen Ahern look to be top 10 with a host of other runners in the 2^nd tier.

The boys’ race at ECCs is shaping up to be a barn-burner with Woodstock, NFA, Fitch, Griswold, and St. Bernard all in the mix. The Centaurs skipped Wickham yesterday, but at this point would have to be considered the slight favorite over NFA and Griswold.  The medium and small schools have some dynamic talent, which will definitely impact the meet, and pack running will be important in the final tally of points. Fields of Lyman, Hill of Bacon, Missey-Higgins of St. Bernard, Chris Chapman of Fitch, Carl Underwood and Jeremy Wildgoose of Woodstock and NFA’s Cardin and Company all figure huge in this upcoming meet!