Greenwich defended team titles at FCIAC and Class LL state championship meets, New Canaan defended its state Class L title, and Fairfield Warde runners Sophie Spelman and Alexandra Morgan each won a race at postseason championship meets to highlight the 2024 girls’ cross country season in the FCIAC.
Spelman, Fairfield Warde’s senior, won the 5-kilometer race at the FCIAC Girls Cross Country Championships on Oct. 16 at Waveny Park in New Canaan one year after she placed sixth at the same meet.
Morgan, Spelman’s junior teammate, was the individual champion and New Canaan won its team title at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L Girls Cross Country Championships.
Morgan and Spellman placed 1-2 to lead Warde’s Mustangs to fourth place and New Canaan senior Charlotte Moore placed third while helping lead the Rams to their third state championship in the last five seasons. They also won the Class L title in 2019.
The postseason team championships by Greenwich and New Canaan along with many conference runners placing high at the championship meets culminated a very successful season for FCIAC runners and teams.
Greenwich freshman Sophie Passalacqua and her junior teammate, Margaret McCooe, placed second and seventh, respectively, and the five scoring Cardinals all placed among the top 25 to help Greenwich win the program’s fifth conference team title at the FCIAC Championships. Coach Evan Dubin’s Cardinals won their state title at the CIAC Class LL Girls Cross Country Championships on Oct. 26 and then five days later, on a very hot Halloween morning, they placed third at the CIAC State Open.
At the FCIAC Championships, Spellman won the 5K (5,000 meters, 3.1 miles) race by six seconds with her winning time of 18 minutes, 27 seconds. Passalacqua was runner-up with an 18:33, Moor placed third (18:48) for the second straight year at this meet, and Staples junior Sarah Bogdan was fourth (18:55).
Fairfield Warde had two runners in the top five as Morgan was fifth. Wilton junior Jenna Mancuso placed sixth, and Greenwich’s McCooe got her seventh-place finish as the trio of Morgan, Mancuso and McCooe all had the identical official times of 19:06.
The runners annually earn their spots on the All-FCIAC Girls Cross Country First Team by placing in the top 15 at the FCIAC Championships. The eight runners who finished in places 8-15 were New Canaan freshman Gabrielle Savelli placing eighth with a time of 19:09 and she was followed by Claire Fuchs (19:10) and Caleigh Cooleen (19:23) of Fairfield Ludlowe, Trumbull’s Maura Kane (19:28), Avery Kalter (19:31) of Staples, Stamford’s Bianca Parrotta (19:32), Ridgefield’s Vivienne Namiot (19:33), and Wilton’s Grace Guglielmo (19:44).
Moor and Guglielmo both made the All-FCIAC First Team for the third consecutive year. Spelman, Mancuso, Fuchs, Cooleen, Kalter and Namiot also repeated as all-conference first-teamers.
The next 15 runners who finished in places 16-30 at this year’s conference championship meet all made the All-FCIAC Second Team. Those runners were Radea Raleva of New Canaan, Audrey Curtis of Staples, Greenwich’s third fastest runner Gemma Hardwick, Trumbull’s Jane Hall, 20th-place finisher Eve Calio of Darien, Ridgefield’s Ella Margolus, Greenwich’s fourth fastest runner Ava Passmano, Wilton’s Megan Dragunat, Danbury’s’s Katelyn Zaloski, 25th-place finisher and Greenwich’s fifth and final scoring runner Ellie Englund, Darien’s Evlyn Tie, Trumbull’s Lauren Ash, Darien’s McKenna Shea, Fairfield Warde’s Meghan Elterich, and Trumbull’s Nikki Adorante.
Those five Greenwich runners who placed among the top 25 at the FCIAC Championships accumulated the winning score of 74 points, which was 26 points less than the 100 of runner-up Staples. New Canaan placed third with 114 points and was followed in the top 10 by Trumbull (121), Wilton (127), Fairfield Warde (150), seventh-place Darien (172), Ridgefield (183), Fairfield Ludlowe (202), and Danbury (214).
Many runners who placed high at the FCIAC Championships went on to run some more very good races in the following championship meets.
