Staples Girls, Boys Headed to New England Championships

Hannah DeBalsi of Staples High School won the State Open in girls cross country Friday. What else is new?

She dusted the field by nearly a full minute over the runnerup. What else is new?

The Wreckers won the boys team championship. That’s fairly new, since it hasn’t been accomplished by a Staples team in a quarter century.

When all was said and done at Wickham Park in Manchester, both the boys and girls teams had qualified for the New England Championships on Nov. 14 at Thetford Academy, just outside of White River Junction, VT.

DeBalsi, a Stanford-bound senior, covered the 3.1 mile course in 18:08, or 53 seconds faster than runnerup Katherine Deloreto of Tolland.

On an unseasonably warm November afternoon, with the mercury around the 70-degree mark, DeBalsi ran the slowest time of her three Open triumphs, yet posted her largest margin of victory.

As a sophomore in 2013, she ran her fastest time of 17:44, winning 27 seconds. Last year, she finished in 17:59 to prevail by 44 seconds.

“It was definitely not as fast as I would have liked; I guess I didn’t push hard enough,” DeBalsi said. “It’s definitely special, though, because this is my last one.”

She will be joined by her teammates in Vermont, as the girls placed fourth with 171 points. Tolland won for the third straight year with 97 points, followed by Glastonbury (131) and Ridgefield (152). The top six teams qualify for the New Englands.

Angelee Parmar placed 20th and Susannah Martin was 24th to help the team effort.

On the boys’ side, the Wreckers placed four runners in the top 35 to secure the school’s fourth State Open team title, and first since 1990

Zakeer Ahmad led the way with a 13th-place finish, followed by Brandon Harrington (26th) and Chase Gornbein (27th).

Staples compiled 102 points to 115 for second-place Danbury. Glastonbury placed third and Amity Regional fourth.

Last week, Amity bested Staples 93-106 at the Class LL championships, also at Wickham Park.

Photo credits: Tim Jensen