Avon captures Winding Trails Invitational as Morgan wins title

Avon’s Carver Morgan (37) approaches the finish line in Saturday’s Winding Trails Invitational in Farmington as Nathan Cramer of Fairfield Ludlowe closes in. Morgan won by 0.22 seconds to help Avon win the championship. (Photo courtesy Jason Armistead)

FARMINGTON, Sept. 25, 2021 – Avon’s Carver Morgan needed all 5,000 meters to win the 9th annual Winding Trails Invitational on Saturday. Morgan held off a late charge from Nathan Cramer of Fairfield Ludlowe to win the race by 0.22 of a second and help the Falcons boys cross country team win the Large Division title for the first time since 2014.

Morgan had the fastest time of the day of 15:54.76 to become the third Avon runner to win the Winding Trails Large Division title at the race. Jack Martin won in 2019 while Andrew Suter also won in 2015.

Avon had all seven of their runners in the top 20 and had three in the top 10 to beat Glastonbury for the championship trophy, 40-79.

Jack O’Donnell finished sixth in 17:17 with Nick Bailey taking ninth in 17:28. Jevonte Evans finished tenth in 17:38 with Will Lancaster rounding out the top five in 14th place at 17:52. Thomas Armistead (17, 18:00) and Luke Hester (19, 18:03) didn’t score but they helped by finishing ahead of plenty of opposition runners.

The Avon High boys cross country team won the Winding Trails Invitational Large Division title on Saturday for the first time since 2014. (Photo courtesy Melissa Carver)

Lewis Mills’ Justin Cascio won the Small Division race with a 29 second victory over Suffield’s Griffin Mandirola and a winning time of 16:10. Cascio helped Mills finish second in the Small Division behind Griswold, 64-68. Jameson Sederquist finished in the top 10 for the Spartans, taking eighth place in 17:27. Zach Barth (12) and Apollo Josephson (14) also finished in the top 20.

In the girls Small Division race, Ginny Mullen of Lewis Mills earned a top 10 finish by taking ninth with a time of 21:54. The Spartans were seventh as a team.

In the boys junior varsity race, Avon swept the top three places in the race led by sophomore Owen White, who won the race with a personal-best time of 18:49. Jake Tacinelli (2, 19:01) and Cole Trautman (3, 19:07) were second and third, respectively.

The Falcons return to action Tuesday when they travel to Southington to take on the Blue Knights.

9th annual Winding Trails Invitational
At Farmington
GIRLS: Small School
Team results – 1. Somers 40, 2. Suffield 88, 3. Ellington 96, 4. Northwestern 120, 5. Shepaug 148, 6. Jonathan Law 150, 7. Lewis Mills 159, 8. St. Bernard 219, 9. Lyme/Old Lyme 250, 10. Granby 252, 11. Bloomfield 258, 12. Housatonic 277, 13. Griswold 278
Top 10 individuals: 1. Rachel St. Germain, Somers, 18:25.43 for 3.1 miles at Winding Trails, 2. Emily Brydges, Suffield, 19:40, 3. Stephanie Burzinski, Somers 20:45, 4. Clare Moulton, Law, 21:09.1, 5. Gracie Flynn, Somers, 21:09.4, 6. Katherine Beauchene, Northwestern, 21:31, 7. Emma Conway, Suffield 2:45, 8. Eilish Foy, Shepaug, 21:46, 9. Ginny Mullen, Lewis Mills, 21:54, 10. Jenna Sobek, Litchfield, 21:59

BOYS: Small School
Team results – 1. Griswold 64, 2. Lewis Mills 68, 3. Suffield 85, 4. Ellington 126, 5. Granby 135, 6. Somers 155, 7. Northwestern 171, 8. Lyme-Old Lyme 186, 9. Lyman Memorial 235, 10. Jonathan Law 256, 11. Litchfield 311, 12. Housatonic 323, 13. Shepaug 421
Top 10 individuals – 1. Justin Cascio, Lewis Mills 16:10, 2. Griffin Mandirola, Suffield, 16:39, 3. Michael Strain, Griswold 17:02, 4. Liam Fedigan, Jonathan law 17:05, 5. Lucas Strain, Griswold, 17:14, 6. Damian Strain, Ellington 17:21, 7. Ben Campion, Somers 17:27.73, 8. Jameson Sederquist, Lewis Mills 17:27.77, 9. Aidan Ladr, Ellington 17:45, 10. Jacob Strain, Griswold, 17:51
Other Lewis Mills runners: 12. Zachary Barth, 18:05, 14. Apollo Josephson 18:11, 35. Joshua Mazar 19:41, 42. Quinn Cahill, 19:50, 57. Aidan Calabro 20:27

BOYS: Large School
Team results – 1. Avon 40, 2. Glastonbury 79, 3. Cheshire 82, 4. Hand 115, 5. Fairfield Ludlowe 123, 6. Berlin 159, 7. Foran 180, 8. Newtown 220, 9. Farmington 247, 10. Windsor 285, 11. Enfield 293
Top 10 individuals – 1. Carver Morgan, Avon, 15:54.76 for 3.1 miles at Winding Trails, 2. Nathan Cramer, Fairfield Ludlowe, 15:54.98, 3. Joseph Accurso, Glastonbury 16:21, 4. Tyler Caron, Cheshire 17:03, 5. Ben Fisher, Berlin, 17:12, 6. Jack O’Donnell, Avon, 17:16, 7. Robert DiNatale, Cheshire, 17:25, 8. Harrison Krause, Glastonbury, 17:27.86, 9. Nicholas Bailey, Avon, 17:27.93, 10. Jevonte Eaves, Avon, 17:37
Other Avon runners: 14. Willian Lancaster, 17:51, 17. Thomas Armistead 17:59, 19. Lucas Hester 18:02

GIRLS: Large School
Team results – 1. Cheshire 48, 2. Danbury 61, 3. Fairfield Ludlowe 86, 4. Berlin 102, 5. Farmington 117, 6. New Milford 119, 7. Middletown 144, 8. Foran 188
Top 10 runners – 1. Stephanie Quieroz, Danbury 19:07 for 3.1 miles at Winding Trails, 2. Alexa Ciccone, Cheshire, 19:33, 3. Natalia Kmita, Berlin, 20:41, 4. Jordan Stein, Fairfield Ludlowe 20:46, 5. Anna Weygang, Farmington, 20:47, 6. Kat Taborsak, New Milford, 21:04, 7. Emily Nolan, New Milford, 21:04, 8. Elise Nolan, Fairfield Ludlowe 21:08, 9. Mia Vientos, Cheshire 21:15, 10. Olivia Ferraro, Cheshire 21:21

2021 Winding Trails Invitational results (MySportsResults)

2021 Winding Trails Invitational results (Athletic.net)