By Ken Morse, Citizen’s News
MANCHESTER — Naugatuck cross country coach Kevin Schumann took his team to Wickham Park days before the Class L championships to give the Greyhounds a little heads up, since his mostly young team hadn’t seen the intimidating course before.
On race day Nov. 1, Naugy finished 17th in the girls race and 19th in the boys race.
“Yeah, we didn’t compete for a team championship, but that was not the goal entirely,” Schumann said. “The goal was as it has been all season: to make progress. Every single one of our kids improved on their time since the first time we went to Wickham.”
Sophomore Zach McCasland finished 83rd in 19 minutes, 34 seconds to the lead the boys. He was followed by Brendan Lyles (86th, 19:48), Matt Nofri (87th, 19:49), Leoangel Lopez (125th, 20:53), Jack Healy (132nd, 21:21), Joe Cervone (135th, 21:25) and Cameron Jacobs (138th, 21:34).
“To finish as the NVL runner-up and a 10-2 record, I think things are looking up for the boys team,” Schumann said.
Junior Jayda Costa paced the girls and finished 72nd in 24:08. Lily Dalton placed (85th, 25:07), Alyssa Jones (103rd, 26:27), Jodie Saint Paul (107th, 27:05) and Maya Teater (114th, 31:34) ran for the Greyhounds.
“The girls were just as successful finishing fourth in the NVL with an 8-4 record,” Schumann said. “A lot to look forward to. We have some young runners and with some work over the summer, I think both the girls and boys team will be prepared to do well.”
