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10/20/2019 12:00 AMThe Haddam-Killingworth cross country program turned in a phenomenal performance when the Cougars ran at the Shoreline Conference Championships at Cromwell High School on Oct. 18. The H-K boys’ team took first place in its meet to win the Shoreline title for the sixth-consecutive season and the ninth time in 10 years, while the girls’ team also finished first on its way to claiming its fourth conference crown in the last five years.
Junior Matt Jennings came in first place for the boys at Shorelines by completing the 5K (3.1 mile) course with a time of 15 minutes and 49 seconds. The Cougars placed four runners in top 10 and finished the meet with 28 points, easily outdistancing runner-up East Hampton, which scored 49 points.
Senior Christian Uzwiak came in third place for H-K by timing in at 16:07. Sophomore Caleb Freeman finished in seventh place (16:40), junior Fisher Harris placed eighth (16:40), and junior Sean Rutledge came in ninth place (16:41). Junior Julian Spector posted a 19th-place finish (17:27), while senior Griffin Robinson finished in 21st (17:33).
“The ultimate goal was for the team to win today,” Uzwiak said. “It’s always nice to turn in a good finish, but the team always comes first.”
On the girls’ side, sophomore Ava DiMatteo put forth the top performance for the Cougars by coming in sixth place with a time of 20:07. Just like the boys’ team, the H-K girls saw four runners finish in the top 10 en route to scoring 42 points to edge out second-place Old Saybrook (47 points) for the title.
DiMatteo was followed across the finish line by senior Lauren D’Amico in seventh place (20:19), senior Julia Calls in eighth (20:26), junior Meara Bodak in ninth (20:28), and freshman Isabel Berardino in 12th (20:45). Sophomore Brianna Minervino finished in 16th place (21:00), and fellow sophomore Alison Twatchman came in 26th place (21:23).
Jennings took first place for the boys’ team by posting a personal-best mark of 15:49. Jennings’s time was seven seconds faster than East Hampton’s Jacob Ireland, who finished second at 15:56.
“The kid from Cromwell [Mark Rodriguez, who finished fourth at 16:08] went out really fast,” said Jennings. “I wasn’t about to let him go, but I didn’t want to be too fast over the first mile.”
After he finished the first loop of the course in second place, Jennings turned it up and passed out Rodriguez shortly thereafter.
“He’s the State Open champion in the mile, so I knew he’d be fast in the second half,” Head Coach Matt Diglio said of Jennings.
“But I didn’t want him to burn himself out over the final 1,000 meters.”
Jennings’s performance marked the first time that he broke the 16-minute mark for a 5K race. Last year, he finished in second place at the Shoreline Conference Championship.
“Running two weeks ago at the New Jersey Shore Invitational was a motivational race for me,” Jennings said. “It had an elite field of runners, and it helped my confidence level for the larger meets.”
In the girls’ meet, DiMatteo’s sixth-place showing came as a surprise to both herself and Coach Diglio. When she crossed the finish line, DiMatteo broke into tears while being congratulated by her teammates.
“When I got here today and began to practice, I didn’t think I was going to do so well. I’ve never broken 21 minutes before,” said DiMatteo. “All I wanted to do was to try and run my race. When we got to the point where we were heading into the wooded area [a little past the halfway mark], I heard someone call out, ‘You’re in the top 10!’ I just kept pushing it from there.”
H-K will continue the postseason when both of its teams compete at their respective State Championship meets at Wickham Park in Manchester on Saturday, Oct. 26. The girls’ team is running in the Class SS meet that begins at 10:20 a.m. The boys will hit the trails for the Class M State Championship that gets underway at noon.
“We’ll taper down this week,” said Uzwiak. “We’ll do some speed work and get prepared as a team and be ready to go.”
Of course, Coach Diglio was pleased to see both of his teams take first place at the Shoreline meet. However, Diglio is now focused on getting them to perform to their potential at this weekend’s state races.
“It will be a busy week for both squads,” Diglio said. “We have to put this one behind us. The kids usually do. They’ll all be ready come Saturday.”