Littler sisters help unbeaten Colonels past Vikings in girls’ cross country
Ledyard — The first time Ledyard High School freshman Maggie Littler beat her older sister Kate, a senior, was on Sept. 21 at the Frank Kelley Invitational in Wrentham, Massachusetts.
Kate, an accomplished middle distance runner — she was The Day’s 2024 All-Area Girls’ Indoor Track Athlete of the Year after sweeping the 800- and 1,600-meter events at the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II meet last winter — was running alongside her younger sister as had been the norm early in the season.
“A super flat course. That’s where the Massachusetts state meet is held,” Kate Littler said. “And we went out together like usual, but there were just so many people. She just started moving ahead of me.
“I saw her finish way out ahead of me and I finished in 20:08. She ran an 80-second (personal best in 19:18.71).”
The two are still Ledyard’s 1-2 punch, leading the Colonels to a 25-31 victory Tuesday over East Lyme. That makes Ledyard, in its first season in ECC Division I, 6-0 overall, 4-0 in the division headed into next week’s ECC Championship meet at Norwich Golf Course.
Only now the 1-2 punch favors the littler Littler.
Maggie won the 5,000-meter race Tuesday in 20:03, catapulting from the starting line, immediately in front of the field, followed by Kate second in 20:17. Ledyard’s Josie Withbroe (20:37) and Kaitlyn Sweeney (20:27.5) were fifth and sixth and sophomore Fionna Woody (22:56) rounded out the scoring by placing 11th.
East Lyme’s Lauren Fulcher was third in 20:21 and Rachel Quadrato was fourth in 20:26. The Vikings are 7-1 overall, 3-1 in the division.
East Lyme’s Sean McCauley won the boys’ race in 16:54, followed by teammates Jilali Benjdid (16:55), Sam Leone (16:56) and Jack Faitsch (17:10) as the Vikings topped Ledyard 16-47 to remain unbeaten at 8-0 overall, 4-0 in Division I.
“She’s always been able to keep up with me,” Kate Littler said of her sister. “I just think she didn’t realize how fast she could run. So the first two meets of the season we ran together the whole time, then, as a middle distance runner, I would outkick her by like two or three seconds.
“But I think she just has to go out hard, stay out hard. That’s just now how I run. I think that running how I run was holding her back and now she’s figured out how she needs to run.”
While Kate was finishing ninth in last year’s ECC cross country championship, helping lift the Colonels to their first league title since 1989 and later a third-place finish in Class M, Maggie was fifth at the Connecticut Middle School state championship meet.
The two have run together often — “When you run alone, it’s boring but when you have someone with you, it makes it better,” Maggie said.
The thought of running for the defending ECC champion Colonels was daunting at first.
“It makes it sound scarier than I think it is,” Maggie said. “But I don’t know, after the first meet I kind of settled in and it felt a lot better.
“... I guess it’s just like I figured out what I need to do. I like to just start out fast and try to maintain that. I had no idea (at the Frank Kelley Invitational) I was running that fast. It was raining so I couldn’t really tell how I was feeling so I was really shocked when I finished and it was sub-20:00.”
Ledyard coach Denise Descheneaux had the idea that this was coming from the freshman.
“Yeah, I did,” she said. “I did. I was just waiting for it to happen. It’s funny because Maggie kind of races like my daughter (Brandy LeClair, former ECC cross country champion) used to race. That’s how Brandy used to race: get out in front.”
The Colonels had more depth last season and moved up to Division I of the ECC, which means they’ve earned their unbeaten record to this point.
“Frank Kelley, like almost every single one of our girls PRed,” Kate Littler said, asked to assess the season. “And that’s like a big boost. Like, ‘Hey, I can run this. I can get to that level.’”
Antonio Soldato was the top boys’ finisher for Ledyard, fifth in 17:14. The Colonels are 2-4 overall, 1-3 in the division.
v.fulkerson@theday.com
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