South Windsor Boys Cross Country Sweep Tri-Meet

Wethersfield won the battle, but South Windsor won the war.

Indeed, in the tri-meet featuring the cross country teams from South Windsor, Wethersfield and East Hartford, the Eagles’ Dan Devaux won the race in 17:45, but the Bobcats prevailed as a team by a score of 22-37 (the lower score is the winning one.)

South Windsor also shutout East Hartford 15-50.

The Bobcats prevailed on the heels of Ryan Kurzer (second, 17:51), Connor Grothe (third, 17:58), Cooper Goslin (fourth, 18:04), Mike Stocker (sixth, 18:11) and Mike Wicks (seventh, 18:39).

By no means was it the most dominating performance for the Bobcats (4-0), but it was satisfying nonetheless, according to head coach Peter Anthony.

“We were missing our No. 1 guy [Ethan Gasta],” Anthony said. “His best time on this course last year was 17:11, and the winning time today was 17:45. We did pretty good, we did what I expected. Overall it was a chance to compete, and I knew we could do pretty good.”

Part of the reason that Anthony knew his team would likely prevail on the afternoon was having Grothe in the lineup. Normally the team’s No. 2 performer, Grothe only took up running last year after playing soccer for most of his life.

“He came out and he did a really good job [last year] … and he got really competitive really quickly,” Anthony said. “He’s doing really good. … He’s a great kid and he’s been a surprise. He’s one of those kids you wonder, ‘Who’s coming back? Who’s coming out for the team?’ and you say, ‘Thank you.’ And he likes it and he cracked our top seven.”

So, going forward, the boys have the Wickham Invitational in Manchester this week, and Anthony feels good about the progress his team has made.

“By and large everybody has been improving,” Anthony said.

Boys Top 10

1. Dan Devaux (Wethersfield) 17:45

2. Ryan Kurzer (South Windsor) 17:51

3. Connor Grothe (South Windsor) 17:58

4. Cooper Goslin (South Windsor) 18:04

5. Matt Duggan (Wethersfield) 18:05

6. Mike Stocker (South Windsor) 18:11

7. Mike Wicks (South Windsor) 18:39

8. Troy Stegman (Wethersfield) 19:01

9. Ken Erickson (South Windsor) 19:06

10. Mike Messersmith (South Windsor) 19:22