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11/07/2020 11:00 PMThe Guilford cross country program couldn’t have asked for a better way to conclude its 2020 season. Guilford’s girls’ and boys’ teams each came away with some hardware when they competed at a postseason event hosted by the Southern Connecticut Conference last week.
On Nov. 4, Guilford’s teams ran at the SCC Division A Championships at East Shore Park in New Haven. Both Guilford squads earned first-place finishes in their respective meets.
The SCC held four divisional meets (A, B, C, and D) for both boys’ and girls’ cross country that day and then merged the performances from those meets to additionally determine the standings for the SCC Championship, which had originally been scheduled to take place this week. When the final numbers were crunched, the Guilford girls’ team finished first for the SCC Championship with the boys’ team placing second behind Xavier. This marks the fourth year in a row and the 16th time overall that the Guilford girls’ cross country team captured the conference crown.
The Guilford girls raced against Hand, Branford, and North Haven in the SCC Division A Championship. While Hand’s Anna Steffen took first place for the 5K race, Guilford saw its top five runners finish in second through sixth place en route to winning the title as a team.
Junior Julia Antony claimed second place in the race by running a time of 19 minutes and 54 seconds for Guilford. Antony was followed across the finish line by sophomore Olivia Kaisin, who finished third with a time of 21:21. Junior Katrina Muhs (4th, 21:23), junior Lorelei King (5th, 21:31), and sophomore Ursuala Adams (6th, 21:31) rounded out the scoring for Head Coach Jim Ford’s squad.
In the overall SCC standings, Antony maintained her second-place status with Kaisin finishing ninth, Muhs taking 10th, King placing 11th, and Adams claiming 13th.
“After the pandemic canceled our spring track season, the only thing we wanted to focus on was cross country, and we trained hard during quarantine and harder during the summer. So, getting a cross country season this year was a big motivator for us to win SCCs, especially since we also don’t have any seniors on our team,” said Kaisin. “I am proud that our team stayed positive, even after losing the track season. All that positivity, teamwork, and exhausting workouts really paid off, and we will continue to work hard for the upcoming track seasons.”
The Guilford boys went up against Hand and North Haven in its Division A competition. Senior Tanner Updyke finished in first place overall by completing the 5K with a mark of 17:21. Junior Justin Shiffrin was next in line by taking second place at 17:25. Sophomore Ryan Franchi finished fourth (17:43), fellow sophomore Michael Masotti came in fifth (17:44), and senior Jackson Tandler finished 15th (18:38) to complete Guilford’s scoring.
In the overall SCC tabulations, Updyke finished fifth, Shiffrin was seventh, Franchi placed 13th, Masotti came in 14th, and Tandler finished 48th on behalf of Head Coach Jon Rivera’s club.
“The boys had a strong season,” said Rivera. “We won most of the matchups, but lost to Xavier—the SCC champs—and to Hand in our last dual-meet of the season. The loss to Hand really helped motivate the guys to come back strong at divisionals. Winning the division is always very important to us, and taking second overall was our goal, because we knew how good Xavier was.”
Antony, Kaisin, Muhs, and King earned All-SCC First Team honors for the Guilford girls’ cross country team by virtue of their performances at the meet. Adams solidified a spot on the All-SCC Second Team.
On the boys’ side, Updyke and Shiffrin were Guilford’s All-SCC First Team honorees. Franchi and Masotti made the All-SCC Second Team.
The Guilford girls were additionally represented by junior Olivia Skapczynski, who finished eighth in the division and 17th for the conference with her time of 21:48; along with sophomore Clara Laughlin (9th in the division and 23rd in the conference at 22:11), junior Eliza McCoole (12th and 38th at 23:16), junior Paige Crowley (13th and 44th at 23:31), and freshman Michaela Hogan (16th and 59th at 24:19).
The boys’ team saw a few additional runners hit the trails at the SCC’s meet. Guilford’s other competitors were senior Caleb Harris (16th and 52nd at 18:52), junior Carson Tosta (18th and 63rd at 19:14), sophomore Bretton Garrick (19th and 70th at 19:29), junior David Crair (20th and 76th at 19:40), and senior Ryan Tichy (26th and 141st at 23:01).