SWC Cross Country Regular Season ends for Stratford

On Tuesday October 8th the Stratford High School Boys Cross Country team headed north to Brookfield to square off against the Bobcats and the Pomperaug Panthers in week five of South West Conference 5K action.
The course is arguably the toughest course in the league boasting a very rugged terrain, tight running trails with layered exposed tree roots, and natural ground erosion. To add to the runner’s struggles are the hills which take you through the outskirts of Williams Park and a stroll through the land of Gurski Farm open space.
The weather this afternoon was another perfect day for cross country racing. Once again, and for the fifth Tuesday in a row, sunshine filled the skies, temperatures in the mid 60’s, virtually no wind, and adding to the decorated course, treetops starting to show autumnal signs of changing colors.
In the fine tradition of honoring seniors, Brookfield Head Coach Ed Butt called out all of the seniors from the field of thirty-eight to pay tribute to this their last regular season meet.
Stratford’s Senior Papa Insaidoo stepped forward to a rousing applause. He is in his fourth and final year of high school cross country racing.
After the senior acknowledgement the runners took their positions along the starting line, the whistle sounded, and the race was on.
Brookfield’s Landon Wall with a quick start set the pace and took the lead very early on.
Teammate Evan Belles (Brookfield) and Stratford’s Dyllan Asuncion along with Pomperaug’s Robert Piccirillo stayed with each other a half mile in.
Asuncion has enjoyed the season to date with two first place finishes, a second place finish, and a pair of third place finishes.
Asuncon’s teammate Zach O’Toole has also enjoyed the spotlight in finishing no lower than eighth on the season. He continues to be a bright spot in the Red Devil lineup.
This afternoon O’Toole got caught behind three Panther runners for quite some time at the start and struggled to stay in the top ten.
The wall of Panther runners were Kyle Weibke, Brady Fritz, and Daniel Flanagan.
Also in that bunch was Brookfield’s Ryan Scelia.
Brookfield’s Jace Cowden rounded out the top ten.
As the race entered into mile two it was clearly Wall’s race opening up more than a twenty-five second lead.
Belles and Asuncion were next followed by Piccirillo who was gaining momentum.
During mile two O’Toole made a push and got around the Panther runners speeding his way into the top seven spot.
Just ahead of O’Toole was Scelia.
Cowden stayed in the tenth spot.
The last half mile is a clear view for all those on hand to watch and cheer their favorite runners on.
Wall’s lead extended to a fifty second lead and he took first place in a time of 17:07.
Belles was next at 17:54.
The race for third was on, Asuncion’s lead over Piccirillo shrunk down to just over a second with Piccirillo bearing down.
In the final twenty meters Piccirillo closed the gap to within feet.
Asuncion clinging on to less than a second lead and that’s how it would finish. Asuncion third at 17:56.06.
Piccirillo fourth at 17:56. 29.
Scelia with a burst took fifth at 18:16.
O’Toole held off those three Panther runners to finish sixth at 18:46.
It was Flanagan in seventh at 18:48, Fritz eighth at 18:52, and Wiebke ninth at 18:53.
Cowden took tenth at 19:01.
In team scoring Brookfield had four in the top ten and Pomperaug had three.
The next two runners Benjamin Salvucci (20:01) and Henry Marks (20:07) represented five and six in for the Panthers.
Connor Sanford (20:021) from Brookfield represented the fifth for the Bobcats to cross the line.
With the low point scoring system deciding the winners it was Brookfield over Pomperaug by a score of 26-30.
The remaining Stratford finishers were Jose Mora at 23:30, Ryan DeVeaux at 23:44, Keeson Alonso at 24:02, Brayden Acevedo at 27:53, Kevin Hughes at 32:02, and Insaidoo at 34:49.
Final scores saw Brookfield over Stratford 20-41 and Pomperaug over Stratford 24-37.
Up next for Stratford, at Bethel High School, 4:00pm, for the 2024 South West Conference Championships.