The state class championship meets on Oct. 26, the State Open on Oct. 31, and the New England Interscholastic XC Championships on Nov. 9 all took place at Wickham Park in Manchester.
After Passalacqua placed second at the FCIAC Championship, the freshman phenom from Greenwich was the top finisher from the FCIAC in her next three postseason meets at Wickham Park. Passalacqua placed fifth to lead the Cardinals to their state Class LL championship, sixth at the State Open, and 18th at the New England Championships with consistent improvements. Passalacqua peaked with an 18:45 clocking at the New England Championships after having times of 19:03 at the Class LL state championship meet and 18:54 at the State Open.
After Passalacqua finished fifth and McCooe (19:48) was ninth at the Class LL meet, the following three scoring Cardinals were Englund (17th, 20:51), Passamano (26th, 21:23) and Eleanor Kim (27th, 21:24) when Greenwich won the Class LL state championship with 82 points, 11 less than runner-up Glastonbury (93 points). The FCIAC had four of the top five teams as Staples (107), Ridgefield (112) and Trumbull (122) placed 3-5.
Glastonbury senior Brooke Strauss was the individual champion at her three Wickham Park championship meets. Strauss ran away from the field when she first won the Class LL race in 18:13 and was followed by Conard seniors Tess Sherry (18:35) and Liz Sherry (18:37). Strauss won the State Open by 15 seconds with her time of 18:19 while leading Glastonbury to the team championship and then she improved her time by 33 seconds when she became the New England champion with a 17:46. Glastonbury won the State Open with 62 points. Mercy (145) was runner-up and Greenwich (173) placed third.
In the CIAC Class L Girls Cross Country Championships, Fairfield Warde’s Morgan (19:19) and Spelman (19:20) were within one second of each other with their 1-2 finish, while New Canaan’s Moor (19:32) and Savelli (19:52) placed third and sixth, respectively, to lead coach Jeff Brentson’s Rams to the team title by the comfortable margin of 27 points. New Canaan won with 93 points as Raleva (13th place, 20:38), Delia Bakal (25th, 21:15) and Grace Pellicci (47th, 22:06) were New Canaan’s other three scoring runners. New Milford (120 points) was runner-up, Simsbury (144) placed third and Fairfield Warde finished fourth with 159 points.
Runners became All-State runners by either placing among the top 12 in their respective state class championship meets or the top 25 at the State Open if they had not previously been among the top 12 in a state class championship meet.
Sophie Passalacqua and Margaret McCooe of Greenwich, Sophie Spelman and Alexandra Morgan of Fairfield Warde, Charlotte Moor and Gabrielle Savelli of New Canaan, Sarah Bogdan of Staples, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Claire Fuchs, Stamford’s Bianca Parrotta, Ridgefield’s Vivienne Namiot, and Wilton’s Grace Guglielmo were the 11 runners who ran fast enough to earn All-FCIAC First Team and All-State honors.
Passalacqua, Spelman, Morgan, and Moor were the four conference runners among the 12 total statewide selected to the GameTimeCT All-State Girls Cross Country First Team. Passalacqua was the FCIAC runner-up, fifth at the Class LL state championships, sixth at the State Open, and 18th at the New England Championships. Spelman was the FCIAC champion, Class L runner-up, ninth at the State Open, and 24th at New England Championships. Morgan was fifth at FCIAC, the Class L champion, and 10th at the State Open. Moor was third at both the FCIAC and state Class L championship meets.
Bogdan (fourth at FCIAC, seventh at Class LL, 20th at State Open), McCooe (seventh at FCIAC, ninth at Class LL), Savelli (eighth at FCIAC, sixth at Class L, 21st at State Open), and Fuchs (ninth at FCIAC, eighth at Class LL, 17th at State Open) were four of the dozen runners on the GameTimeCT All-State Girls Cross Country Second Team.
Parrotta (13th at FCIAC, 10th at Class LL, 24th at State Open), Namiot (14th at FCIAC, 12th at Class LL), Guglielmo (15th at FCIAC, 10th at Class LL), and Trumbull freshman Maura Kane (11th at FCIAC, 14th at Class LL) all earned GameTimeCT All-State Honorable Mention.