By Matt Diglio
(September 25, 2023) — On September 23, 2023, the Haddam Killingworth High School Boys and Girls Cross Country teams traveled to Derryfield Park in Manchester, New Hampshire to compete in the 49th Annual Manchester Invitational against more than eighty teams from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The Boys Varsity team ran well on the hilly 3.1 mile course to place third out of thirty-seven schools overall as a team in the small school race with 154 points. The boys were led by junior co-captain Jack Cozean, who crossed the line in a time of 16:45 to place 15th in the race out of 262 total runners. He was quickly followed by teammate and sophomore Daniel McCourt, who ran 16:49 to place 19th. Next to cross the line was sophomore Alex Frederickson 44th (17:48), sophomore Cash Smigel 47th (17:55) and then senior co-captain Luke Hedges 50th (17:58) to round out the team scoring.
The HKHS Girls team, once again missing two of their top runners, also had a strong race, as they placed seventh as a team in the small school race with 268 points. They were led by sophomore Grace Mitchell, who placed 28th in the race with a time of 20:59 and was immediately followed by freshman Charlotte Behnke at 29th (21:03). Following her was junior Kira Sehl-Albert at 66th (22:05) then sophomores Julia Downing at 95th (23:03) and Amelia Riggs at 106th (23:33).
The Cross Country team will next be in action on September 27, 2023 as they travel to John Winthrop Middle School to compete in the Shoreline Large School League meet against North Branford, East Hampton, Cromwell, Valley Regional and Morgan.
On Saturday September 30, 2023, they will travel to Montgomery, New York to compete in the New Balance New York Nighttime Showcase Invitational.
