WATERTOWN — Wolcott and Woodland took home all the gold in the Naugatuck Valley League Cross Country Tournament at Watertown’s Memorial Park Wednesday afternoon.
Wolcott’s Kathryn Rodrigues and Nick Bendtsen were the individual winners for the girls and boys races, respectively. Woodland, undefeated in the dual meet season, swept the girls and boys team titles.
Both Wolcott winners finished well ahead of their closest rivals.
Rodrigues broke the modern record for Watertown’s 5K course in 18:32.8, leading Derby’s Cassidy Ngaoprasaut (2nd in 20:06.5) and Sabrina Hancock (3rd in 20:07.0) by over a minute and a half.
Bendtsen’s win was almost as resounding, finishing in 16:32.4 to Kennnedy’s Alexander Brites’ (2nd in 17:10.7).
Rodrigues’ big lead was a familiar sight this season.
“I’ve been winning by at least a minute all year,” said Rodrigues, a junior who worked her way up from NVL third place as a freshman through second place last year. Wednesday’s effort smashed her previous personal best 5K, at Wickham Park (19:20), by almost a minute.
“I’m so happy; I want to thank my coaches and my family,” she said.
Bendtsen, a sophomore, came even farther in the NVLs, from last year’s 14thplace, while besting his personal record by 30 seconds.
“My formula is to push hard in the beginning and keep going,” said Bendsten, who’s shooting for a top-five finish at this year’s Class M state meet.
Woodland’s winning formula is different.
“We don’t have anyone who’s going to win a race, so we have to stick together,” said Coach Jeff Lownds, whose boys team took its first trophy in Lownds’ 17 years as the Hawks’ coach.
The Woodland girls team unseated three-time defending champion Derby, in second place, 38-61.
“We have a really good relationship with each other,” said Emma Slavin, the first Hawk across the finish line in fourth place, followed by Jaden Young in fifth; Calisa Costanzo, seventh; Chloe Poulos, eighth; and Jillian Brotherton, 14th.
“We’re so supportive of each other. All we could do was our best,” Costanzo said.
Second place was bittersweet for the Red Raiders after so many years in the winners’ circle.
“They ran a great race,” said Derby coach Nick DiLuggo, who had All-State junior Analy Khanthaphixa (21st overall) back for her first race since suffering a back injury earlier this season.
“Our top two girls today (Ngaopraseut and Hanock) will score some points in Class S, so we hope to do well there,” DiLuggo said.
The Woodland boys faced at least as big a challenge, from second-place Watertown, 52-74, after a five-point dual meet win (25-30) in the regular season.
“We decided just to run our own race and not worry about them,” said Kyle Crowell, the Hawks’ fifth-place runner, followed by Greg Aldrich, sixth; Chase Young, 10th; Colin Slavin, 14th; and Martin Swercewski, 17th.
“We just wanted to go out hard and finish hard,” Aldrich said.
“We were hoping one of them would come back to us,” Watertown coach Brian Lafontaine said. “We put the pressure on and they responded. It was a great day. Naugatuck was close to us (74-88) so we had a lot of teams pushing each other.”
“We were lucky,” Woodland’s Lownds said. “We ran against some great teams, but they earned it. This feels pretty good.”
Watertown (101); Seymour (119); Wolcott (135); St. Paul Catholic (142); Sacred Heart (197); Naugatuck (202); Torrington (233); WCA (236); and Kennedy (241) followed Woodland and Derby in the girls race.
Kennedy (135); St. Paul Catholic (139); Holy Cross (181); Seymour (207); Sacred Heart (211); Wolcott (235); WCA (262); Oxford (276); Crosby (288) and Torrington 332) trailed the top three on the boys side.
NVL championships at Veterans’ Memorial Park, Watertown
Boys
Team scores: 1. Woodland 52, 2. Watertown 74, 3. Naugatuck 88, 4. Kennedy 135, 5. St. Paul Catholic 139, 6. Holy Cross 181, 7. Seymour 207, 8. Sacred Heart 211, 9. Wolcott 235, 10. Waterbury Career 262, 11. Oxford 276, 12. Crosby 288, 13. Torrington 332.
Individual results
Top 10 finishers and regional runners among top 25: 1. Nick Bendtsen (Wolcott) 16:32.4; 2. Alexander Brites (Kennedy) 17:10.7; 3. Spencer Dodge (Watertown) 17:19.9; 4. Elijah Lewis (Crosby) 17:26.7; 5. Kyle Crowell (Woodland) 17:32.8; 6. Greg Aldrich (Woodland) 17:33.7; 7. Daniel Bouzolin (Seymour) 17:34.1; 8. Aidan Reilly (St. Paul Catholic) 17:37.7; 9. Tim Bristol (Naugatuck) 17:41.9; 10. Chase Young (Woodland) 17:59.6; 15. Ethan Parker (Oxford) 18:27.2.
Girls
Team scores: 1. Woodland 38, 2. Derby 61, 3. Watertown 101, 4. Seymour 119, 5. Wolcott 135, 6. St. Paul Catholic 142, 7. Sacred Heart 197, 8. Naugatuck 202, 9. Torrington 233, 10. Waterbury Career 236, 11. Kennedy 241.
Individual results
Top 10 finishers and regional runners among top 25: 1. Kathryn Rodrigues (Wolcott) 18:32.8; 2. Cassidy Ngaopraseutsack (Derby) 20:06.5; 3. Sabrina Hancock (Derby) 20:07.0; 4. Emma Slavin (Woodland) 20:25.6; 5. Jaden Young (Woodland) 20:29.6; 6. Kailyn Bielecki (St. Paul Catholic) 20:53.5; 7. Calisa Costanzo (Woodland) 21:03.9; 8. Chloe Poulos (Woodland) 21:03.9; 9. Veranika Hym (Wolcott) 21:18.3; 10. Jenna French (Sacred Heart) 21:22.8; 12. Izzy Chevarella (Derby) 21:31.3; 18. Ashley Sobin (Seymour) 22:21.4; 20. Brenna Virgalla (Oxford) 22:25.0; 22. Madison Sheehan (Seymour) 22:29.3; 23. Annaly Khanthaphixay (Derby) 22:33.2; 25. Zoe Donnauro (Derby) 22:36.0.