No. 5 Avon boys capture championship at Wickham Invitational

Runners on the Avon High boys cross country team take off in Saturday’s race at Wickham Park in Manchester. (Photo courtesy Peter Morgan)

The Avon High boys cross country team put three runners in the top 20 and five in the top 25 to win the Medium School division title at the 37th annual Wickham Park Invitational on Saturday in Manchester.

The No. 5 Falcons easily beat No. 6 Hand, 68-125 with Smithfield, Rhode Island taking third (126) and East Lyme finishing fourth with 201 points.

The race, held where the CIAC state championship meets will be held later this month, are an early look at some of the team that may contend for a state title.

Avon’s Jack Martin was second in the Medium race with a time of 16:19 over the 3.1 mile course. Only East Lyme’s Luke Anthony ran the course faster in 16:03. Avon’s Carver Morgan was fourth with a time of 16:41 followed by Lucas Hester (15, 17:18), Thomas Armistead (23, 17:38) and Nicholas Bailey (24, 17:40) finishing in the top 25.

Thirty-two teams finished this race that included nearly 200 runners. This year, the meet was broken up into three divisions – large, medium and small. In previous years, the race was broken up into championship, seeded and unseeded races.

Avon’s Jack Martin (22) and Carver Morgan (26) climb a hill during Saturday’s Wickham Park Invitational in Manchester. (Photo courtesy Peter Morgan)

Avon was third in the seeded race in 2019, the last time the event was held. Jack Martin won the individual race in the seeded division on that day. The Wickham Invitational was cancelled a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lewis Mills also competed in the Medium Division race and finished 11th in the field of 32 teams, led by Jameson Sederquist, who finished 45th in 18.19.

The Canton boys cross country team competed in the Small Division race and finished 12th led by junior Jack Dendinger, who was ninth with a time of 17:30.

In the girls races, Avon was 16th in the Medium Division race with Mareen Ek earning a top 10 finish. Ek was tenth with a time of 20:46. Lewis Mills was 11th in the field of 23 teams led by Ginny Mullen, who was 20th with a time of 21:55.

Runners from Lewis Mills and Avon get ready to start in Saturday’s Wickham Invitational in Manchester. (Photo courtesy Peter Morgan)

37th annual Wickham Park Invitational
At Manchester
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

MEDIUM SCHOOLS
Top 10 teams: 1. Avon 68, 2. Hand 125, 3. Smithfield RI 126, 4. East Lyme 201, 5. Joel Barlow 204, 6. Tolland 234, 7. Rocky Hill 307, 8. EO Smith 314, 9. Branford 329, 10. Suffield 365.
Other teams: 11. Lewis Mills 389. Thirty-two teams completed the race
Top 10 individuals: 1. Luke Anthony, East Lyme, 16:03, 2. Jack Martin, Avon 16:19, 3. Luke Stoeffler, Tolland, 16:22, 4. Carver Morgan, Avon, 16:41, 5. Griffin Mandirola, Suffield, 6. Evan Boland, EO Smith 16:47, 7. William Calhoun, RHAM 16:49, 8. Jack O’Keefe, Hand 16:54, 9. Jason Padula, Smithfield RI 16:55, 10. Calvin Young, Joel Barlow 17:00

Other Avon runners: 15. Lucas Hester 17:18, 23. Thomas Armistead 17:38, 24. Nicholas Bailey 17:40, 47. Jack O’Donnell 18:24, 49. Jevonte Eaves 18:26
Other Lewis Mills runners: 45. Jameson Sederquist 18:19, 65. Apollo Josephson 18:44, 72. Zach Barth 18:51, 73. Nicholas Atkins 19:52, 134. Quinn Cahill 19:55, 141. Joshua Mazur

SMALL SCHOOLS
Top 10 teams: 1. Hale-Ray 71, 2. Immaculate 88, 3. Griswold 108, 4. Granby 159, 5. Somers 184, 6. Portland 186, 7. Bolton 188, 8. Coginchaug 192, 9. Old Saybrook 207, 10. Lyme-Old Lyme 264
Other teams: 12. Canton 282. Sixteen teams placed in the race.

Top 10 individuals – 1. Sean Kennedy Wonneberger, Hale-Ray 16:34, 2. Michael Kraszewski, Hale-Ray 17:15, 3. Michael Strain, Griswold, 17:21, 4. Ryan Gruczka, Stonington, 17:20, 5. Owen Delisle, Portland, 17:26; 6. Ethan Fadden, Mt. Saint Charles RI 17:27, 7. Andrew Linkenhoker, Monson MA 17:28, 8. Israel Caro, East Catholic 17:28, 9. Jack Dendinger, Canton, 17:30, 10. Seamus Reidy, Immaculate 17:37
Other Granby runners: 15, Daniel Owen 18:05, 25. Brody Landheer 18:51, 32. Ben Weber 19:10, 42. James Gies 19:37, 45. Otto Gotberg 19:46, 46. Thomas Kennedy 19:48, 63. Ben Gottsche 20:26
Other Canton runners: 29. Tommy Purcell 18:59, 66. John Holowesko 20:33, 81. JR Rottkamp 21:22, 100. Aidan Obrzut 22:43

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

MEDIUM SCHOOLS
Top 10 teams: 1. East Lyme 111, 2. Tolland 158, 3. Woodstock Academy 160, 4. Sacred Heart Academy 163, 5. Berlin 171, 6. Westerly RI 222, 7. RHAM 228, 8. Ledyard 254, 9. Suffield 267, 10. Foran 273
Other teams: 11. Lewis Mills 290, 16. Avon 420. Twenty-three teams completed the race

Top 10 individuals – Peyton Bornstein, Tolland, 19:36, 2. Emily Brydges, Suffield 19:40, 3. Jordan Malloy, Bacon Academy 19:43, 4. Lindsey Arrends, Woodstock Academy 19:56, 5. Kristina Ponzio, Sacred Heart Academy 20:07, 6. Calista Mayer, Tolland 20:14, 7. Maya Suarez, Montville 20:19, 8. Kelly Jones, Lauralton Hall 20:21, 9. Natalia Kmita, Berlin 20:37, 10. Mareen Ek, Avon 20:46
Other Lewis Mills runners: 20. Ginny Mullen 21:55, 32. Gabriella Zeller 22:30, 71. Yana Telnov 24:10, 73. Trinity Moulton 24:15, 94. Marcella Slason 25:12, 112. Reilly Greene 26:10, 129. Gabriela Sliwka 27:59
Other Avon runners: 88. Samantha Tacinelli 24:49, 104. Yasmin Rensch 25:47, 109. Julia Freeman 25:59, 110. Gianna Godbout 25:59, 132. Sierra Secor 28:07, 140. Ying Ying Cheng 30:11

2021 Wickham Park Invitational results

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