Greenwich seniors Esme Daplyn and Kate Friedman both excelled as they led the Cardinals to a Triple Crown year to highlight the girls’ high school cross country season for FCIAC runners and teams.
Friedman and Daplyn placed 1-2, respectively, in the first postseason meet to lead the coach Evan Dubin’s Cardinals to the team title at the 2023 FCIAC Girls Cross Country Championships.
New Canaan won the team title at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Girls Cross Country Championships and fellow conference member Wilton was runner-up.
After Daplyn was runner-up in the conference championship meet, she then won one race and delivered a big performance in another one within six days of each other to lead Greenwich to a pair of state championships.
Daplyn was the race winner who led Greenwich to the team title at the CIAC Class LL Championships on Halloween afternoon at Wickham Park in Manchester. Six days later Daplyn and Friedman placed ninth and 14th, respectively, to lead the way as Greenwich won the State Open on Nov. 6 at the same site.
The Cardinals got their Triple Crown postseason underway by having their top four runners place among the top 13 and their fifth runner finished 24th after Friedman and Daplyn were the first two runners to the finish line at the FCIAC Championships at New Canaan’s Waveny Park.
All five scoring Cardinals earned All-FCIAC honors. The top 15 finishers at the conference championship meet automatically run themselves onto the All-FCIAC Girls Cross Country First Team and the next 15 runners in places 16-through-30 make the All-FCIAC Second Team.
Friedman entered the finishing chute first with a time of 18 minutes, 49 seconds to establish the first course record on the new and longer 5,000-meter course which had 1,000 meters added on this year after many years of 4K conference championship girls’ races at Waveny Park.
Daplyn was two seconds behind her teammate with her runner-up time of 18:51. Charlotte Moor placed third with an 18:49 while leading New Canaan to second place. Mya Salvino of Wilton placed fourth with a 19:06 and Darien’s Cam Meyer (19:17) completed the top five.
The next 10 runners who made the All-FCIAC First Team were Fairfield Warde’s Sophie Spelman (19:20), New Canaan’s Radea Raleva (19:21), Wilton’s Jenna Mancuso (19:26), Greenwich’s Lauren Resnick (19:35), 10th-place finisher Eleanor Fox (19:40) of Stamford, Caleigh Cooleen (19:41) and Claire Fuchs (19:42) of Fairfield Ludlowe, Greenwich’s Eliana Daplyn (19:56), Ridgefield’s Vivienne Namiot (20:04), and Avery Kalter (20:26) of Staples.
The 15 runners on the All-FCIAC Second Team, in the order of where they finished in places 16-through 30, were Alexandra Morgan of Fairfield Warde, Julia Blake of Darien, Eliana Savelli of New Canaan, Madison Stevener of Fairfield Warde, 20th-place finisher Bridget Walsh of Trumbull, Natalia Dluzniewska of Wilton, Elizabeth McLaughlin of New Canaan, Graysen Peters of Staples, Orla Muir of Greenwich, 25th-place finisher Emma Morris of Staples, Ella Margolus of Ridgefield, Bridget Preveza of Danbury, Sarah Bogdan of Staples, Maggie Greiner of New Canaan, and Sasha Langholm of Wilton.
With the place positions of the top five runners on each team being added up to accumulate team scores, Greenwich won the team championship with the lowest score of 49 points which was 30 less than New Canaan’s runner-up score of 79. Wilton placed third with 97 points while Staples (136) and Ridgefield (140) completed the top five.
Esme Daplyn won the CIAC Class LL Championships race by a very comfortable margin of 12 seconds with a time of 18:53 over the Wickham Park 5K course and that led the way for the Cardinals to win the team title by 23 points over Glastonbury, which had the runner-up runner in Brooke Strauss (19:05).
The Cardinals won their title by having their top five runners finish among the top 19. Friedman (19:51) placed sixth and was followed by teammates Resnick (ninth place, 20:05), Eliana Daplyn (13th, 20:20) and Muir (19th, 20:55).
Trumbull senior Kathryn Marchand was the third fastest runner from the FCIAC by placing seventh (19:51) as she and teammates Walsh (18th, 20:54) and Leela Kocinsky (24th, 21:15) helped lead the Eagles to third place in team scoring with 117 points, 15 less than fourth-place Staples (132).
Cooley (20:05) and Fuchs (20:18) placed 10th and 12th, respectively, to help Fairfield Ludlowe (175) place eighth overall and fourth among FCIAC teams in the Class LL meet. Bogdan (20:20) finished 14th, Morris (20:57) took 21st and Peters (21:18) was 25th while leading the Staples Wreckers to fourth place. Stamford High School’s Fox (22nd, 21:05) and Bianca Parrotta (23rd, 21:14) were the two other runners from the FCIAC who placed in the top 25 as there were 14 conference runners in the top 25.
Moor placed fourth with a 20:08 and her fellow junior teammate Raleva was 11th with a 20:37 as they led New Canaan’s Rams to that Class L state championship with 95 points, 20 less than Wilton’s 115 points.
Newington’s super senior Katherine Bohlke won the Class L race in 19 minutes flat prior to then winning the State Open in 18:15.
