‘Hounds running to state tourney

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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.