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Avon girls capture Connecticut River Invitational for third straight year

The Avon High girls cross country smiles after taking second in Varsity II at the Haddad Windham Invitational earlier this month. (Photo courtesy Bill Stokesbury)

CROMWELL, Sept. 16 – The Avon High girls cross country team is off to a good start in 2017. The Falcons, who finished second in Class MM a year ago and won their second straight CCC Central White division title, have a pair of top two invitational finishes after two weeks.

Avon finished second in girls varsity II at the Haddad Windham Invitational on Sept. 9, in Windham, led by senior Sara Leavens, who finished third in a time of 19:43. E.O. Smith beat the Falcons in the race 80-92.

On Saturday, Avon won the Connecticut River Invitational in Cromwell for the third straight year with a dominating performance. Avon placed five runners in the top 10 to overwhelm second place Mercy High, 28-111. A year ago, Avon beat Mercy by just four points.

Senior Haley Gens won the 3.1 mile race in 19:10 with Leavens coming in second with a time of 19:18. Sophomore Rhiannon Richmond was sixth (19:52) while seniors Emily Foley (19:56) and Rachel Martin (20:06) were ninth and tenth, respectively. Senior Ashley Martin (21:09) finished 17th while senior Caroline Luby (21:20) was 23rd.

The Avon girls ran well in their CCC West dual meet debut on Tuesday but dropped a pair of tough meets with a 22-38 loss to Glastonbury and a 27-29 loss to Hall. That snapped an 18-meet winning streak dating back to the 2015 campaign. The Avon girls went 5-0 the last two seasons in CCC Central White.

On the boys side, Matt Nyklicek led the Avon boys at the Connecticut River Invitational with a 12th place finish in 17:23. Avon finished tenth out of 14 teams in the event. At the Haddad Windham Invitational, the Avon boys finished eighth in the Varsity II race.

On Tuesday, the Avon boys lost to Glastonbury and Hall in dual meets by scores of 15-50.

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

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