Naugy’s Nick Moriello earned all-state honors at the Class L meet last Saturday at Wickham Park in Manchester. RA ARCHIVE

NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck boys cross country team has advanced to the state open as a team for the first time since 1984.

The Greyhounds finished second overall at the Class L meet, while Naugy’s Maud Hrezi and Nick Moriello earned all-state honors on Saturday at Wickham Park in Manchester.  Hrezi finished second overall, while Moriello placed third.

Naugy will now compete on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Hammonasset State Park in Madison in the boys state open race.

As a team, the Greyhounds combined for 86 points, the second-best total behind Darien which scored 46.  Twenty-six schools and 179 runners participated in the event.

“It’s so hard for five guys to run very well on the same day,” Naugy head coach Bill Hanley said. “That’s essentially what we had.”

Hrezi finished three seconds behind Harry Warnick of Fairfield Warde. Warnick won the meet with a time of 16:05.

Warnick and Hrezi were close until the end of the course. Warnick separated himself at the end.

“He just took off,” Hanley said of Warnick.

Moriello finished in a time of 16:36.
Dan Schmacher, Naugy’s third-best finish at 21st, completed the track in a time of 17:27.  Teammate Jacob Simons had a time of 17:31 and placed 24th overall.

Michael Uva came in 36th overall for Naugy’s fifth scoring runner with a time of 17:47.   John Caruso also ran for Naugy and took 80th with a time of 18:48.

Only one other team had its top-five runners finish in the top 40 overall—Darien, the race winner. Darien’s best five finishers were all in the top 15.

Hanley said Naugy’s results underscore the hard work of the team.

Naugy’s Maud Hrezi earned all-state honors at the Class L meet last Saturday at Wickham Park in Manchester. RA ARCHIVE

“It’s an indication of the type of kids they are with the success they have had,” Hanley said.

Woodland took 18th overall out of 22 competing schools in the Class M meet held last Saturday.

Suffield’s Daniel Moroney won the event in a time of 16:21 and led the team to an overall victory as well.

Joe Reynolds was the top runner for the Hawks and took 88th overall in a time of 19:32.  There were 146 runners in the event.

Ian Chamenko posted a time of 20:04 and took 100th overall. Dean Conway (20:13, 104), Kyle Beynor (20:23, 109), Dave Terni (20:30, 112), Kirk Chamenko (21:39, 125) and Mike Lang (23:33, 142) also ran for the Hawks.

On the girls side, Mary Sardinskas had the highest finish for Woodland at the Class M meet last Saturday. The Hawks took 13 overall out of 21 teams.

Sardinskas placed 33rd in a time of 21:45. Annmarie Tuxbury of Northwestern won the race in 19:04.

Stephanie Kiley (22:39, 56), Miranda Moffat (22:42, 58), Melissa Kiley (25:20, 100) and Bailee Graveline (28:19, 130) also competed for the Hawks.

Samantha Hilse was the top runner for Naugy at the Class L girls race. Hilse finished 77th in a time of 23:01. Melissa Sherwood took 88th in  23:21.

Madison Beasley (23:52, 101), Shannon Hale (24:20, 107), Christiana Farmassoni (26:17, 125) and Caitlyn Colella (26:22, 126) also participated in the race for the Greyhounds.

Swimming and Diving
The NVL diving finals, originally set for Thursday, have been moved to Saturday at 10 a.m. at Kennedy High. The NVL swimming time trials have been cancelled once and for all, so the NVL swimming finals will be timed finals on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Kennedy.

NVL Diving Finals: Saturday, Nov. 5, 10 a.m., Kennedy High
NVL Swimming Finals (Timed): Saturday, Nov. 5, 4 p.m., Kennedy High

The state meets are still on as scheduled, with Woodland competing in Class S and Naugatuck in Class L. The Class S diving finals will be Nov. 10 at Plainville High while the Class L diving finals are currently TBA. The State Open for diving will be Nov. 18 at Hamden High. The Class S swimming trials will be Nov. 12 at Plainville High while the Class L swimming trials will be Nov. 12 at Masuk High. The Class S swimming finals will be Nov. 15 while the Class L swimming finals will be Nov. 16, both at Wesleyan University.

Volleyball
The NVL volleyball quarterfinals are now on Friday while the semifinals and final will both be on Saturday. On Friday, No. 1 Woodland faces No. 8 Torrington at 6 p.m. at Kennedy while No. 7 Naugatuck meets No. 2 Seymour at 6 p.m. at Seymour. The semifinals will be Saturday at Wilby High. The winner of the Woodland-Torrington match will face either Kennedy or Wolcott at noon, while the winner of the Naugatuck-Seymour match will take on either Holy Cross or Ansonia at 10 a.m. The final is now rescheduled for Monday at Wilby at 6 p.m.

