CIAC girls cross country: Somers, Glastonbury capture state titles

Oct. 30—MANCHESTER — Dara Salka knew she'd be playing a supporting role for the Somers High girls cross country team at the Class S state championship meet Saturday as the spotlight was on teammate Stephanie Burzynski.

And while Burzynski's second-place finish may have been the top performance for the Spartans on Wickham Park's 3.1-mile course, it was Salka's that was perhaps the gutsiest.

The junior went from the non-scoring sixth-runner role she had most of the season to scoring 15 critical points to help lead the Spartans to their second straight Class S title.

"It feels amazing," Salka said. "We have most of our returning runners from last year. We only lost one girl. She was really special to the team, but to have basically the same team with a couple of new additions, it's just awesome to be doing this together."

Somers, which won its first-ever state title last year, finished with 45 points Saturday. Lyme-Old Lyme was second with 75.

Salka placed 18th overall for the Spartans — 15th in team scoring — with a time of 21:55. She was thrust into the team's fifth-runner position after teammate Gracie Flynn suffered a mid-race injury.

"You kind of just go with the flow," Salka said of making the adjustment. "Every race is different, so you kind of have to expect that there's going to be changes. I just thought about what could I do for my team. Like it's my time to step up. I know they're all working their hardest, so I'm just going to try to help them out as best I can."

That determination and commitment personified the entire season to Somers coach Michael Szafir.

"That's the difference," he said. "That's what helps us to be at the level that we're at. The other girls can step up when they need to."

While Salka rounded-out the top 5 for Somers, Burzynski led the way.

The sophomore finished second overall with a time of 19:49, 37 seconds behind Lyme-Old Lyme freshman Chase Gilbert.

"Just to race hard, try my best," Burzynski said about her approach to Saturday's race. "Run for the team so that we could do well."

Burzynski said that while she did feel the pressure of being Somers' top runner leading up to the race — the top Spartan had won the individual state crown each season since 2017 entering Saturday — she also knew that she needed to focus on being herself.

"At the end of the day, I just want to go out there and run my best," she said. "Run as fast as I can and just have fun."

Somers was seven points behind Lyme-Old Lyme at the split before rallying.

"We like hills," Szafir said. "So, our goal was to stay competitive until the hills, then we'd make the race our own."

Senior Ella Campion finished eighth overall — seventh in team scoring — in 21:12.

"I went out slower (than normal) and just raced for the team," Campion said. "Every place counts."

Julia Settevendemie, a freshman, was 10th overall (21:18) — eighth in team scoring — while Sara St. Germain was 16th overall (21:46) — 13th in team scoring — to complete Somers' top 5.

"They stepped up," Szafir said. "We are a small team, so each person has to rise when challenges come."

Running as an individual, Coventry's Lexi Magrey finished fourth with a time of 20:40 to advance to Friday's State Open here.

"It's pretty exciting," said Magrey, who was battling a migraine during the race. "I made it last year too and it was a great experience. So, I'm excited to finish my season strong. I really love cross country, so I think it's a great way to end my career as a high school athlete."

Bolton finished fifth in the team standings with 155 points. East Catholic (183) was seventh.

With the State Open fast approaching, Szafir hopes the Spartans can make noise at the event again this year — Somers finished 10th out of 20 teams at the 2021 Open.

"The way that these kids work and the goals that they set for themselves, I think this year we're going to be pretty impressive when we make it to Opens," he said. "We're going to try to push and show some of those large schools that yeah we might be an underdog, but we're going to get in there and we're going to work as hard as we can to show that we deserve to be up there with those guys."

Glastonbury repeats in 'LL'

Thanks to top-7 finishes from Kelley MacElhiney, Lila Garbett and Brooke Strauss, Glastonbury captured its second consecutive Class LL title Saturday and 12th overall.

"It feels amazing," Garbett said. "I think most of us did much better than how we did last meet. I think that was so important for us. I think that was a huge confidence boost heading into the State Opens."

The Guardians finished with a total of 44 points. Ridgefield was second with 82 while Trumbull (141) was third.

"They've dug down deep," coach Brian Collins said. "To do what they did in the Class LL meet against the competition here, there's great competition here. There's a lot of great individual runners, even if the team isn't strong. I'm thrilled to death to get four girls on the all-state team."

The Guardians held a 40-point lead over Ridgefield at the split, with Strauss, Garbett and MacElhiney in second, seventh and ninth respectively.

MacElhiney was able to navigate into fifth with a final time of 19:41.

"Normally when we run, I'm surrounded by a lot of my teammates," the senior said. "So we kind of help push each other. The beginning is honestly the hardest part. So I just had to know that I have to push it up these hills. That will help myself when it gets a little easier. I knew the last little section was coming, and I just had to give it my all. It was really nice because everyone was supportive and I had my teammates around me to help."

Garbett, a sophomore, took sixth in 19:45 while classmate Strauss, who was running in her first race since Sept. 17 after battling an ankle injury, was seventh at 19:50.

"The race didn't quite go the way I had hoped," Strauss said. "But I've been out for a while, I had to change expectations a little bit. But it was good to still place highly for the team and help the team win. It was exciting to see a bunch of my teammates get PRs and run really great today."

Jacqueline Dudus (11th, 20:08) and Ava Gattinella (15th, 20:36) rounded out Glastonbury's top 5.

"It's a great group of kids," Collins said. "They worked hard to get to this point. Seeing what they did, to me, was amazing. ... They ran great."

Manchester finished 14th in the team standings with 326 points.

In the Class MM race, the Windsor duo of Hannah Donzella and Brittani Westberry led the Warriors to a 10th-place finish. Donzella, a sophomore, placed 11th at 21:27 while senior Westberry was four seconds behind in 12th. Windsor finished with 219 points.

Senior Isabel Cintron finished 10th (21:26) in the event for Rockville, which finished 11th with 261 points.

Rachel Bartolucci of RHAM finished ninth (20:57) in the Class M race to lead the Raptors to a fourth-place finish. They had 167 points. Ellington (169) finished fifth while Tolland (179) was sixth and Suffield (285) was 12th.

South Windsor finished seventh in the Class L event with 225 points.

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