On Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018, the Haddam Killingworth High School Boys and Girls Cross Country teams opened up their fall season as they traveled to Somers, NY and competed at the Somers Big Red Invitational. The season opener for both the boys and the girls squads was against 30 other schools from New York and Connecticut. It was a very successful start to the season as both the boys and girls freshman squads came away with the team title as well as the rest of the boys team winning the Division 3 race, while the girls placed 3rd in the Division 3 race.
The varsity boys Division 3 champions
The boys team was led by sophomore Matt Jennings, who placed 6th in the race with a time of 17:28 over the 3.1 mile course. He was followed across the line by a pack of Cougars all within 15 seconds. They were junior Christian Uzwiak 15th (18:10), junior Owen Howes 16th (18:11), seniors Seth Freeman 20th (18:14) and Kyle Criscuolo (18:15), then sophomore Fisher Harris 24th (18:23) and senior Nate Carlson (18:25). The boys team scored 78 points to place first overall as a team.
The girls team scored 91 points to placed 3rd in the team scoring behind Dobbs Ferry and North Salem, NY. The girls were led by sophomore Meara Bodak who placed 4th overall in a time of 20:58 for the 5,000 meter course. Behind her was junior Julia Callis 11th (21:49), junior Lauren D’Amico 12th (22:21), senior Michaela Flaherty 29th (24:46) and sophomore Gabby Flaherty 37th (25:49).
Meara Bodak leading the girls team with her 4th place finish
Leading the way for the freshman girls squad which placed first as a team scoring 32 points was a tandem of HK runners- Brianna Minervino 6th (11:07) and Ali Twatchman 7th (11:18).
The freshman boys team also won their race scoring 34 points to easily outdistance the rest of the teams in the race. They were led by Dakota Tucker who came in 2nd in the race (9:00) and Caleb Freeman who placed 5th in a time of 9:13.
The cross country team will next be in action on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 as the Varsity team will compete at the Suffern Invitational at Bear Mountain, NY and the remainder of the team will be competing at the CT River Valley Invitational at Cromwell HS.
The boys freshman race team champions