Quarterfinal 1: No. 4 Kennedy vs. No. 5 Wolcott: Friday, Nov. 4, 4 p.m., Kennedy High
Quarterfinal 2: No. 1 Woodland vs. No. 8 Torrington: Friday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m., Kennedy High
Quarterfinal 3: No. 3 Holy Cross vs. No. 6 Ansonia: Friday, Nov. 4, 4 p.m., Seymour High
Quarterfinal 4: No. 2 Seymour vs. No. 7 Naugatuck: Friday, Nov. 4,  6 p.m., Seymour High
Semifinal 1: Seymour/Naugatuck vs. Holy Cross/Ansonia: Saturday, Nov. 5, 1 p.m., Wilby High
Semifinal 2: Woodland/Torrington vs. Kennedy/Wolcott: Saturday, Nov. 5, 3 p.m., Wilby High
Consolation: Loser Semifinal 1 vs. Loser Semifinal 2: Monday, Nov. 7, 4 p.m., Wilby High
Final: Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2: Monday, Nov. 7, 6 p.m., Wilby High

The state tournaments have been delayed until next Thursday. Naugatuck will be approximately the No. 19 seed in Class L and will be on the road for its first-round game on Nov. 10 while Woodland will be the No. 1 seed in Class M and will likely earn a first-round bye, with its first match coming at home in the second round on Nov. 12.

Boys Soccer
The NVL boys soccer quarterfinals will now be on Friday with games at Municipal Stadium and Watertown High. No. 1 Woodland will face No. 8 St. Paul at 7 p.m. at Watertown while No. 4 Naugatuck will take on No. 5 Ansonia at 3 p.m. at Municipal Stadium. The semifinals will be played Saturday at Municipal Stadium. The winner of the Woodland-St. Paul game will take on the winner of the Naugatuck-Ansonia game at noon, which follows the earlier semifinal to be played at 10 a.m. The final has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Municipal Stadium.

Quarterfinal 1: No. 3 Watertown vs. No. 6 Wilby: Friday, Nov. 4, 1 p.m., Watertown High
Quarterfinal 2: No. 4 Naugatuck vs. No. 5 Ansonia: Friday, Nov. 4, 3 p.m., Municipal Stadium
Quarterfinal 3: No. 2 Holy Cross vs. No. 7 Crosby: Friday, Nov. 4, 5 p.m., Municipal Stadium
Quarterfinal 4: No. 1 Woodland vs. No. 8 St. Paul: Friday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m., Watertown High
Semifinal 1: Holy Cross/Crosby vs. Watertown/Wilby: Saturday, Nov. 5, 10 a.m., Municipal Stadium
Semifinal 2: Woodland/St. Paul vs. Naugatuck/Ansonia: Saturday, Nov. 5, 12 p.m., Municipal Stadium
Final: Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2: Tuesday, Nov. 8, 5 p.m., Municipal Stadium

The state tournaments have been rescheduled to start Nov. 11. Naugatuck will be approximately the No. 13 seed in Class L and should host a first-round game on Nov. 11. Woodland will be the No. 1 seed in Class M and will likely earn a first-round bye, with its first game coming at home in the second round on Nov. 14.

Girls Soccer
The NVL girls soccer quarterfinals will also be on Friday with games at Municipal Stadium and Watertown High. No. 2 Naugatuck will face No. 7 Ansonia at 1 p.m. at Municipal Stadium while No. 3 Woodland will take on No. 6 Wolcott at 3 p.m. at Watertown. The semifinals will be played Saturday at Watertown. The winner of the Naugatuck-Ansonia game will face the winner of the Woodland-Wolcott game at 2 p.m. before the other semifinal at 4 p.m. The final has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Municipal Stadium.

Quarterfinal 1: No. 2 Naugatuck vs. No. 7 Ansonia: Friday, Nov. 4, 1 p.m., Municipal Stadium
Quarterfinal 2: No. 3 Woodland vs. No. 6 Wolcott: Friday, Nov. 4, 3 p.m., Watertown High
Quarterfinal 3: No. 1 Watertown vs. No. 8 Seymour: Friday, Nov. 4, 5 p.m., Watertown High
Quarterfinal 4: No. 4 Torrington vs. No. 5 Holy Cross: Friday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m., Municipal Stadium
Semifinal 1: Naugatuck/Ansonia vs. Woodland/Wolcott: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2 p.m., Watertown High
Semifinal 2: Watertown/Seymour vs. Torrington/Holy Cross: Saturday, Nov. 5, 4 p.m., Watertown High
Final: Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2: Tuesday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m., Municipal Stadium

The state tournaments have been delayed until Nov. 10. Naugatuck will be approximately the No. 10 seed in Class LL and will host a first-round game on Nov. 10. Woodland will be approximately the No. 10 seed in Class M and will also host a first-round game on Nov. 10.

