East Lyme boys, Gilbert of Old Lyme finish among elite at State Open cross country – theday.com

October 31, 2024, 5:30 p.m. • Last updated: October 31, 2024, 6:28 p.m.

MANCHESTER — East Lyme’s Sean McCauley highlighted the difficulty of the opposition Thursday at the State Open Boys Cross Country Championships.

“I think it went pretty well,” McCauley said. “There are a lot of talented people in this field.”

The Ridgefield boys, for example, ran the fastest team time on the 5,000-meter course at Wickham Park in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 30 seconds. So the fact that East Lyme pulled it off Thursday with a 1:21.00 total, the third-fastest team time in course history, is an accomplishment in itself.

Ridgefield edged the Vikings 43-63 for the team title, both advancing to next week’s New England Championship back in Wickham.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a disappointment at all because we couldn’t have done better,” East Lyme’s Sam Leone said. “We ran a lot better than last week and this is the best we could run. Ridgefield is just great competition. We’re definitely trying to keep the success going and go as far as we can.

“(Coach Mike Flynn) was very happy. He emphasized that there was nothing we could do. Ridgefield is just a crazy good team.”

McCauley was fourth individually on an unseasonably hot day at Wickham – which forced the start time to be moved to 10am – in 15:46, with Leone 10th in 16:07. Also for East Lyme, Jack Feach was 22nd (16:19), Matthew Carrier 23rd (16:19) and Jilali Benjdid 26th (16:29).

Newtown’s Soheib Dissa won the individual title in 15:24. Locals Tycen LaBelle of Griswold (5th, 15:47) and Patrick Croughwell of Norwich Free Academy (19th, 16:16) also qualified for the New England meet with top-25 finishes.

“They literally ran the fastest team time here and we ran the third fastest,” Flynn said. “You can’t do anything more than that. We were well aware of how good Ridgefield was. They just never show their cards until the end of the season. We knew how great they were. At least we made them work.”

Ridgefield won the Class LL state championship last week, while East Lyme won its third straight Class MM crown and sixth in the last seven state meets. Wickham’s previous best team time was 1:20:56 set by Ridgefield at last year’s State Open.

Meanwhile, in the girls race, individual honors went to Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss in 18:19, leading the Guardians to the team title as well, defeating Mercy 62-145.

With Strauss one of a handful of runners in the lead group midway through the race, she pulled ahead to the finish line, climbing the final hill 15 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor Liv Sherry of Conard.

Old Lyme’s Chase Gilbert was third in 18:39, Lyman Memorial’s Hazel DeLucia eighth in 19:01 and NFA 11’s Karina Chan in 19:15, all qualifying for New England.

While it wasn’t exactly the result Gilbert was hoping for — she owns the fastest 5K in the state this season at 17:43.1 — she handled the result graciously, realizing she missed last year’s race entirely due to a hip injury.

Like McCauley, Gilbert congratulated Strauss for leading the field.

“I’ll definitely think about it and give my opinion on it over the next few days,” said Gilbert, who is a three-time Class S state champion. be here last year I think last year I would have been much happier to be third than not at all.

“… (Strauss) was putting a little pressure on me at about a mile, and then it just got longer. I am very happy for her. She is in incredible shape right now. I’m just really proud of her. And I’m very excited for a bit of a realignment (at the New England meet) in 10 days. It will be much colder.”

By some coincidence, DeLucia, the two-time Eastern Connecticut Conference champion from Lyman Memorial, and Gilbert, the three-time Shoreline Conference winner, lived together two summers ago at the Northeast Kingdom Running Camp in Vermont and became friends.

Both are juniors and suffered hip injuries that crippled them late last cross country season and sidelined them for the entirety of indoor track.

The two grew up together in the cross country spotlight and are now among the most respected runners in the state.

“They’re phenomenal,” DeLucia said of the other favorites in Thursday’s race. “I think everyone was affected by the heat. I’m very happy with my pace and I’m glad to get another chance to show an even better time next week.”

DeLucia said before her sophomore seasons, she, Gilbert and Hand’s Anna Vlieks, who was 15th at the Open, were housed together at camp. She said she and Gilbert “text a lot.”

“Definitely, the more you grow in the sport, the more you know,” DeLucia said of her appreciation for the sport and her gratitude for being healthy again, “and honestly, the more confident you feel.”

“She’s just super awesome, super supportive,” Gilbert said of DeLucia. “I love being friends with her. I am so happy that she has made this amazing progression.”

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