Girls cross country: RHS third at FCIACs

Written by Tim Murphy
Thursday, 29 October 2009 10:20

Going into last Thursday’s FCIAC girls cross country championships, most observers figured an improving Fairfield Warde team was still a step behind Ridgefield and Wilton, which had combined to win the past seven conference titles.

That assumption was based not only on Ridgefield and Wilton’s recent dominance, but also the fact that Warde had lost to both teams by slight margins during the regular season.

Warde, however, has kept getting better. And last Thursday at Waveny Park in New Canaan, the Mustangs showed just how much.

Behind Meg Ryan’s first-place overall finish and Carly Birkhold’s fourth-place finish, Warde was able to edge Wilton by three points, 63-66, and win the first FCIAC championship in school history.

Ridgefield, which won five straight titles before finishing second to Wilton last year, was third in the 15-team field with 89 points.

“We did not have a good day,” said Ridgefield head coach Sandy Hoddinott, whose team went 17-0 during the regular season, beating both Warde and Wilton. “If we had run the way we had at the Ocean States and St. Anthony’s meets, we might have had a chance. But we didn’t do that.”

Hoddinott said he wasn’t surprised by Warde’s victory.

“We knew they were going to be there,” he said. “They were tough during the regular season and they kept improving.”

Katie Howley led Ridgefield with a third-place overall finish in a time of 14:57 for the 4K course at Waveny Park. She finished behind only Ryan (14:03) and Westhill’s Maddie Elkins, who was second in 14:47.

“Katie ran well,” said Hoddinott. “She had a good day for us.”

But Howley was the only Ridgefield runner in the top 15, and that wasn’t enough to overtake Warde or Wilton.

Jenna McClane was second for Ridgefield as she placed 15th overall in 15:44. Teammate Isabella Corso was close behind, finishing 17th overall in 15:50.

Freshman Sarah Guillaume was 24th (16:10) and Kori Krichko 30th (16:25) to complete the scoring for Ridgefield.

Caroline Carr (33rd, 16:36), Briana Corso (40th, 16:49) and Jen Ventrella (42nd, 16:53) also competed for the Tigers.

Hoddinott and Ridgefield will now turn their attention to Saturday’s Class LL state meet at Wickham Park. The Tigers were third behind Glastonbury and Norwich Free Academy last season, and Hoddinott expects both those teams to be strong again.

“It’s a really tough division,” he said. “We want to run better than we did at FCIACs and qualify for the State Open.”

Notes: The Class LL meet starts at 3:35 on Saturday.

“It’s the last meet of the day,” said Hoddinott. “Hopefully the course won’t be in bad shape by then.”

Fairfield High School won four straight FCIAC titles (1998-2001) before Wilton triumphed in 2002. Fairfield was then split back into two high schools, Warde and Ludlowe.

Ridgefield and Wilton both have won eight FCIAC titles since 1977.