Cross Country
The State Open is still scheduled for Nov. 8 at Hammonasset State Park in Madison. The Naugatuck boys qualified for this event as a team and will compete after the three remaining class races have finished. Those times will be compared to the State Open race times to determine the State Open results. The New England championships will be on Nov. 12 in Rhode Island.

Football
Due to both the power outages and to accommodate the NVL soccer tournaments, both the Woodland-Holy Cross and Naugatuck-Watertown football games have been rescheduled. Woodland will now meet Holy Cross on Monday at 7 p.m. at Municipal Stadium while Naugatuck will travel to Watertown on Monday at 6 p.m.

Citizen’s News will post more updates to these schedules as they are made. State tournament pairings will be released Wednesday, Nov. 9, and will be posted here immediately following their release.

Naugatuck’s Muad Hrezi, right, gets off to an early lead at the NVL cross country championships Oct. 20 at Veterans Park in Watertown. RA ARCHIVE

The Greyhounds’ boys team finished second overall behind Watertown, while the girls team took fourth. Woodland’s girls were fifth, while the boys placed seventh. The championships were held Oct. 20 at Veterans Park in Watertown.

Hrezi won the race in 15:50, 20 seconds ahead of teammate and second-place finisher Nick Moriello.

“I felt good,” Hrezi told the Republican-American. “I wanted to take my race out fast and work it. I’m not one of those frontrunners. I kind of like to sit and relax. I would have liked to run faster, but as long as I got the win, I am happy.”

For Naugy head coach Bill Hanley, the performances of Hrezi and Moriello were nothing short of amazing.

“If you told me at the start of the season that we would have the top two finishers in the NVL, I would have been amazed,” Hanley said.

Hanley described Hrezi as an all-around runner.

“He’s got the total package,” Hanley said. “He’s got the talent, the desire and he’s coachable. He tells me each meet is like Christmas morning to him. He knows he’s going to get something good, but he doesn’t know what it is until he gets there.”

Moriello impressed as well. Hrezi and Moriello earned all-NVL status.

“At the beginning, everyone went out fast and I decided to tuck in behind,” Moriello told the Rep-Am. “I just kept pushing it, mile after mile.”

“Nick showed mental toughness,” Hanley said. “He did what he needed to do to be successful.”

Naugatuck’s Nick Moriello finished second at the NVL championships with a time of 16:10. RA ARCHIVE

Naugatuck’s Dan Schumacher finished 10th in the meet while Jacob Simons was 14th and Michael Uva was 16th.
The Greyhounds will move on to the Class L meet on Saturday. They hope to advance as a team to the state open for the first time since 1984.

Woodland’s top finisher was Joe Reynolds, who placed 25th overall. Ian Chamenko was 30th and Kyle Beynor was 44th for the Hawks.

On the girls side, Mary Sardinskas took fifth in 20:22 and Stephanie Kiley placed seventh in 20:42 as both earned all-NVL status for Woodland. Miranda Moffat (16th), Melissa Kiley (21st) and Bailee Graveline (50th) rounded out the Hawks’ scoring.

“I’m proud of that result considering we only had five girls in the program for most of the year,” Woodland head coach Jeff Lownds said. “The NVLs were by far our best day for both the boys and girls.”

Jordyn Allen overcame a calf injury to place sixth overall for Naugy.

“For the first two miles, Jordyn was right there with the leaders,” Hanley said. “For her to be all-NVL is a nice feather in her cap.”

Megan Bobinski of Holy Cross won the meet in 19:55, while Allen finished in 20:27. Samantha Hilse was 19th, Melissa Sherwood was 25th, Lindsey Thoren took 28th and Shannon Hale finished 30th to complete the Greyhounds’ scoring.

Lownds was happy with Woodland’s results considering the competitiveness of the NVL.

“The league was very strong this year,” Lownds said.

Woodland will also compete at state meets on Saturday.

Naugatuck senior Muad Hrezi won his second straight NVL cross country championship on Thursday at Veterans Park in Watertown. Hrezi won the race in 15:50, 20 seconds faster than teammate Nick Moriello, who finished second. SPECIAL TO CITIZEN'S NEWS

WATERTOWN — For the second consecutive year, Naugatuck’s Muad Hrezi is the best cross country runner in the Naugatuck Valley League.

Hrezi won the league championship meet on Thursday at Watertown’s Veterans Park in 15:50. Teammate Nick Moriello finished second in 16:10, giving the Greyhounds a 1-2 finish in the meet.

