Fitch's Chapman creates own shadow

Norwich - It was not the way Chris Chapman wanted to feel. It was not the sound Chapman wanted to hear. Not on this day, not in this race.

"I felt awful throughout the race," the brand new Eastern Connecticut Conference boys' cross country champion said, "and (at the end) I could hear people shouting for (eventual second-place finisher) Andrew Hill (of Bacon Academy)."

But this was the day for which Chapman had worked, even yearned, all the years he ran behind Jake Sullivan and Josh Poritzky, former Fitch High School teammates who won this race.

And Chapman found enough of a late kick to win the ECC title in 17 minutes, 18 seconds at Norwich Golf Course.

Chapman joined Sullivan and Poritzky as ECC champions from Fitch for the third time in the last four years.

Chapman and his teammates came within an eyelash of the team title, too, but ultimately were unable to unseat defending champion Norwich Free Academy.

The Wildcats finished with 69 points, in front of Fitch (73), Woodstock (114), East Lyme (122) and Ledyard (132).

Chapman defeated Hill, who finished in 17:21, as well as Dan Fields (Lyman) 17:29; Carl Underwood (Woodstock) 17:39; Craig VanAlsten (East Lyme) 17:50; Dan Cardin (NFA) 17:51; Jeremy Wildgoose (Woodstock) 17:53; Justin Missey-Higgins (St. Bernard), 17:56; Nate Hernandez (Ledyard) 18:00 and Alex Olendorf (Fitch) 18:01.

Chapman sat on the golf course turf for a while after the race, surrounded by teammates and feeling a bit dizzy. Yet not even dehydration and an impending cold could dampen the feeling of a champion.

"I've been training for this for four years," Chapman said. "I'm so happy."

Chapman said he ran with Vos Hunter and Hill for most of the race, but ditched them "at the final bridge."

Even Chad Johnson, the NFA coach, took time to salute Chapman.

"I'm really happy for him," Johnson said. "He's run in the shadows of Jake Sullivan and Josh Poritky. The last couple of years, he's been a great runner. He ran every race this year with a lot of guts."

Johnson could say the same of his team. In addition to Cardin, Hunter, Andrew Weiler and Patrick O'Rourke finished in the top 16.

"I felt really confident in the group as a whole," Johnson said. "We've had 14 different guys in the top seven at one point in the season. You never know who's going to step up. We felt like out of the seven running, five would get the job done."

Johnson said it wasn't easy to choose the seven for Thursday's race, given the array of runners who have placed throughout the season.

"I'm just as interested in the JV race to see where they'd have placed in the varsity race," he said. "I feel like if the 60th guy pushes the 50th guy and on up, that makes everything even better."

NFA's victory gave it the ECC Large Division championship over Woodstock, both of which came in to the race at 4-1 in the division. Bacon Academy won the Medium Division and Griswold won the Small Division.

m.dimauro@theday.com