New Canaan’s five scoring runners all placed among the top 30 to secure the Class L state title. Savelli was 22nd (21:46), McLaughlin placed 28th (22:04) and Greiner was 30th (22:12) as the meet’s fastest freshman.
In addition to New Canaan’s scoring five-pack, there were 10 more FCIAC runners among the top 30 at the Class L meet. They included Darien’s Meyer (seventh place, 20:25), Fairfield Warde’s Spelman (ninth, 20:30), Salvino (10th, 20:34) and Mancuso (12th, 20:38) of Wilton, Darien’s Blake (14th, 21:04) Morgan (15th, 21:12) of Fairfield Warde, Ridgefield’s Namiot (18th, 21:18), Wilton’s Langholm (24th, 21:52) and Dluzniewska (25th, 21:58), and Ridgefield’s Allyson Olsen (26th, 22:00).
Four FCIAC teams finished among the top seven in team scoring out of the 18 total teams which had full teams at the Class L championship meet. After New Canaan and Wilton placed 1-2 in team scoring, Ridgefield was sixth with 155 points and Darien took seventh with 183.
Greenwich then got that third jewel of the Triple Crown when Esme Daplyn placed 10th overall with a time of 19:06, Friedman was 14th with a 19:27, and Resnick was 26th with a 19:48 to lead the Cardinals to the State Open team championship by a very comfortable margin of 71 less points than runner-up Cheshire.
With the accumulation of each team’s place positions involving all runners who ran for schools with full teams and excluding the place positions of the runners who were not part of full teams, Greenwich had the team low score of 95 points and Cheshire was second with 166.
Moor placed ninth overall with a 19:05 as the fastest FCIAC runner to lead New Canaan to fifth place with 215 points.
In addition to Moor, Esme Daplyn and Friedman, the four other conference runners who finished among the top 20 overall at the State Open were Salvino (15th, 19:28) and Mancuso (17th, 19:34) of Wilton, Warde’s Spelman (19th, 19:37) and Trumbull’s Marchand (20th, 19:37).
Moor was also the top FCIAC runner at the 88th New England High School Cross Country Championships when she placed 13th overall with a time of 18:23.44 on the 5K course in Belfast, Maine on Nov. 11. Trumbull’s Marchand (18:50.5) and Wilton’s Salvino (18:51.1) placed 35th and 36th, respectively. Friedman was 41st (18:54.66) while leading Greenwich to eighth place out of the 29 teams in the team scoring. Mancuso, Wilton’s sophomore, cracked the top 50 out of the 251 total finishers by placing 48th with a 19:02.11.
NOTES: It was the seventh time a girls’ team from the FCIAC has achieved that Triple Crown feat. Greenwich is the most recent team to do that after being the first conference team to accomplish that when the great Ceci Hopp led the 1979 Cardinals to FCIAC, state Class LL, and State Open championships. As for the other five times that has happened, Ridgefield had a dynasty in achieving that feat three times within a span of six years (2011, 2012 and 2016), the old Fairfield High School got that Triple Crown in 1998, and the 2018 Danbury Hatters achieved that five years ago… The www.casciac.org website has complete results for the State Open and state class championships since 1996. Four former FCIAC runners have won the State Open a combined seven times in the last 27 years. Hannah DeBalsi of Staples and Wilton’s Morgan McCormick are the two former FCIAC runners out of the six total statewide who have won multiple State Open races since 1996. McCormick defended her title 2017 after DeBalsi won three consecutive State Open races from 2013-15. DeBalsi and Killingly’s Meghan Owen (2000-02) are the only three-time State Open champions in the last 27 years. The list of the 27 State Open girls’ winners is below, with the FCIAC winners in bold:
Girls Cross Country State Open Champions
2023: Katherine Bohlke, Newington, 18:16
2022: Brooke Strauss, Glastonbury, 19:05
2021: Rachel St. Germain, Somers, 18:02
2019: Mari Noble, Greenwich, 18:13
2018: Kate Wiser, Pomperaug, 17:59
2017: Morgan McCormick, Wilton, 18:23
2016: Morgan McCormick, Wilton, 18:43
2015: Hannah DeBalsi, Staples, 18:08
2014: Hannah DeBalsi, Staples, 17:59
2013: Hannah DeBalsi, Staples, 17:44
2012: Brianna Lenehan, NFA, 19:09
2011: Reid Watson, Glastonbury, 18:35
2010: Jackie Nicholas, Nonnewaug, 18:12
2009: Jackie Nicholas, Nonnewaug, 18:22
2008: Moira Kenny, Immaculate, 18:45
2007: Heather Stephens, Ridgefield, 15:28
2006: Jamie Olson, Glastonbury, 15:46
2005: Kelly Sorrell, Lyman Memorial, 15:30
2004: Amie Schumacher, Holy Cross, 15:23
2003: Amie Schumacher, Holy Cross, 15:15
2002: Meghan Owen, Killingly, 15:12
2001: Meghan Owen, Killingly, 14:50
2000: Meghan Owen, Killingly, 15:04
1999: Jessica Schenk, Fitch, 15:08
1998: Jessica Schenk, Fitch, 15:13
1997: Aline Speeckhaert, Trinity Catholic, 17:11
1996: Jill Akus, NFA, 15:35