“I felt good,” Hrezi told the Republican-American. “I wanted to take my race out fast and work it. I kind of like to sit and relax. I would have liked to run faster, but as long as I got the win, I am happy.”

“At the beginning, everyone went out fast, and I decided to tuck in behind,” Moriello told the Rep-Am. “I just kept pushing it, mile after mile.”

That finish wasn’t enough for Naugy to top Watertown for the league title, though. The Indians edged the ‘Hounds, 41-43, to capture the first league championship of the 2011 season. Naugatuck finished second.

Naugatuck’s Dan Schumacher finished 10^th in the meet while Jacob Simons was 14^th and Michael Uva was 16^th. Woodland’s Joe Reynolds was the Hawks’ best finisher, placing 25^th. The Hawks were seventh overall.

For the girls, Woodland’s Mary Sardinskas was the best local finisher, placing fifth in 20:22. Everyone trailed Holy Cross’ Megan Bobinski, who won the race in 19:55. The Hawks earned a fifth-place finish thanks to top-25 performances by Steph Kiley (seventh), Miranda Moffat (18^th), and Melissa Kiley (24^th).

Naugatuck’s Jordyn Allen was the top runner for the ‘Hounds, who finished fourth. Samantha Hilse (19^th) and Melissa Sherwood (25^th) also placed in the top 25.

Naugatuck’s Jordyn Allen finished first for the girls with a time of 22:21 against Woodland and Kennedy Tuesday afternoon at Naugatuck High. LARAINE WESCHLER

The boys and girls teams defeated Woodland and Kennedy. Both of the Greyhounds’ squads are 4-0 on the season.
The Hawks salvaged victories against the Eagles. On the girls side, Woodland defeated Kennedy, 29-30. In boys action, Woodland topped Kennedy, 26-31.

The ‘Hounds took the top five spots overall on the boys side, while they grabbed five of the top eight overall places in the girls competition. Naugy swept the top spots.

On a hot, humid day on a course with several hills, the Greyhounds controlled the results.

“There wasn’t a runner on the course that didn’t suffer today,” Naugatuck head coach Bill Hanley said. “But everyone got a good workout that will help prepare them for later in the season.”

Jordyn Allen won the girls race for Naugy in a time of 22:21, while Muad Hrezi placed first among the boys in 18:07.

Hrezi won the championship race at the Ocean State Invitational in Rhode Island last weekend, as well. The event featured teams from all over the Northeast.

“Muad did a nice job of taking care of business and helping teammates along today after last weekend,” Hanley said.

Dan Schumacher (18:29) and Nick Moriello (18:32) took second and third respectively, while Jacob Simons (18:34) and Mike Uva (18:34) tied for fifth.

“When you can have your top five runners finish within about 20 seconds of each other, that’s a great performance,” Hanley said.

In addition, Naugy had several other prominent runners: John Caruso finished seventh in 19:41, Paul Widden (20:44) was 10th and Colin Reilly (20:45) was 11th overall.

Naugatuck’s Muad Hrezi was the fastest among the boys with a time of 18:07 against Woodland and Kennedy Tuesday afternoon at Naugatuck High. LARAINE WESCHLER

“I’m very pleased with the way the boys ran today,” Woodland head coach Jeff Lownds said. “They left it all out there.”

On the girls side, Hanley said Allen had a difficult time on a level course over the weekend at the Rhode Island event. Hanley was impressed with her bounce-back effort on Tuesday afternoon.

“For her to run a faster time with the hills and the heat was very impressive,” Hanley said of Allen.

Samantha Hilse (24:32, fourth), Madison Beasley (25:41, sixth), Shannon Hale (25:42, seventh) and Lindsey Thoren (26:41, eighth) rounded up out the five best times for the Greyhounds. Hale, the senior captain, and her time helped lead Naugy to victory.

“You’re only as a good as you’re fourth and fifth runners,” Hanley said. “Shannon did a nice job of sealing the deal for the ladies today.”

The Hawks had three of the top five female runners. Woodland does not have a large roster but they make their runs count.

Mary Sardinskas of Woodland took second overall in 23:14, while teammate Stephanie Kiley placed third in 23:42. The Hawks’ Miranda Moffet was fifth in 25:07.

“We have a small team, but there’s some real talent there,” Lownds said.

Naugatuck junior Jake Lisakolski, front, stretches along with his teammates before practice last week. LARAINE WESCHLER

NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck boys and girls cross country teams are looking to present a challenge to the rest of the Naugatuck Valley League as the season draws near.

