Avon girls take second at Stratton Brook Invitational behind host Simsbury

SIMSBURY, Sept. 14 – The Avon High girls cross country team put four runners in the top 10 to finish second in the Large Division race at the 39th annual Stratton Brook Invitational Saturday in Simsbury.

Host Simsbury had three runners in the top 10, including race champion Amanda Derway, and had all five runners in the top 17 to win the Large Division title over the Falcons, 42-47.

Derway beat Canton’s Julia Caputo by nine seconds to win the individual championship with a winning time of 19:56 over the 3.1-mile course. Caputo finished with a time of 20:05.

Avon’s Rhiannon Richmond led the Falcons by finishing third with a time of 20:18. Avon’s Gabrielle Richmond (21:40) finished eighth with Logan Jacobs (21:42) and Maureen Ek (21:42) finishing ninth and tenth, respectively. Sarah Lancaster finished 22nd for the Falcons in 23:36 to round out the top five.

Simsbury had runners finish first, third and fifth along with runners taking 17th and 18th place.

Granby ran in the Small Division race and finished seventh. Isabel Gravlin led the Bears with a 24th place finish in 24:00.

In boys cross country, Avon finished fourth in the Large Division race with 95 points. Simsbury (42), Staples (50) and Bristol Central (55) were the top three teams.

Carver Morgan led Avon with a sixth place finish and a time of 18:23 over the 3.1 mile course. Hari Patchgolla was 19th with a time of 19:07 while Tej Remann (22, 19:24), Rodrigo Portal (23, 19:33) and Jon Gervais (25, 19:41) each finished in the top 25.

Canton was sixth in the Large Division race and were led by Ryan Nickerson (28, 19:48).

Granby ran in the Small Division race and was fifth with 117 points. East Hampton (53), Immaculate (60) and Cromwell (65) were the top three teams in the race.

Charles Attianese led the Bears with a 12th place finish in 18:44 while Nicholas Boyd finished 20th with a time of 19:15.

Avon returns to action on Tuesday at Camp Sloper in Southington against Conard and Southington before traveling to Farmington next Saturday for the Winding Trails Invitational.