By Matt Diglio
(September 15, 2025) — On September 13, 2025, the Haddam Killingworth High School Boys and Girls cross country teams traveled to Somers, New York to compete in the Somers Big Red Invitational against more than forty other teams from New York and Connecticut. Not only did the HKHS Boys and Girls win the team title in their respective races, but the program also captured the best Boys and Girls combined team championship out of all the schools competing at the meet.
The Girls team had a strong race on the 3.1 mile course to place first overall as a team in the Division 3 race, scoring 36 points to not only win their race but also emerge as the top Girls team in the entire meet once the results were merged from all races. The HKHS Girls were led by junior Charlotte Behnke, who was competing in her first meet of the season and placed fourth in a time of 20:12. She was followed by senior Julia Downing who placed 7th (21:01) and senior co-captain Grace Mitchell 8th (21:09). Close behind was junior Emi Schweitzer 10th (21:31) and freshman Alyssa Behnke, running in her first 5k race at 21:41 to place 11th and round out the team scoring.
Racing without once of their top runners (Dan McCourt), the HKHS Boys team still had a strong race to easily take the team win, scoring 33 points to defeat several of the top teams in New York. The Boys team was led by senior co-captain Anthony Fredericksen, who placed third in a time of 17:16 for the 5,000 meter course. Following him was a pack of Cougars who finished in 6th-9th place and within 20 seconds of each other. They were junior Evan Berardino 6th (17:34), senior co-captain Cash Smigel 7th (17:38), senior Alex Fredericksen 8th (17:49), and junior Wyatt Voegtli 9th (17:53).
The HKHS Cross Country team will next be in action on September 20, 2025 as they travel to Manchester, New Hampshire to compete in the Manchester Invitational.