Last season the boys compiled a 10-1 mark, winning the Copper Division, finishing as runner-up in the NVL to Watertown, and placing ninth at the Class L state meet. The girls went 7-4, finishing fifth in the NVL, and placing 17th at the Class L state meet.

This season, boys head coach Bill Hanley, entering his 8th season with a 70-3 career ledger, will take over the girls squad as coach Keith Raczkowski stepped down after 26 years at the helm.

Assistant coaches Matt Basile and Steve Frank have been hard at work, putting the teams through their paces as the Greyhounds are intent on catching Watertown at the finish line.

From left, Naugatuck senior cross country captains Jake Simons, Shannon Hale, Nick Morriello, and Muad Hrezi. LARAINE WESCHLER

That hunger to achieve success was evident as one by one runners came up to the coach asking to do even more work during a recent practice as temperatures bordered the 80-degree mark.

“One of the toughest jobs I have as a coach is to try and hold them back to prevent injuries,” Hanley said. “They are all so eager to put in the hard work to succeed. They certainly have a great work ethic and a passion to improve. We have quite a bit coming back especially on the boys side.”

Leading the way for the boys will be senior Muad Hrezi, last season’s Class L state champion. He also finished sixth at the State Open and 14th at the New England championship.

Seniors Nick Moriello and Jacob Simons add to the strong group of returning runners along with juniors Mike Uva, Jake Lisakolski and Colin Reilly.

Sophomores James Dorosh, Skylar Kuroski and John Caruso along with freshman Dan Schumacher add to the Greyhounds’ depth.

“This year’s team possesses talent, mental toughness and preparation,” Hanley said. “In my time as coach no team has ever run the summer miles that these guys have. If we can find a solid fourth and fifth runner we will be able to compete with the league favorites, Watertown and Wolcott.”

Senior Shannon Hale will lead the girls while juniors Julia Hayward and Samantha Hilse represent the experience coming back for the Greyhounds.

Sophomores Caitlyn Colella, Madison Beasley and Aaseesdeep Kaur along with Jordyn Allen give Naugatuck some talented options to go the extra mile in this year’s NVL race.

“This is a very talented group,” Hanley said. “We are a little young but they are very coachable. Their summer miles have put them in a position to improve on last year’s performance. Jordyn achieved a lot of success for the track team and she will be a valuable asset to the cross country team this year.

“We have six girls who are all within 30 seconds of each other,” Hanley continued. “We have a big meet this weekend at the Windham Invitational and that will tell us a lot about the team and where we need to improve. One of our goals this year is to place a team in the state open. The last time that happened was in 1983.”

The first NVL meet for the Greyhounds will be Sept. 20 when they take on Seymour and St. Paul in Bristol.

Head coach Jeff Lownds, entering his 11th year of leading the programs, realizes this season could be a bit deviant from the success his teams have had, especially recently.

“I don’t want to say we’re in a rebuilding mode, but there are some younger, inexperienced runners who will have to step up,” Lownds said. “It’s going to take hard work, which all of the runners are putting in.”

The boys squad graduated several key runners, including Ryan Mariotti, Kyle Cranney, and Jon Fitzpatrick, who helped the Hawks to a 9-4 overall record and a fifth-place showing at the NVL meet.

This season, the team will be led by a pair of junior captains, Joe Reynolds and Ian Chamenko. They will help groom a group with two other juniors—Kyle Beynor and Dave Terni—and a host of underclassmen, including sophomore Mike Lang and freshmen Drew Chura, Dean Conway, Zack Noreika, Patrick Conway, Mike Lonchar, and Aidan Music.

“We have a young group that has a lot of potential,” Lownds said. “We lost three very important runners and some of the new guys will have to step up to fill in those holes.”

The girls also lost a key component of the team for the last four years in all-state runner Crystal Steinfeld. The team returns senior all-league runner Melissa Kiley, who will be the team’s captain, as well as seniors Tina Diurno, Jamie Norton, and Kelly Diurno.

Junior Miranda Moffat, sophomore Mary Sardinskas, and freshman Stephanie Kiley will fill out the team, which continues the recent trend of small squads at Woodland.

“It’s an advantage because you can give a little more individual attention to the runners,” Lownds said of the team’s size. “The disadvantage of course is that you can score seven places and you don’t want to have somebody get hurt in a big meet. If it’s somebody in your top five, it’s a big disadvantage.”

Lownds recalled, though, that when the team won its last NVL title, the team had a similar makeup.

“When we won the league, we only had about eight girls on the team,” Lownds said. “We’ve been there before and it’s OK.”

For both teams, the losses of key runners and greenness of many on the team now doesn’t mean the expectations will be lowered.

