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11/07/2021 11:00 PMHaddam-Killingworth’s boys’ and girls’ cross country squads were both coming off of Shoreline Conference titles entering last week’s Class SS State Championships. Each of the Cougars’ teams continued their storybook seasons by taking first place in their respective meets at Wickham Park in Manchester on Nov. 1.
The H-K boys’ team claimed its 11th state title in program history and its first since 2017 with the victory. Meanwhile, the girls’ squad defended the state crown that it won in 2019, capturing its fifth state championship in team history.
Matt Diglio, the head coach of both teams, was proud of the Cougars for traversing the muddy trails to make it a double-banner day for the H-K cross country program.
“We went in as a favorite on the boys’ side, but we knew it would be a battle against Griswold. The girls also went in as favorites and came away with a strong win against East Hampton,” Diglio said. “The weather was decent, but the course was not. We were the last runs of the day, and the course was very muddy. There were spots where it was really chewed up, and it was beat down because of all the teams competing ahead of us. But we made do with what we had and came away with wins on both sides.”
On the boys’ side of competition, H-K took first place among 23 teams and finished with an overall score of 52 points, which was well-ahead of runner-up East Hampton with its total of 87 points. Senior captain Caleb Freeman claimed first place in the’ race by crossing the finish line with a time of 17 minutes and 3 seconds, beating out Canton’s Jack Dendinger (17:20) by 17 seconds for the top spot.
Junior Alex Lara also had a solid showing by coming in ninth place with a time of 18:06 for the Coguars. Senior Andrew Hedges took 11th place by running a time of 18:12. Freshman Jack Cozean took 16th place in 18:29, while freshman Colton Merola posted a time of 18:50 to finish in 19th place and round out H-K’s scoring on the day.
Seniors Evan Baird and Tyler Robinson also competed for H-K at the state meet. Baird finished in 28th place (19:03), and Robinson came in 31st place (19:10) for Coach Diglio’s club.
“Caleb won states and had one of his best races of the year,” said Diglio. “All of our top five had a solid day despite the conditions, and I was proud of the way they all competed.”
The H-K girls’ squad finished first in a 17-team field to take the Class SS state title. The Cougars tallied a team score of 50 points to finish ahead of East Hampton, which took second place with 61 points.
Junior Isabel Berardino delivered the top finish for H-K by earning fourth place with a mark of 21:18. Senior captain Brianna Minervino finished in sixth place with a time of 21:31. Fellow senior captain Ava DiMatteo came eighth place by timing in at 21:46. Sophomore Sydney Adelberg finished 16th with a time of 22:31, and junior Chloe Lacoss ran a time of 22:53 to take 18th place and complete the Cougars’ scoring.
Freshman Keira Sehl-Albert finished in 29th place (23:37) for H-K. Senior Charlotte Selmer came in 44th place (24:19) at states.
“Isabel had another great race,” Coach Diglio said. “It was nice to see three of our runners in the top 10 and all five [scorers] were top 20, which really gave us an advantage.”
Four days after the Class SS meets, the teams competed at the State Open at Wickham Park on Nov. 5. The boys’ team finished in 14th place with a score of 316 points, while the girls’ squad finished 18th with 388 points.
Freeman came in 29th place by running a time of 16:38 at the State Open. H-K’s other competitors were Lara (96th, 17:39), Hedges (112th, 17:58), Cozean (118th, 18:02), Merola (129th, 18:12), Baird (133rd, 18:18), and Robinson (150th, 18:44).
Berardino recorded a time of 20:55 to take 70th place in the girls’ race. Also running for the Cougars at the State Open were Minervino (80th, 21:05), DiMatteo (110th, 21:38), Adelberg (149th, 22:38), Sehl-Albert (154th, 22:48), Lacoss (157th, 22:56), and Selmer (174th, 24:33).
Coach Diglio felt overjoyed to see both of his teams reach the finish line of another amazing campaign for the Cougars’ cross country dynasty.
“Our goal at State Opens was to try and get top 12 on both sides. We knew the competition was very tough, but we still worked hard until the very end,” said Diglio. “I’m proud of the way our season finished, and it’s a tremendous feat to say that both the boys’ and girls’ teams took home conference and state titles.”