Cross country clash

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Naugy boys, Woodland girls finish regular season perfect

DERBY — Entering the final meet of the regular season Oct. 7 at Derby’s Ryan Athletic Complex, both the Naugatuck and Woodland boys cross country teams were undefeated and in a match of two titans, only one could prevail.

In a very close 24-32 match, where the lowest score wins, Naugatuck defeated Woodland to finish the regular season 13-0, and hand Woodland (12-1) its first loss. Both squads ran past Derby.

“Pleased with team effort. Everyone on the roster gave their best effort and ran hard on a challenging course,” said Naugatuck head coach Bill Hanley via email.

Naugatuck had three of the top four runners on the day, which gave the Greyhounds the statistical edge they needed to hold off Woodland.

Naugatuck’s Dan Schumacher won the race in 16:32. Mark Zamani (second, 17:15), Grady Beasley (fourth, 17:41) and Brandon Thomas (seventh, 18:43) finished in the top 10 for the Greyhounds.

“We have a ton of respect for Naugatuck and coach Hanley, so they deserved this win today,” Woodland head coach Jeff Lownds said.

Jeff Guisto led the Hawks finishing third with a time of 17:29. Brian Sardinskas (fifth, 18:10), Paul Jones (eighth, 18:51), Matt Giaquinto (ninth, 19:08) and Zach Noreika (10th, 19:21) made it five Hawks in all in the top 10.

The boys weren’t the only ones putting perfect regular seasons on the line.

The Woodland girls entered the meet unblemished and left with an undefeated regular season record of 13-0.

“Everyone ran really well today. We had a great regular season, but we haven’t won anything yet and I know our teams know that,” Lownds said.

The Woodland girls defeated Derby 27-30, where the team with the lower score wins, and prevailed 16-47 against Naugatuck, who only had one runner finish in the top 10 overall.

The Hawks had five runners place in the top 10 led by Emilie Noreika, who finished second with a time of 21:03 — 45 seconds off the pace of Derby’s Haley Rodriguez.

Clara Drozdowski (fourth, 21:19), Kelsey Mitchell (fifth, 21:19.2), Steph Kiley (seventh, 21:49) and Bianca Poehailos (10th, 23:31) rounded out the top 10 finishers for Woodland.

Naugatuck’s Courtney Morin finished eighth with a time 22:17 for the Greyhounds, who ended the regular season with a 9-4 record.

Next up for the Greyhounds and Hawks will be the Naugatuck Valley League championship meet Oct. 15 at Veterans’ Park in Watertown where the Naugy boys and Woodland girls will look to defend their titles.