The story lines were powerful and plentiful across our eight fall high school sports, from a busy Eastern Connecticut Conference championship week in early November to the CIAC state tournaments in which we had representatives all the way until the final day.

Two boys’ cross country teams won state championships in East Lyme (Class MM) and Griswold (Class SS) and, individually, our local teams had athletes earn multiple all-state and All-New England honors.

We are proud to recognize the teams we cover with The Day’s Fall All-Area Teams, which will begin running in Saturday’s edition. For each sport, The Day chose an All-Area Player of the Year and an accompanying all-star team, as voted on by our sports staff — Dave Davis, Mike DiMauro, Vickie Fulkerson, Ned Griffen and Gavin Keefe.

The schedule of publication for the teams is as follows: Saturday, volleyball; Sunday, swimming & diving; Monday, girls’ cross country; Wednesday, boys’ cross country; Thursday, field hockey; Friday, Dec. 23, boys’ soccer; Saturday, Dec. 24, girls’ soccer; and Sunday, Dec. 25, football.

On Tuesday, Dec. 20, there will be a pause in the All-Area schedule to allow us to focus on The Day Holiday Classic, a trio of boys’ basketball games to be played at Mohegan Sun Arena.

We would like to thank Day photographer Dana Jensen for facilitating the photo shoot for our athletes of the year.

We hope you enjoyed our coverage this fall as much as we are privileged to bring it to you.

Best wishes for a healthy 2023.