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10/22/2018 12:00 AMAfter graduating several runners from its team that won Shoreline Conference and Class SS state titles in 2017, the Haddam-Killingworth boys’ cross country squad could have gone through a bit of a rebuilding season this fall. Instead, the Cougars displayed their trademark dedication by working hard to carve out a path to a fifth straight conference crown.
Head Coach Matt Diglio’s club put together another perfect regular season by going 14-0 this year. This marked the fifth year in a row that the Cougars went undefeated, and they’ve totaled a record of 76-0 during that time. On the heels of its exceptional dual-meet season, H-K looked to defend its conference title when it competed in the Shoreline Conference Championship meet at Hale-Ray High School on Oct. 19. The Cougars scored a low total of 40 points to finish well ahead of second-place East Hampton (72 points) and nab their fifth consecutive Shoreline championship.
“We came into this season with a pretty new varsity squad, especially compared to last year’s group. The senior captains motivated us to keep putting in the hard work, and we kept setting challenging goals that we wanted to work towards,” said sophomore Matt Jennings, who finished second in the meet. “It meant a lot to continue our legacy through winning Shorelines again. Going into it, I knew there would be tough competition, but I think I ran well, and I’m happy with my placement.”
Jennings raced to second place for H-K with a time of 16 minutes and 54 seconds, finishing 13 seconds behind first-place Shane Henderson of Old Saybrook (16:41). Senior tri-captain Nate Carlson finished sixth in 17:31, and fellow senior tri-captain Seth Freeman followed in eighth place with a time of 17:37 for the Cougars.
“I think with such a young squad, it was important we won this year, as it shows the boys not only that we’re still capable of achieving what we have in the past, but also that all of our hard work has paid off,” Freeman said. “I was happy with my race. I was a second behind my personal record and, although my place was a little further back than I would’ve liked, it was nice to get my first All-Shoreline Conference First Team honor.”
The top 10 finishers in the race earned All-Shoreline Conference First Team honors, while finishers No. 11 through 20 garnered Second Team recognition. Additionally scoring points in the meet for H-K were freshman Caleb Freeman, who finished in 11th place (17:47); and sophomore Fisher Harris, who came in 13th place (17:54). Junior Christian Uzwiak (16th, 17:56) and senior tri-captain Kyle Criscuolo (19th, 18:29) also hit the trails for Coach Diglio’s squad at the league championship.
“Going into the season, it looked like a transition year after we lost six of our seven runners from last year. But we had young runners coming up from last year and a good freshmen group, and they put the pieces together,” Diglio said. “We built the team up this year throughout the season. They performed well, and we are happy with the undefeated year. This was our 10th title in the last 12 years, so the boys knew the legacy before them.”
In reflecting upon the title, Coach Diglio harkened back to the dog days of summer, when his team began its championship journey by logging those arduous, yet necessary miles.
“The seniors did a great job as leaders, and it all started in the summer with training and putting in the miles,” Diglio said. “The hard work has paid off all year long, and they progressed a lot. They got good experience with many out-of-state invitationals, which helps us in the championship part of the season.”
Haddam-Killingworth won’t be able to defend its Class SS state title in 2018. The Cougars have moved up to Class M and will be competing in the Class M State Championship this weekend. H-K may not exactly be in the conversation for the top spot, although the Cougars will certainly look to make some noise toward the top.
“We have a tough draw in Class M. There are two really strong teams in Suffield and Tolland,” said Coach Diglio. “We will be battling with Brookfield for third, but we will also try to get a wild-card spot to qualify as a team for the State Open.”
• The Haddam-Killingworth boys’ cross country team finished with a total team time of 1 hour, 31 minutes, and 33 seconds at the Shoreline Conference Championship.
• Following H-K and East Hampton, the standings at the meet included Old Saybrook (81 points), Cromwell (100), Old Lyme (108), Valley Regional (140), Portland (196), Hale-Ray (240), Coginchaug (259), Morgan (276), and North Branford (311).
• The Cougars will run at the Class M State Championship that takes place at Wickham Park in Manchester on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 2:05 p.m.