By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Collinsville Press.com
MANCHESTER, Oct. 30 – After coming so close in the past two seasons, the Canton High boys cross country team finally brought home the big trophy Saturday.
In 2008, the Warriors were a distant second to Weston in the CIAC Class SS championship race. A year ago, they lost by five points. On Saturday, they exhibited patience and determination to race to its first state championship in cross country.
Canton placed four runners in the top 19 to beat Nonnewaug, 94-123 and capture the Class SS championship. Northwest Catholic was a distant third with 154 points. Old nemesis Weston was eighth with 196 points.
Senior Nick Chekas was ninth with a time of 17:12 over the 3.1 mile course at Wickham Park in Manchester but teammates Jon Cahill (12), Jon Melite (17) and Ned Furtney (19) finished were right behind Chekas. All four runners finished within 13 seconds of each other.
Junior Peter LeDuc, who won the junior varsity race at the NCCC championships a week earlier, got the late bid to run in the race and finished a strong fifth, taking 37th place in 18:05.
Nonnewaug’s Scott Ramponi finished fifth but the Chiefs faded after that. Jonah Riolo took 21st but its next three runners finished in 30, 32 and 35th place, respectively. Northwest Catholic was hurt by its fifth runner finishing 77th.
It was Canton’s first state championship by a boys team since 2003 when the boys soccer team captured the Class S championship. It is the first Class SS title of any kind in school history.
“The difference was our ability to run the distance and be mature,” Canton coach Tim O’Donnell said. “They progressed upwards throughtout the race.”
Canton’s runners ran a strategic race. They remained close to the front but conserved some energy to make their move in the second half of the race to pick off less experienced runners who zipped out to the front of the pack too early in the race.
“The kids are mature and that helps,” O’Donnell said. “It makes me worry early in the race because they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.”
Kevin Kurnat (46, 18:15) and Jon Powell (54, 18:24) rounded out the top 7 for Canton.
And how did the Warriors react to the victory? “They were pretty happy but not giddy happy,” O’Donnell said. “They still want to do well next week. We can’t get caught in a big celebration yet. They still have a long (training) run ahead of them (on Sunday).
Canton qualified for the Friday’s State Open championships for the fourth straight year. A year ago, they finished fourth and became just the second Class SS school in state history to qualify for the New England championships.
To qualify for the New Englands, Canton will need its fifth runner to close the gap between the top four runners. And they will need to start a bit faster in a race filled with stronger and more experienced runners that won’t be as easy to catch and pass as they were in the Class SS race.
“We have been preaching patience all season,” O’Donnell said. “This race, we’ll have to get out a little faster and react to the stress that the body will be under. But they’re strong enough to handle it. They’ll feel horrible for a while but so will everyone else in the race.”
Rosow qualifes for State Open
MANCHESTER, Oct. 30 – The only Avon runner to qualify for the State Open was freshman Rachael Rosow, who finished 10th in the Class MM race with a time of 20:24. As a team, the Falcons finished in sixth place. The only freshman to finish in the top 20, Rosow beat E.O. Smith’s Miranda Cilfone and Wilton’s Alosha Southern with a late sprint to the finish.
On the boys side, Avon senior Chris Carlson finished 24th to lead the Falcon boys to an eighth place finish in Class MM.
Warriors finish 13th at Open
MANCHESTER, Nov. 5 -- A week after winning the school's first state championship at Wickham Park, Canton ran well but not well enough to place in the top 10.
Racing in the Open for the third straight year and the fifth time in school history, Canton finished 13th -- its second-best result in the meet.
Ned Furtney led the way for Canton with a time of 17:17, good enough for 42nd place. Jon Cahill took 47th in 17:23. Nick Chekas (64, 17:30) and Jon Melite (71, 17:36) were close behind.
Kevin Kurnat (99, 18:05), Peter LeDuc (106, 18:12) and Tyler Fitzpatrick (126, 18:37) rounded out the top seven.
Year Time