Avon Girls Win Second Straight State Cross Country Title

Ryley Higgins, shown in action at the CCC meet last week, captured the individual title Saturday at the Class MM championships at Wickham Park. Avon won the Class MM title for the second straight year. Photo credit: Tim Jensen

Led by Ryley Higgins’ overall victory, Avon placed four runners in the top 20 to prevail for the second consecutive years at the Class MM girls cross country championships Saturday.

Higgins covered the hilly 3.1 mile course at Wickham Park in Manchester in 19:27 to outdistance runnerup Megan Brawner of Ledyard by 12 seconds.

As a sophomore in 2013, Higgins finished in 93rd place. Last year, she improved to 17th.

Sara Leavens placed ninth, while Christina Martin (14th) and Caroline Luby (17th) also wound up in the top 20. Avon compiled 62 points to beat runnerup RHAM, which had 73.

Gabriella Colletti, Rachel Martin and Ashley Martin will join their teammates in the State Open next Friday, also at Wickham Park.

The top two teams in each of the six classes make it into the Open, as do the top 12 individuals in each class plus the 30 best times overall that finished out of the top 12.

On the boys’ side, Avon placed ninth of 25 teams in Class MM. Zach Bortoff had a find 22nd-place showing, while Andrew Suter was 38th in the field of 173 runners.