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10/21/2017 12:00 AMThe members of the East Haven cross country program hit the trails to run at last week’s Southern Connecticut Conference Championship, which took place at East Shore Park in New Haven on Oct. 19. The Yellowjackets’ boys’ squad finished in 18th place, while the girls’ team recorded a 19th-place finish. With two relatively young teams, East Haven Head Coach Anthony Russell was pleased that his athletes had the chance to experience what it’s like to compete at such a big meet.
“I think a lot of them are experiencing this for the first time, so I’m hoping they’re soaking it all in, and realize we’re in a very competitive conference and one of the best in the state,” Russell said. “The sheer magnitude of running against upwards of 130- to 140 other kids, in addition to ours, can be overwhelming. From what I saw, I thought they competed regardless of where they finished. I’m proud.”
Freshman Jeff Maffeo was the top finisher for East Haven’s boys’ team at the SCC Championship, finishing with a time of 22 minutes and 46 seconds. Fellow freshman Ian Reynolds was just a few seconds behind Maffeo with a time of 22:53. The Yellowjakets’ other runners were junior Zach Vallas (23:22), junior Giro Esposito (24:28), and senior captain Joseph Castellano (25:57).
For the girls’ team, freshman Nicole Pendziwater led the way for East Haven by running a time of 24:53. Junior Caitlin Brockett finished in 27:10, sophomore Andreina Magana posted a mark of 34:08, sophomore Rebecca Albert finished at 34:09, while senior Olivia Turek and junior Paige Maffeo both clocked in with times of 35:12.
“Jeff was the best time for the boys today, and Nicole had the best time for the girls. Ian Reynolds was only seven seconds behind Jeff,” Coach Russell said. “Other than Jeff and Ian, our first four runners for the boys are all coming back next year. On the girls’ side, our top four for this particular meet are all coming back. All the underclassmen is a definitely a positive.”
Prior to the SCC Championship, East Haven competed throughout the regular season, and Coach Russell felt that both clubs got better as the campaign progressed. The girls’ team, which was captained by senior Katie Maffeo, won two meets by defeating Oronoque Division opponents Branford and Career. The boys’ squad also recorded a victory against Career this year.
“We just want to develop consistency. Some of our kids are still learning to run distance, so instead of the mentality of getting the race done with, we’ve worked on competing and bettering their times each week,” Russell said. “A lot of young kids that haven’t run distance before are kind of getting a feel for it and getting a taste. Some kids come to the team and never run a mile, but now, they’re doing workouts that add up to two or three miles, runs that are five miles, in addition to warm-up runs, cool-down runs, and stretching. Hopefully, our kids will like what they’re doing and become year-round runners.”
Russell noted that there were 14 athletes in the program between his two teams this fall. With 11 of those athletes set to return next year, plus other runners coming up from middle school, Coach Russell is excited for what the future holds. He feels happy with the growth of his teams this year and hopes to build on it in 2018.
“Coming to practice every day and putting in three- to seven miles per day and 25-to 30 miles per week is not an easy task, so I appreciate their efforts,” Russell said. “I’m proud of the kids for getting out here and competing. Hopefully, kids will get the itch for running distance and it carries through to other seasons.”