Avon finishes 2nd overall in CCC while Lewis Mills brings home CCC South title

MANCHESTER, Oct. 19, 2021 – It could be a tougher meet than the State Open but we will see in about two weeks.

The Central Connecticut Conference held their annual cross country championships on Tuesday at Wickham Park in Manchester. The boys race included 29 teams and more than 200 runners with the girls race featuring 24 teams and 180 runners.

The Avon High boys cross country team had their best-ever performance in the CCC championship race with four runners in the top 27 finishers but Hall was even more impressive with all seven runners in the top 25 to win the CCC boys championship with a 78-102 victory. Manchester was third with 132 points.

The Falcons didn’t have the consolation prize of winning a division title since Hall is also part of the CCC West. Hall beat the Falcons for the CCC West title, 38-56. Mareen Ek led the Avon girls by finishing 17th overall with a time of 20:44.

The Lewis Mills boys finished ninth overall but captured their first CCC South divisional championship. Justin Cascio was tenth overall in the meet but won the CCC South individual title with his time of 16:42.

It was Avon’s first top five finish at the CCC championships in their seventh year in the league. All seven of Avon’s varsity runners earned All-CCC honors. Carver Morgan led the Falcons with a fourth place finish with a time of 16:12 with Jack Martin (16th, 17:12) and Luke Hester (18, 17:15) each finishing in the top 20.

Jack O’Donnell (27, 17:41), Thomas Armistead (37, 18:03), Nick Bailey (38, 18:04) and Jevonte Eaves (42, 18:10) rounded out the varsity lineup.

The competition shouldn’t be so deep when the Falcons return to Wickham Park next week for the CIAC Class MM championships on Saturday, Oct. 30. The Class MM race will begin at 10:10 a.m. Avon was second at the last Class MM race in 2019. There were no state championship races in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Avon will have a dual meet on Saturday when they makeup a meet against Southington and Simsbury that was postponed due to rain earlier this month.

Lewis Mills (7-0) was undefeated in the dual meet portion of the season and placed three runners in the top 10 to beat Plainville, 48-70 and capture the CCC South championship. Cascio won the CCC South crown with a time of 16:42, beating Bristol Central’s Francis Porrinill by more than 30 seconds.

Jameson Sederquist (17:55) was fourth in the CCC South results with Zach Barth (18:16) finishing seventh. The Spartans had five runners in the top 20 in the CCC South results.

“The kids ran great. I was really proud of them,” Mills coach Joshua Krampitz said. “Most of the team has been battling a combination of injuries and sickness for the past week. But they knew what they needed to do today, dug deep and ran the race they needed to run. It’s nice to see that hard work rewarded with success.”

It’s the first league title for Mills since winning the Berkshire League championship in 2013. Lewis Mills will compete in the Class M meet next Saturday.

For the Lewis Mills girls, Ginny Mullen finished fourth in the CCC South race and 42^nd overall with a time of 22:17.

2021 CCC championships
At Wickham Park, Manchester

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
OVERALL
Top 10 teams: 1. Hall 78, 2. Avon 102, 3. Manchester 132, 4. Southington 203, 5. Simsbury 211, 6. Glastonbury 219, 7. Conard 238, 8. Tolland 253, 9. Lewis Mills 255, 10. RHAM 276
Avon runners: 4. Morgan, 16. Martin, 18. Hester, 27. O’Donnell, 37. Armistead, 38. Bailey, 42. Eaves
Top 10 individuals: Callum Sherry, Conard 15:31 for 3.1 miles at Wickham Park, 2. Aidan Puffer, Manchester, 15:35, 3. Michael Bohlke, Newington 15:45, 4. Carver Morgan 16:12, 5. Walker Beverly, Hall 16:14, 6. Sean Barkasy, Manchester, 16:17, 7. Luke Stoeffler, Tolland 16:33, 8. Evan Boland, E.O. Smith 16:37, 9. Luke Davis, Simsbury, 16:41, 10. Justin Cascio, Lewis Mills 16:42
217 runners

CCC West
Team results – Hall 38, Avon 56, Southington 101, Simsbury 107, Glastonbury 112, Conard 116, Farmington 208, Northwest Catholic 248
Top 10 individuals: Callum Sherry, Conard, 15:31.2 for 3.1 miles, 2. Carver Morgan, Avon, 16:12.2, 3. Walker Beverly, Hall, 16:14.4, 4. Luke Davis, Simsbury, 16:41, 5. Issac Mahler, Hall 16:52, 6. Joseph Accurso, Glastonbury, 17:07, 8. Avery Allen, Hall, 17:10, 8. Jack Martin, Avon, 17:12, 9. Lucas Hester, Avon 17:15, 10 Jake Nafis, Southington, 17:22
Other Avon runners: 2. Morgan 16:12, 8. Martin 17:12, 9. Hester 17:15, 16. Jack O’Donnell 17:41, 21. Thomas Armistead 18:03, 22. Nicholas Bailey 18:04, 24. Jevonte Eaves 18:10

