South West Conference Taking Notice of Stratford's Asuncion

On Tuesday September 26th on the grounds of Wooster Middle School the South West Conference presented the host Stratford Red Devils versus the Joel Barlow Falcons and the Newtown Nighthawks in action packed high school cross country action.

The Wooster campus serves as the home course for both the boys and girls cross country teams from Stratford High School.

The course boasts a multi-surface race course as runners start off on the grass, work their way around to the pond area where they encounter crushed cinder trails, back onto the grass surface before they hit the cement sidewalks for a period of time, and eventually back onto the grass to finish the race. It has the reputation of being the fastest and flattest course in the South West Conference.

There was quite a crowd lining the course ready to take in the action and numerous curious onlookers as the grounds of Wooster were transformed into a 5K race course. The course is marked off with flags at the turning points, free standing arrowed directional signs to assist the runners, and numerous race volunteer marshalls to further keep the flow of runners heading to the all important finish line.

This afternoon runners were faced with a persistent rainfall during the pre-race warm-ups and walk through of the course. The rain had been falling for the past several days leaving the course soaked and muddy with several puddles, and treacherous conditions. Temperatures stayed at around 60 degrees and a slight breeze at times.

As race time neared the rain stopped falling and the sun was making its way through the overcast skies.

The runners toed the starting line and the meet went off without a glitch.

Here is the start of the race held on Tuesday September 26th at Wooster Middle School between Joel Barlow, Newtown, and Stratford High Schools. (Video credit to Laurie Taylor)

Joel Barlow’s Jackson Sobelman jumped out into the early lead followed by teammate Devin Tala.

Stratford Freshman Dyllan Asuncion was in third followed by an avalanche of Newtown runners.

Asuncion continues to catch the eyes of opposing runners and coaches alike. He has finished in the top ten in his first two career races.

Spots four through eleven were all Nighthawks as they jockeyed spots between themselves throughout the race.

The race stayed that way with no change going into the halfway point.

With less than a mile to go Sobelman opened up a 45 second lead over Tala and nearly a minute over Asuncion.

The race for spot number four saw Newtown’s Andrew Arena and Brian Sibley battle it out.

Nighthawk Noah Masotton held the sixth spot and another close race for seventh between Soheib Diss and Stephen Sibley.

In the ninth spot it was Nighthawk Adrian Totir and in tenth it was Mitchell Greenhaw.

At the finish line Sobelman easily cruised in the top spot with a time of 16:54.

In second was Barlow’s Tala at 17:43.

Asuncion took third, with his best time in three races, at 18:51.
In fourth, it was Nighthawk Arena at 18:56 just edging out teammate B. Sibley (18:57).

The next five finishers stayed all Nighthawks giving the Nighthawks a victory sweep of the meet.

In sixth, it was Masotton at 19:00.

The race for seventh was tight as S. Sibley slid past Diss (19:19) in a time of 19:18.

In ninth place it was Totir at 19:27 and rounding out the top ten it was Greenhaw at 19:40.

Barlow went onto victory over Stratford by a final score of 18 to 45 in the low score wins format.

The other Stratford finishers were Kent Taylor at 23:34, Max Lilya at 23:54, Jose Mora at 24:00, Jace Taylor at 25:05, Dante Dawes at 30:25, and Papa Insaidoo in at 38:42.

The final scores saw Newtown over Joel Barlow 27-33, Newtown over Stratford 20-43, and Joel Barlow over Stratford 18-45.

Up next for Stratford, at Brookfield High School on Tuesday October 3rd at 4;30pm. against the Brookfield Bobcats, the Immaculate Mustangs, and the New Milford Green wave.