High school notes: Old Lyme’s Gilbert waited a year for this postseason opportunity
Around this time last year, Old Lyme High School’s Chase Gilbert ran the fastest 5,000-meter time in Connecticut. Then, before she was able to prove herself as the state’s best girls’ cross country runner during the postseason, she suffered a season-ending hip injury.
Now, Gilbert, in the midst of her junior season for the Wildcats, has the best 5K time in Connecticut once again at 17 minutes, 43.1 seconds (although Brooke Strauss of Glastonbury ran an extremely efficient 4K time of 13:45.8 on Sept. 14).
Gilbert will be vying for her third straight Shoreline Conference title on Oct. 17, followed by the Class S state championship on Oct. 26 and the postseason beyond that.
She waited a year to get back to this point.
“I’m excited to pick up where I left off,” Gilbert said this week. “Finish some business.”
Gilbert’s most recent outing came Saturday at the Ocean State Invitational at Goddard State Park in Warwick, R.I. She finished second in the championship race in 18:13, trailing only Abigail Hennessy of Westford Academy in Massachusetts (17:59.4). She ran the course last year in 17:49, but credits Hennessy for rightfully earning this season’s victory.
“I think overall it was good,” Gilbert said of Saturday’s race. “I don’t think that it was hot enough to say the weather was a concern but it did warm up a little bit. I had bigger goals. I was second and I wanted to come in first, but I think I made some strategical errors throughout the wooded part of the race.
“But I’ll learn from it and move on. Better to have the lessons now than at the State Open. ... (Hennessy) looked very solid throughout. She had a surge in the last mile. That’s what I aspired to do, but not every day is perfect.”
She said Manchester’s Wickham Park, where the state meets are held, is the toughest course to traverse, but noted it’s difficult to gain momentum on some of the sandy parts of the Ocean State course.
Old Lyme, under head coach Jan Merrill-Morin, the former Olympic middle distance runner, is coming off a Class S state championship during outdoor track season, its first in program history. Gilbert, though, The Day’s two-time All-Area Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year, is happy to take on the longer distances once again this fall.
“I kind of excel on the aerobic side,” Gilbert said. “I like working on my aerobic system. Cross country is a lot of that, bumping up the mileage. The more miles, the happier I am. I love cross country training. I am ecstatic; I love cross country.”
Gilbert is the two-time Class S state champion.
“Chase is having a fine cross country season,” Merrill-Morin said. “Her training has been consistent and solid. ... The Ocean State Invitational was an excellent opportunity for Chase to test her race fitness and check tactical awareness. She looks forward to championship season at Wickham Park.”
A week to remember
The Stonington field hockey team will play a pair of games next week to honor longtime supporter Fred Bogue, who died on June 24, and the former head coach of the program Janis Ingham, who died on Sept. 6.
On Monday, Oct. 7, the Bears will face Fitch at 5 p.m. on Fred Bogue Day, which will be marked by the team’s annual Play for the Cure game to benefit Smilow Cancer Hospital in Bogue’s name.
Later in the week on Saturday, Oct. 12, the Bears will host “A Day to Remember Janis,” as they take on North Branford at 1 p.m. Field hockey alumnae, friends and families are invited to remember Ingham, an “honored and treasured coach who began what has become an iconic legacy in the sport of field hockey.”
A halftime remembrance will be held, with an alumnae social and light refreshments following the varsity game.
Class acts
Old Lyme and Ledyard were honored recently with the 2023-24 Michaels Jewelers Cup. The award honors “exemplary athletic programs for their willingness to subscribe to the Class Act Sportsmanship standards, empowering students to take an active role in their school climate and their continued support for community service.”
The 28 schools honored will be recognized during the CIAC’s 18th Annual Sportsmanship Conference on Oct. 7.
Old Lyme earns the honor for the sixth consecutive year.
And more
The East Lyme boys’ soccer team was eighth in this week’s CSCA coaches’ poll for Class LL/L schools. ... The annual Stonington Crew fall fundraising cruise will be held from 2-4 p.m. Oct. 12. Tickets for the private sightseeing cruise of Long Island Sound are $35 ($20 for kids under 12) and can be purchased at https://givebutter.com/2024-fall-cruise
v.fulkerson@theday.com
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