Rocky Hill Finishes Eighth at Wickham Park XC Invitational

The grass hills of Wickham Park looked like a tent city Saturday, as cross country runners from more than 100 schools in four states gathered for the 30th annual Wickham Park XC Invitational.

Among the 14 races in the daylong meet were six varsity events, featuring more than 1,400 boys and girls running in championship, seeded and unseeded competition.

Locally, Patrick Dibble of Manchester won the boys seeded race, and Brian Poirier of Northwest Catholic captured the boys unseeded title. Suffield won the boys seeded team championship, while Tolland snared the girls seeded team trophy.

Boys Championship

Connor Rog of Fairfield blew away the field, finishing 42 seconds ahead of the runnerup with the day's best time of 15:41 over the hilly 3.1 mile course. Darien (123 points) edged Xavier (130) to win the team title.

Tolland placed fourth, led by Matt Mensher (10th) and Colin Sauter (15th). Simsbury finished fifth, paced by Kevin Stanko (ninth) and Joel Kirk (13th). Rocky Hill was eighth, with Joe Crafa (fifth) and James Wang (16th) leading the way.

Girls Championship

Kerri Ruffo of Plainfield won the race in 19:45, while Immaculate won the team event with 73 points.

Simsbury placed sixth, due in part to the efforts of Sarah Mattison (16th) and Laura Picard (20th). E.O. Smith finished eighth, led by Alyssa Coulter (17th).

Boys Seeded

Manchester's Patrick Dibble won individual honors, capturing the race in 16:43. Kyle Hamel of Southington (second) and Jon Cahill of Canton (fifth) also ran very strong races.

In team competition, Suffield had the largest margin of victory of any varsity squad, posting 88 points to 173 for second-place Cheshire. The Wildcats had three runners in the top 20: Dan Moroney (fourth), Denis Labarre (eighth) and Jimmy Clark (20th). E.O. Smith placed third, led by Zach Pittman (19th); Ellington tied for seventh, paced by Alex Smith (10th) and Neal Hulstein (17th); and Farmington wound up 12th, thanks to Matt Simoneau (12th) and Matthew Chisholm (16th).

Girls Seeded

Alyssa Brehler of Griswold ran away with the division, winning by a 17-second margin.

In the closest team competition of the day, Tolland (155 points) edged Danbury (161). Freshman Courtney Akerly led the Eagles with a third-place finish, while Emily Howard was 20th. Suffield was fifth, led by Monique Labarre (22nd), and Ellington wound up 10th, paced by Kayla Sgarlata (13th). 

Boys Unseeded

Brian Poirier of Northwest Catholic won the varsity race with the largest field, outlasting 403 other runners with a time of 16:51. Teammate Joe Doyle finished 11th, leading the Indians to a 14th-place standing in the team event. Granby's John Stingle placed 17th, while Toll Gate of Rhode Island had the best team score with 252 points.

Girls Unseeded

Annmarie Tuxbury of Northwestern Regional posted the best time of any varsity girl, winning in 19:34. St. Mary Academy Bay View of Rhode Island was top team with 176 points.

Granby Memorial placed fourth, led by Ashley Piccirillo-Horan (eighth) and Alexa Cipkas (14th), while East Catholic finished fifth, paced by Grace Gothers (16th). Southington wound up ninth, while Windsor (18th) had a pair of top 20 finishers: Medinah Nabadduka (fifth) and Sydnee Over (20th).

For individual and team results in the varsity races, click the bold headers. For complete results of all 14 races, including middle school, freshman and JV events, click here.