“I don’t believe that you ever overachieve,” Lownds said. “You can only achieve as high as you set your goals, so the expectations will still be high. Both the boys and girls teams are dedicated and hard-working so hopefully we will continue to improve and challenge for some top spots in our league.”

The Hawks will participate in Saturday’s Wilton Invitational before their first NVL meet of the season in which they will head to Veterans Park in Watertown to face the Indians along with Wilby, Torrington, and Crosby.

The Woodland girls split their decision, losing to Wolcott, 36-21, but beating Seymour, 36-21. The Woodland boys dropped both of their decisions, falling to Wolcott, 32-23, and to Seymour, 29-27.

The results leave the girls with a 10-3 record (10-4 on the boys’ side).

Coach Jeff Lownds expressed his satisfaction about the overall records but said the Hawks can strive to do better, and will look to do so come the postseason.

“As far as our program goes, 10-3 and 10-4, for us, is considered an average year,” Lownds said. “We want to do better than that.”

The Woodland runners feature one of the smallest teams in the Naugatuck Valley League, with only ten runners on each the girls’ and boys’ squads. The Hawks do not let their limited size hold them back from achieving success.

“Overall, our season has been very good for such a small team,” Lownds said. “Other teams have more JV runners then I have on my whole team. Ten runners on each team gets difficult sometimes, but we have been strong.”

The winner of the girls’ race was Wolcott’s Kate Forte, who posted a time of 20 minutes, 17 seconds. The first Woodland runner across the line was Crystal Steinfeld, who came in second with a time of 21:32. Coming in right behind Steinfeld, in third place, was Woodland’s Julia Bickford at 21:46.

Other Woodland girls that finished near the top of the pack were seventh-place finisher Melissa Kiley at 22:52; eighth-place finisher Tina DiUrno at 23:01; and fourteenth-place finisher Miranda Moffat at 24:33.

Steinfeld, the Hawks’ senior captain, is a third-year runner searching to regain spots on the NVL and all-state team, which she claimed last season.

The winner of the boys’ race was Seymour’s Kevin Walkey with a time of 17:10. The first boys’ runner across the line for the Hawks was Kyle Cranney, who came in fifth with a time of 18:08. Behind him, in sixth, was Ryan Mariotti at 18:19.

Other Woodland boys that placed well were Joe Reynolds in tenth with a time of 19:09; Ian Chemenko in thirteenth with a time of 19:36; and John Fitzpatrick at 20:08 in sixteenth place.

Cranney finished tenth in the state Class M last year and was an All-NVL selection. He and his teammates hope to place high in the NVL Championships at Naugatuck next week and the CIAC Class-M and Open Championships later this month.

Lownds reflected on the season, attributing the hard work of his runners to the successes of the program.

“I’m very proud of the efforts my team makes,” Lownds said. “We come and we work hard every day in practice and we come and give it everything we have in the meets. The boys and girls that I have that run for me put their whole heart and soul into this.”

That was the basis of the thoughts running through Naugatuck runner Muad Hrezi’s mind as he tirelessly climbed hill after hill Tuesday.

Muad Hrezi finished first in 17:33 at the challenging NHS cross country course.

Hrezi finished first overall in the boy’s cross country meet Tuesday at NHS with a blazing time of 17:33, just three seconds off the course record.
Battling the heat, and one of the toughest courses in the state, Hrezi envisioned himself running down hill, because, even though it felt like miles away, he knew all the running up meant he would come down soon.

“I was hurting going up the hills,” Hrezi said. “They were really killing me; I was starting to get pains in my stomach. I was just telling myself to think once I get up this hill, its going to be so much easier to come back down. That’s all I had going through my mind, coming down from the hill.”

Naugatuck boy’s finished first in the tri-meet beating Wolcott 25-30 and Kennedy 18-43. The Greyhound girls’ split their race beating Kennedy 25-33 but falling to Wolcott 21-34.

The course at NHS starts and ends with a lap around the track, but for the majority of the race runners are behind the school running up and down hills in the woods. The wooded area of the course is grueling and harsh on runner’s legs and stamina. It is also the main reason the appearances of runners upon entering the woods compared to their reemergence from the clearing are extremely divergent.

“This is as hard as any course in the state. It’s hard but it’s what prepares us so well for the state meets,” Hrezi said.
Coaches echoed the player’s sentiments.

“This is by far the most difficult course in the league,” said girls’ Cross Country Head Coach Keith Raczkowski. “It may be the most difficult in the state. It is mirrored off the times you see at the state competitions.”

Hrezi was followed by fellow Greyhound runner Nick Moriello, who finished second overall with a time of 18:12.

Naugatuck placed many runners in the top 25 including Simmons, 19:07, Uva 19:41, Morrill, 20:05, Lisakolsky 20:57, Alves, 21:25, Mahony 21:31, Wagner, 22:42, Williams 23:12 and Dorosh, 23:20.

