The Avon High girls cross country team won a pair of dual meets Tuesday at Fisher Meadows. (Photo courtesy AHS Cross Country)
The Avon High boys cross country team has been getting some good challenges in the early days of the 2024 season.
On Saturday, Avon faced an assortment of Class LL teams and finished second at the 43rd annual Stratton Brook Invitational in Simsbury with William Lancaster beating Southington’s William Liebler by a second to win the championship race.
On Tuesday, the Falcons squared off with Hall, a team that has won two of the last three Class L championships, in their home opener and nearly came away with a win. In a tiebreaker, the visiting Titans beat Avon, 28-29 at Fisher Meadows in Avon.
The Avon High girls cross country team opened their dual meet portion of the schedule on Tuesday with a 23-32 win over Hall and a 15-50 forfeit win over Northwest Catholic, who didn’t have enough runners (five) to form a varsity team.
At the Stratton Brook Invitational, NFA had three runners in the top 10 to beat the Falcons, 55-63 in the Large Division race. Avon finished second for the third time in the last four years.
Lancaster had a career-best time on the Simsbury course, winning the race in 16:50, beating Liebler by a second. Lancaster finished second a year ago and fourth in 2022,
Teammate Brahm Bulow finished fifth in 17:11 with Andrew Kessler (13, 17:51) and Chris Campbell (17, 17:51) earning top 20 finishes.
The Avon girls did not compete at Stratton Brook.
On Tuesday, Hall had six runners in the top 10 to beat Avon on a tiebreaker, 28-29. The two teams actually tied 28-28 when adding up the places for the first five runners to finish from each team. Avon’s Andrew Kessler had a key two-second win over Hall’s Yohannes Dewander to finish sixth and keep the Falcons in contention.
The tiebreaker is the team with the best sixth place runner. Hall’s sixth runner was Eliot Norwood, who finished tenth in 17:57, three seconds ahead of Avon’s fifth runner Henry Albert (18:00) and the Falcons’ sixth runner William Nusom (18:01).
Bulow led the Falcons with a second place finish in 16:38, seven seconds off the pace set by Hall’s Donovan Connole, who won the race. Lancaster (16:59) finished fourth for Avon with Campbell taking fifth in 17:04.
In the girls race, Avon’s Abigail Van Hoof won her first dual meet of the season with her winning time of 19:49 to lead Avon to a 23-32 win over Hall. The Falcons had five runners in the top 10 including Ying Ying Cheng (third), Laura Funderburk (fourth), Ella Godbout (seventh) and Spriha Dharan (eighth).
The boys return to action on Saturday at the Winding Trails Invitational in Farmington while the Avon girls will race Saturday at the Connecticut River Valley Invitational in Cromwell.
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
Hall 28, Avon 29, tiebreaker
Avon 15, NW Catholic 50, forfeit
At Avon
Individual results – Donovan Connole (H) 16:31.8 for 3.1 miles at Fisher Meadows, 2. Braham Bulow (A) 16:38, 3. Nathan Yingling (H) 16:52, 4. William Lancaster (A) 16:59, 5. Chris Campbell (A) 17:04, 6. Andrew Kessler (A) 17:11, 7. Yohannes Dewander (H) 17:13, 8. Jonah Schulman (H) 17:30, 9. Fox Mace (H) 17:49, 10. Eliot Norwood (H) 17:57, 11. Henry Albert (A) 18:00, 12. William Nusom (A) 18:01, 13. Hikari Mizuno (H) 18:03
Records: Hall 2-0, Avon 1-1
NOTE: Teams tied at 28-28. Tiebreaker is best finish among sixth runner. Hall’s sixth runner finished 10th while Avon’s sixth runner was 12th. NW Catholic forfeited because they only had four runners and you need five for an official team score
43rd Stratton Brook Invitational
At Simsbury
LARGE DIVISION BOYS
Team results – NFA 55, 2. Avon 63, 3. Southington 66, 4. Glastonbury 95, 5. Windsor 136, 6. Notre Dame-West Haven 169, 7. Simsbury 190, 8. Bristol Eastern 193, 9. RHAM 246, 10. Rockville 264, 11. Bristol Central 269, 12. South Windsor 302
Individual results – 1. William Lancaster, Avon, 16:51 for 3.1 miles at Stratton Brook Park, 2. William Liebler, Southington, 16:52, 3. Patrick Croughwell, NFA 17:02, 4. Caleb Davis, Simsbury, 17:04, 5. Brahm Bulow, Avon, 17:11, 6. Jesse Croteau, NFA, 17:29, 7. Anthony DeBartolo, NFA 17:31, 8. Lucas Pearce, Windsor, 17:33, 9. Jaxson Koczur, Southington, 17:37, 10. Raza Malik, Glastonbury, 17:39
Other Avon runners: 13. Andrew Kessler 17:50, 17. Chris Campbell 18:08, 31. Ketan Badrinath 19:01, 39. Aidan McLaughlin 19:18, 54. Riley Klotz 20:20
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
Avon 23, Hall 32
Avon 15, NW Catholic 50, forfeit
At Avon
Individual results – Abigail Van Hoof (A) 19:49.3 for 3.1 miles at Fisher Meadows, 2. Abigail Sanderson (H) 20:22, 3. Ying Ying Chent (A) 20:31, 4. Laura Funderburk (A) 20:41, 5. Claire Furia (H) 21:20, 6. Lucille Vargas (H) 21:37, 7. Ella Godbout (A) 21:38, 8. Spriha Dharan (A) 21:42, 9. Katelyn Osoba (H) 22:07, 10. Anya Mantripragada (H) 22:14
Records: Avon 2-0, Hall 1-1, NW Catholic 0-2
