H.S. cross country: Stonington boys beat Ledyard 28-29 in ECC Medium showdown
Ledyard - Stonington High School completed a perfect regular-season run through the Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division by handing Ledyard its first loss, 27-28, in a boys' cross country meet on Tuesday.
The Bears, who also beat Fitch 22-34, finished the regular season 8-3, 5-0. Ledyard, which also beat Fitch 17-42, fell to 7-1, 4-1. The ECC Championship meet on Oct. 18 at Norwich Golf Course also figures into deciding the divisional winners.
Ledyard's Bryce Hedman (17:42) and Tyler Torelli (17:43) finished 1-2 on their home course, but Stoningotn took the next three spots with Will Robinson finishing third (18:11), Teddy Peglow fourth (18:13) and Kieran Thornell fifth (18:21).
Fitch is 4-6.
In other boys' meets:
• St. Bernard nipped Montville 25-31 in a matchup of ECC Small Division unbeatens at Tourtellotte. The Saints (10-1, 5-0) also beat Tourtellotte 16-45 and the Indians (6-3, 4-1) beat the Tigers 18-37. St. Bernard's Connor Gralton was the individual winner in 16:32. Montville's Jesse Joseph (16:35) and Dan Linkinhoffer (17:11) finished second and third, respectively, followed by Ryan Londregan (17:42) and Jonathan Cabral (17:51) of St. Bernard.
• East Lyme completed a perfect regular season by sweeping Bacon Academy 17-42 in the ECC Large Division and Griswold 19-39. Bacon also defeated Griswold 24-31. The Vikings (10-0, 5-0) swept the top three spots with Ben Ostrowski winning in 17.34.5 over the 5K course at Rocky Neck State Park followed by Jon Combies (17:34.9) and Tim Meyers (17:37). Scott Butler added a fifth for East Lyme.
• Norwich Free Academy split a pair of ECC Large Division meets, beating New London 15-50 while losing to Woodstock Academy 28-29. Kyle Liang won the race for the Wildcats (9-2, 3-2) on his home course at Mohegan Park (17:41) while teammate Tyler Sholes finished fifth in 18:11. New London, which also lost to Woodstock 15-50, fell to 0-8, 0-5.
• Waterford swept an ECC Medium Division meet at Killingly, beating the host Redmen 23-38 and Windham 22-37. Dan Clark (19:38) and Dillon Abate (19:49) finished 3-4 to lead the Lancers (2-6, 2-3), while Matt LaBrecque (20:05) was sixth.
• Asa Palmer won individual honors in 17:45 as Wheeler went 2-1 in a quad-meet at home. The Lions beat Plainfield 21-37 and Fishers Island 16-45, but lost to Lyman Memorial 22-35 in the ECC Small. Troy Stefanski placed fifth overall for Wheeler (6-9, 0-5) in 18:54 and Matt Reck was eighth in 19:59.
• Norwich Tech took the top five spots and beat Putnam 15-43 in a Constitution State Conference meet. Carl Feder-Craney won the race with a time of 19:13 and was followed across the finish line by Christopher Plympton, Aaron Pelletier, Mike Froscello and Troy Anderson.
Girls
• Ledyard's Bruce Douglass, completing his 40th regular season as the Colonels' head coach, earned his 300th dual meet victory when Ledyard beat Stonington 22-36 in the ECC Medium Division.
The Colonels (6-2, 4-1) did lose to Fitch 24-33, and the Falcons (8-1) earned a sweep by defeating the Bears 20-41. Stonington is 6-5, 3-2.
Ledyard's Jordan Houdeshell led from start to finish to win on her home 5K course in 20:12, 17 seconds faster than Fitch's Sarah Dinovelli. Stonington's Antonio Reynolds was third in 20:45 while Ledyard's Megan Brawner finished fourth followed by a three Falcons - Alana Olendorf, Alicia Morovoqui and Megan Tess.
• East Lyme split a tri-meet at Rocky Neck State Park, defeating Bacon Academy 23-33 in the ECC Large but losing to Griswold 23-32. Griswold also beat Bacon 16-39. East Lyme (5-5, 1-4) was led by Eva Christensen, who finished second in 15:30, four seconds beind Griswold's Alyssa Brehler. The Vikings' Kirsten Thompson finished fourth in 16:09.
• NFA finished the regular-season portion of its ECC Large Division schedule unbeaten with wins over Woodstock (21-35) and New London (15-50). Brianna Lenehan of NFA (10-0, 5-0) won the race with a time of 20:09 and teammate Aly Field was second. Samantha Trombley of NFA was fifth. Woodstock beat New London (0-9, 0-5) 15-50.
• Wheeler beat Lyman Memorial 26-31 in an ECC Small Division meet. The Lions (4-9, 3-2) also beat Fishers Island 15-50 and lost to Plainfield 19-39. Sarah Volack of Wheeler was fourth in 22:02 and teammate Kelsey Melinoski was fifth at 22:47. Olivia Backhaus was the top Fishers Island runner, finiashing eighth, and Plainfield's Kerri Ruffo won the race with a course-record time of 20:09.
• St. Bernard earned a pair of 15-50 forfeit wins over host Tourtellotte and Montville, which couldn't field complete teams, in the ECC Small Division. The Saints (8-3, 4-1) were led by freshman Corrie Meehan, who won the race 22:27. Montville's Suzie Fitzgerald was second in 22:37 followed by three St. Bernard runners - McKenzie Coughlin, Heather Wallace and Kaelin Smith.
• Sara-Caitrin Mandelburg won individual honors in 21:41 and lifted Waterford to wins over Killingly 27-29 and Windham 22-37 in the ECC Medium Division. Genevieve Nuttall added sixth for the Lancers (2-6, 2-3).
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