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Boys Cross Country/Girls Cross Country 2024: HKHS Girls Qualify for New England Championship

By Matt Diglio
The H-K Girls New England qualifiers on the awards stage after the race

(November 5, 2024) — On October 31, 2024, the Haddam Killingworth High School Boys and Girls cross country teams competed at the Connecticut State Open Championship at Wickham Park in Manchester against the top 22 teams and 200 individuals in the entire state of Connecticut.

For only the second time in program history (last time in 2017), the HKHS girls placed in the top six teams in the state to qualify for the New England Championships.  The Girls scored 224 points as a team to place fifth overall and advance to the New England Championship, as they are the only Shoreline Conference school to ever accomplish this rare feat.  As they have the entire season, leading the way for the Girls was the duo of Junior Grace Mitchell and Sophomore Charlotte Behnke, who placed 35th and 39th in the race with their times of 20:29 and 20:36. They were then followed by a trio of Cougars all of whom finished within five seconds of each other: Junior Julia Downing 93rd (21:30), Junior Amelia Riggs 94th (21:33) and Senior co-captain Keira Sehl-Albert 97th (21:35).  Also placing for H-K was Junior Delaney Aronson 109th (21:50) and Sophomore Emi Schweitzer 122nd (22:08).

The Boys team also competed at State Open as they placed twelfth overall in the entire state of Connecticut.  With a score of 306 points, the Cougars had their highest finish at Opens since 2017. Setting the pace for the team, as he has done in every meet this season, was Senior co-captain Jack Cozean, who placed 50th in the race with a time of 16:56.   Following closely behind was Junior Dan McCourt 54th (16:58), then Junior Cash Smigel 94th (17:31), Junior Anthony Fredericksen 112th (17:40), and Sophomore Evan Berardino 122nd (17:45).  Senior co-captain Matt Lara placed 138th (17:59) and Junior Alex Fredericksen placed 169th (18:42) while running on an injured knee.
The Girls cross country team will next be in action on Saturday, November 9, 2024 to compete in the New England Championship Meet at Wickham Park in Manchester against the top teams and individuals from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

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