BEACON FALLS — The Woodland boys cross country team keeps going and going.
The Hawks remain undefeated after running past Derby (19-42), Holy Cross (16-43) and Sacred Heart (15-45) on Tuesday afternoon. Woodland is now 11-0, while Derby fell to 8-2, Holy Cross went to 4-7 and Sacred Heart is now 1-8.
Senior co-captain Brian Sardinskas won the race for the Hawks in 18:05 on the 3.1-mile course in Waterbury. Sardinskas set the pace, and his teammates followed.
Kyle Crowell, a Woodland freshman, took third in 18:16, while fellow Hawk Matt Giaquinto (18:35) was fourth and teammate Matt Luxeder (18:54) was fifth. Junior Paul Jones was seventh in 19:13, with another freshman, Greg Aldrich taking 13th overall in 19:46.
Crowell and Luxeder have given the Hawks’ lineup a boost and provided added depth that has made a difference.
“They have been putting up top-five finishes all year and have propelled us to where we are,” Woodland head coach Jeff Lownds.
The Hawks have one more NVL meet before the conference championship. Woodland will host Naugy, Kennedy and Seymour on Oct. 13.
Lownds said he like what he’s seeing out the team.
“They’re really buying into our program,” Lownds said. “They come in and work hard. That’s what I want and they give it to us every day.”
On the girls’ side, Woodland defeated Holy Cross (16-42) and Sacred Heart (22-28), and lost to Derby (20-35). The Hawks are now 9-2 overall, with their other loss coming to undefeated Watertown.
“They gave us all we could handle,” Lownds said. “This team always puts in an honest effort.”
Kelsey Mitchell took third and had the top finish for the Hawks in a time of 21:29. Clara Drozdowski placed seventh and Kailyn Accetura was eighth.
Bianca Poehailos (11th) and Meredith Dyckman (14th) rounded out the top five for Woodland.
With two losses, the Hawks will likely have to make some noise at the NVL championships Oct. 21 to win their third straight league title.
“You never know, some crazy things have happened at the NVL meet,” Lownds said.