CCC South
Team results – Lewis Mills 48, Plainville 60, Bristol Central 77, Berlin 83, Bristol Eastern 97, Maloney 151, Middletown 218, Platt 219
Top 10 individuals — Justin Cascio, Lewis Mills 16:42.8 for 3.1 miles, 2. Francis Porrinill, Bristol Central, 17:14., 3. Ben Fisher, Berlin 17:49, 4. Jameson Sederquist, Lewis Mills, 17:55, 5. Chase McNamara, Plainville, 17:56, 6. Logan Crowley, Bristol Eastern, 18:11, 7. Zachary Barth, Lewis Mills 18:16, 8. Chris Roy, Bristol Central 18:18, 9. Val Kasabrukhau 18:20, 10. Will Turgeron, Berlin 18:27
Lewis Mills results: Cascio 16;42, 4. Sederquist 17:55, 7. Barth 18:16, 16. Apollo Josephson 18:54, 20. Joshua Mazur 19:29, 26. Nicholas Atkins 19:50, 31. Quinn Cahill 20:11

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
OVERALL
Top team results: 1. Glastonbury 41, 2. Hall 69, 3. E.O. Smith 99, 4. Simsbury 201, 5. Tolland 220, 6. Berlin 238, 7. Farmington 253, 8. Manchester 285, 9. RHAM 293, 10. South Windsor 316
Other teams: 20. Avon 480, 21. Lewis Mills 487
Top 10 individual results: Brooke Strauss, Glastonbury, 19:20 for 3.1 miles at Wickham Park, 2. Katherine Sanderson, Hall 19:21, 3. Nora Holmes, Hall 19:46, 4. Peyton Bornstein, Tolland 19:47, 5. Katie Bohlke, Newington, 19:48, 6. Jacqueline Caron, Glastonbury 20:04, 7. Calista Mayer, Tolland, 20:06, 8. Ava Gattinella, Glastonbury, 20:15, 9. Julia Zydanowicz, Hall 20:17, 10. Gabriella Hernandez, EO Smith 20:18
Top Avon runner: 17. Mareen Ek 20:44; Top Mills runner: 42. Ginny Mullen 22:17
179 runners

CCC West
Team results –Glastonbury 26, Hall 40, Simsbury 106, Farmington 120, Southington 136, Conard 175, Avon 180, NW Catholic 186
Top 10 individuals: Brooke Strauss, Glastonbury 19:20 for 3.1 miles, 2. Katherine Sanders, Hall, 19:21, 3. Nora Holmes, Hall, 19:46, 4. Jacqueline Caron, Glastonbury 20:04, 5. Ava Gattinelli, Glastonbury, 20:15, 6. Julia Zydanowicz, Hall, 20:17, 7. Jacqueline Dudus, Glastonbury, 20:30, 8. Jessica Lombardi, Southington, 20:35, 9. Lucy Bergin, Glastonbury 20:41, 10. Marenn Ek, Avon, 20:44
Other Avon runners: 10. Ek 20:44, 33. Hope Chokshi 23:42, 44. Yasmin Rensch 25:32, 46. Gianna Godbout 25:56, 47. Julia Freeman 26:08, 49. Samantha Tacinelli 27:03, 50. Ying Ying Cheng 27:56

CCC South
Team results – Berlin 33, Middletown 62, Plainville 75, Maloney 91, Lewis Mills 106, Bristol Central 144
Top 10 individuals: Natalia Kmita, Berlin, 20:40, 2. Elise Kennedy, Middletown 21:10, 3. Samantha Park, Maloney 21:23, 4. Ginny Mullen, Lewis Mills 22:17, 5. Fiona Gallaher, Bristol Eastern 22:27, 6. Nadia Malec, Berlin, 22:27, 7. Gianna Rodriguez, Plainville, 22:48, 8. Claudia Jankovich, Berlin, 22:51, 9. Tierra Giannelli, Middletown, 22:57, 10. Nina Garafalo, Berlin, 23:00
Other Lewis Mills runners: 4. Mullen 22:17, 21. Yana Telnov 24:22, 24. Trinity Moulton 24:45, 27. Reilly Green 25:15, 30. Marcella Slason 25:33, 38. Amanda Kucharski 34:19

2021 CCC cross country championships