Laila Goodman of Old Lyme took first place last month at the Junior Olympics Northeast Cross Country Championships at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass.

The second-place finisher was Goodman’s fifth-grade classmate at The Country School in Madison, Tillie Killam.

The Country School is a small, independent day school for grades pre-kindergarten through eight in Madison. It also boasts a quietly successful running program that has sent more runners over the last decade to the National Junior Olympics (32), the Connecticut Junior Olympics (111) and the Northeast Junior Olympics (100) than any other school in Connecticut, producing a national champion, a runner-up champion and four All-Americans.

Laila and Tillie had initially taken first and second in the Connecticut Junior Olympics, in Litchfield, and then ran the 3,000 meter (1.86 miles) course in Attleboro in a time of 11 minutes, 14 seconds and 11:25, respectively.

Laila was the national champion for 8 and under in 2019.

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