Naugatuck Becky Renzoni finished second overall in the girls’ race and was the first Greyhound runner to cross the finish line.  Renzoni sported a time of 21:09, just over two minutes behind the leader, Wolcott’s Cate Forte.

The next Naugatuck runner to cross the line was Samantha Hilse coming in eight with a time of 25:23. Other teammates to finish in the top 25 were Colella 28:21, Neumann, 29:27, Pezutti, 29:43, Beasley 30:44, Kaur 34:18 and Mahoney 34:43.

It looks to be a strong season for both the boys’ and the girls’ squad this season and their coaches are hoping their strong starts propel them to continued success.

“We’re improving everyday and moving in a very good direction,” said Boys’ Cross Country Head Coach Bill Hanley. “I was happy with or success against a strong Wolcott team today. We still have work to do, but we’ve gotten off to a pretty awesome start.”

Raczkowski echoed Hanley’s hopes.

“We want to be competitive in all the races,” Raczkowski said. “I was pleased will all of there times today, we all finished and we ran hard, it was a good early season result.”

They’re a meet day mainstay, though the faded, burgundy leather boat shoes befit a man who owns a closet full of Bermuda—rather than running—shorts. But to Naugatuck High cross country and track coach Bill Hanley, nautical footwear is as essential as a pair of Nikes.

“What I’ll do is when I go to meets, I’ll wear Sperry Topsiders because they don’t have a lot of support,” he explains. “So on Saturdays, as I’m running around the course … I’m strengthening my lower legs.”

And all this time I thought it was a fashion statement. I should have known better. See, Hanley, a special education science teacher at NHS, is a man of reason, and there’s a very good reason why he rocks those white-soled, bow-tied beauties.

“The latest discussion [in running] is with the shoes, the shoe technology,” he says. “They’re finding that we have more injuries to kids running, now that the shoes are better. And it’s almost like it doesn’t allow the body to strengthen up appropriate to that one runner’s limitations or characteristics. And so the latest craze is running barefoot or running in flats.”

Hanley bases much of his coaching strategy on his scientific knowledge.

Hanley thinks that’s a bit extreme—“When I’m doing my long run, I’m wearing the best shoes I can get my hands on,” he says—but he abandons well-formed arches and gel-cushioned heels whenever possible.

Shoe selection is but one element in Hanley’s periodic table of running. He fuses his two passions in a way that makes the sport equal parts athletic and academic. Just listen to him describe the benefits of a training regimen.

“Training is going to improve someone’s ability to—so many things—to acquire oxygen,” he says. “The alveoli in the lungs and the blood vessels; by exercising, the body is making more capillaries and developing ones you have, so they’re getting that nutrition in and the nutrition out.

“And then on the cellular level, in biology we talk about respiration. We talk about it taking place in the mitochondria. When an athlete trains, the body adapts to the stress and it overcompensates for it. So these runners, their cells are making more mitochondria, they’re making them bigger, and they’re locating them closer to the surface of the cell, so again, the nutrients and the water can get in and get out more efficiently than someone who doesn’t exercise.”

Hope you brought your notebooks to practice, kids.

****

He was already a challenge, this sprinter-slash-soccer-player who was trying to become a cross country runner. Now this: “I can’t eat during daylight hours, Coach.”

It was 2007, and Mohamed Hrezi, then a junior, was explaining to Hanley that throughout the month of Ramadan he would fast from sun-up to sun-down, in keeping with Islamic tradition.

“No water, no gum. Nothing,” Hrezi put it to me later.

That’s not exactly what Hanley means when he talks about runners giving up certain foods. But the coach applied his scientific knowledge to manage Hrezi’s unique circumstances: He pushed Hrezi, who wasn’t a big breakfast guy, to eat sizeable meals before dawn, so he’d “get a long burn.”

“It was hard to wake up, eat, then go back to sleep, and I didn’t always do it,” Hrezi admits now. “But it definitely made sense and helped a lot.”

On hot days, Hanley knew enough to scratch Hrezi from races or to let him work out on a belt in the high school pool.

“One thing we see is on a hot day, Mo, maybe on some days his blood was like sludge because there wasn’t a whole lot of water in it,” Hanley says. “There might have been the hemoglobin, but his heart had to pump faster to pump his thick blood around on those hot days.”

By Hrezi’s senior season, the combination of deft planning and cooperative weather allowed him compete at all seven of Naugatuck’s meets during Ramadan. Even more impressive, he broke the school record on each course.

Hrezi went on to win the 2008 Class L state championship and is now a scholarship runner at Central Connecticut State University. He recently broke the school’s 800-meter record.

