Suffield High School Runner Wins CIAC Class SS Cross Country Title

MANCHESTER, CT — The Class SS race at the CIAC boys cross country championships Saturday was a runaway individually for Suffield's Griffin Mandirola, who nearly led his team to its first state title since 2011.

Mandirola, a junior, covered the hilly 3.1 mile course at Wickham Park in 16:01, besting runner-up Ryan Gruczka of Stonington by 40 seconds. Michael Strain of Griswold was a distant third.

Despite Mandirola's large margin of victory, cross country is a team sport, and Griswold placed four other runners in the top 21 to compile 56 points, two better than Suffield.

Keller Tobey (7th), Andrew Organ (11th), Donovan Koukal-Kollie (19th), Reid Sunshine (20th) and Joseph Colangelo (24th) also had top 25 finishes for the Wildcats. They will next compete Friday at the State Open, also at Wickham Park, beginning at 2:45 p.m.

See the complete results of the boys Class SS race here.