Boys Cross Country/Girls Cross Country 2026: HKHS Dominates Shoreline Large School Meet

Submitted by Matt Diglio

 

(September 30, 2026) — On September 29, 2026, the Haddam Killingworth High School Boys and Girls cross country teams competed in their only league meet of the season as they traveled to Totoket Park in North Branford for the Shoreline Large School League meet and raced against Valley Regional, Morgan, North Branford, East Hampton and Cromwell.

The Boys team won the large school league meet and went undefeated on the afternoon to have their dual meet record at 5-0 on the season.  The HKHS Boys are now 131-0 in dual meets dating back to 2014 as they defeated Morgan by a score of 15-50, beat Cromwell 15-45, defeated North Branford 15-50, beat Valley 15-47 and defeated East Hampton 20-35.  The HKHS Boys ran as a pack at the front of the race over the challenging 3.1 mile course and all crossed the line together in the same time of 16:59 to place 1st through 3rd in the race.  Finishing as a pack were: Wyatt Voegtli, Evan Berardino and Trey Downing.  The next finishers to help lead the team to victory were Senior Paul Birkmeyer 6th (17:46) and Freshman RJ Ortega 8th (18:10).

The HKHS Girls team also went up against the same five league teams and also went 5-0 on the afternoon and are now 111-2 in dual meets since 2015. The Cougars defeated Morgan 15-50, beat Cromwell 19-40, defeated Valley 15-50, beat East Hampton 15-50 and beat North Branford 15-50. Also running as a pack for most of the race over the hilly 5,000 meter course, the top three girls all finished together in the same time of 22:36. In places 3rd-5th were Charlotte Behnke, Emi Schweitzer and Alyssa Behnke.  Following closely behind was Sophomore Annie Webster 8th (22:40) and Freshman Mattie Gersz, who led the pack for most of the race and placed 9th in a time of 23:01.

The Cross Country team will next be in action on October 3, 2026 as they travel to Wrentham, Massachusetts to compete in the Bay State Invitational.