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Winning ways
Woodstock Academy senior Megan Gohn was pretty happy following the first cross-country quad-meet of the season.
She finished second overall in the Centaurs’ 15-50 wins over Killingly and Wheeler and 16-47 win over Waterford Sept. 10.
Neither Wheeler nor Killingly had the required five runners necessary to post a team score.
“That was super-exciting,” Gohn said with a big smile. “That was the best place finish I’ve had in my high school career.” Gohn finished in 22 minutes, 43 seconds.
It wasn’t the best finish for the Centaurs in the meet. That belonged to sophomore Linsey Arends who finished two minutes ahead of Gohn.
Woodstock Academy coach Joe Banas was, possibly, a bit happier than even Gohn about his senior captain’s finish.
“She is going to be missed (after this season),” Banas said. “She is the glue of this team. She missed a practice one day for an appointment and this whole team’s dynamic changed. Take anyone else out of this lineup and it, basically, stays the same. Her shoes will be hard to fill. It’s not just her running, but her presence.”
Banas was also happy about something else. Avery Mowrey finished third and Tessa Brown was the seventh across the line for the Centaurs. Both are just freshmen. It meant both earned their varsity letter.
Iris Bazinet came in fourth for the Centaurs, Alexia Bourbeau was fifth and Julia Theriaque sixth.
2 out of 3 for Boys
The sweep was not to be there for the Woodstock Academy boys’ cross-country team.
The Centaurs, like the girls, defeated Wheeler and Killingly by the same score, 15-50, as neither the Redmen nor the Lions had the required five runners in the boys race either.
Waterford, however, posted a 23-48 win over Woodstock Academy. “I expected (Waterford) to be pretty good. It was good that it was there because it gave us a true test,” said Centaurs boys’ coach Peter Lusa.
The presence of the Lancers also gave junior Ethan Aspiras someone to chase. He just couldn’t catch Aiden Pepin.
Lusa said it led to a pretty good conversation piece between he and his runner.
The Waterford runner was 20 seconds ahead of Aspiras at the mile and two-mile splits and Aspiras finished 31 seconds behind Pepin at the line.
The slower start worked for Aspiras at the season-opening Haddad Windham Invitational just three days before. It backfired this time. Of course, catching Pepin would have been difficult any way. His final time of 16 minutes, 46 seconds was a record for the Owen Bell course.
Woodstock Academy girls’ coach Joe Banas coached at Killingly before coming to the Centaurs and was impressed by Pepin.
“That was a spectacular run and he buried the course record. He will be someone in the ECC race that will have to be reckoned with,” Banas said.
Lusa was happy with the runner who came in behind Aspiras. Woodstock Academy sophomore Hamilton Barnes placed third in 19:10.
Lusa was also happy with the performance of senior captain Evan Gianfriddo who came in third for the Centaurs and 11th overall in 19:50. Fellow senior captain Tristan Monahan was 30 seconds behind Gianfriddo and fourth-best for the Centaurs.
Sophomore Hans Rhynhart and junior Aaron Allard were fourth and fifth for the Centaurs.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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