Monday afternoon, he was back at Naugy, working out on his home track. He says Hanley’s scientific approach to running was so infectious that he now demands rational explanations from his Blue Devils coach, Eric Blake.

“I’m always like, ‘Why? Why do you want me to do this?’” Hrezi says. “Now, he doesn’t even wait for me to ask. He just says, ‘I want you to do this because.’”

****

Science-running-William Hanley: It seems like the purest bond since hydrogen-hydrogen-oxygen.

“If you had told me, when I was a sophomore student [at NHS] who ran and my favorite subject was biology, that someone would pay me to teach science and coach running, I would have said, ‘You’re kidding. It’s just too good to be true,’” Hanley says.

But if not for a sort of athletic Darwinism, the bond might never have formed.

In the early 1970s, every boy in the borough dreamed of playing football for legendary coach Ray Legenza, and the young Hanley was no exception. He suited up for the freshman squad and when the season concluded, joined the track team only because he’d been ordered to run, if he had aspirations of stepping onto the gridiron the next autumn.

But soon, Hanley was the Greyhounds’ No. 2 distance runner.

“Spring football practice came around, and I’m lining up against two guys about the size of [current NHS defensive coordinator Mark] Swanson,” Hanley recalls. “For the length of spring football, I’m getting knocked into the dirt, going home bloodied and battered. And then all over the summer, I’ve got a choice to make: varsity cross country or blocking dummy for varsity football. And since I didn’t continue to grow, the decision was easy.”

The decision also has lasted a long time—unlike coaches in most other disciplines, Hanley remains active in his sport four decades after he began it.

“When I was training for my marathon a few years ago, my resting heart rate was 28,” he says. “Normal is 70-90. And now, I’m kind of out of shape, so it’s 38. But over the years, the heart is just able to pump and get done in 30 strokes a minute what maybe a non-runner has to do 70 strokes a minute.”

Twenty-eight beats per minute. Hanley calls it in-shape. I call it practically comatose.

Terminology aside, that absurdly efficient heart has logged enough miles to make its owner a veritable running textbook.

“I’ve been running for 40 years,” he says, “and there’s not a mistake out there I haven’t made.”

****

When he’s in a teasing mood, Naugatuck High Principal Fran Serratore, himself a former basketball coach, reaches for an old joke: “The easiest sport to coach is track,” Serratore recites, as Hanley waits for the familiar punchline. “Tell ‘em, ‘Stay to the left, and come back as soon as you can.’”

Both men laugh.

But if you ask Hanley for a serious description of what makes great runners great, the answer is much more complicated.

Hanley (far right), pictured at the 2008 New England cross country championships with, from left, assistant coach Matt Basile, Hrezi, Hrezi’s father, Fuad, and Moriello (seated), calls his top runners “students of the sport.”

“Biomechanics is big—how efficient are you?” he offers. “The energy you put into running, how much of that energy do you get out of running? We spend a lot of time working on technique for that very reason. …

“What else makes a runner a good runner is genetically how proficient are they at obtaining oxygen and processing oxygen and eliminating waste? And that’s a physical characteristic that’s inherent to some. …

“The muscle makeup—fast-twitch fibers in your muscles; you’ve got slow-twitch fibers. Everybody’s got a different combination of either. And generally the sprinters, if you did a biomechanical test of their muscle fibers, they’d have more fast-twitch fibers, and you take some great distance runners, and they’re gonna have more slow-twitch. …

“How much oxygen can you move? And that’s a factor of how much hemoglobin you have in your blood and how viscous your blood is.”

That’s a lot of science behind something as ostensibly simple as running, perhaps the most natural of all sporting pursuits. In an era when elite performances are as frequently engineered in laboratories as they are earned in practices, even high school athletes must pay attention to science. That’s why Hanley and fellow Naugatuck coach Ralph Roper often call their best runners “students of the sport.”

“Rosa [Moriello] is like a sponge—she wants to know everything,” Hanley says. “Mo, to an extent, was like that. Josh Perry: He went to running camp in upstate New York. He was in the company of Olympic athletes and very successful coaches, and he could not get enough out of that experience. Tim Steiskal, who was a cross country runner for us and clearly a successful runner at Southern Connecticut, he was like that too. He couldn’t get enough.”

Still, Hanley asserts, there is a point at which science just isn’t enough, a point at which he might as well tell runners, “Stay to the left, and come back as soon as you can.”

“We can have all the science behind running, but if a kid’s got desire, the kid’s got mental toughness, they’re gonna get a whole lot out,” Hanley says. “And conversely, I think all the science in the world, you get a person who’s unmotivated, it’s not gonna do much good.”