Greyhounds chase personal bests at NVL meet   

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Naugatuck’s Ross Via races to the finish line during the Naugatuck Valley League cross country championship meet Oct. 18 at Veterans Park in Watertown. Via finished seventh overall. The Naugatuck boys placed third. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

WATERTOWN — A couple hundred runners from across the Naugatuck Valley League converged on Veterans Park Oct. 18 to chase a cross country title at the NVL championship meet.

With clear skies and temperatures hovering in the low 70s, the Naugatuck boys and girls cross country teams had personal bests on their minds.

“That was really the only thing that we could control,” Naugatuck head coach Bill Hanley said. “Everyone ran personal best times, and as expected Woodland and Kennedy battled it out for the top two spots (in the boys race). I’m pleased at where we ended up as a team for the boys, and we will return a very young team for next season. The girls did just as well putting up personal best times”

The boys took third with 100 points, and the girls team finished eighth with 90 points. Kennedy won the boys title with 80 points.

The girls finished eighth with 190 points. The Derby girls won the championship with 49 points.

Senior Ross Via finished seventh (17:19) and earned All-NVL honors to lead Naugatuck. His twin brother, Elliott Via, finished 13th (17:42) and earned All-Iron honors.

“Last year, I got All-Iron finishing ninth, 3 seconds out of All-NVL,” Ross Via said. “So over the summer I worked hard to improve my time. I found those 3 seconds today.”

“I didn’t know what to expect at the start of the season having such a young team,” he added. “We lost to great teams in Kennedy and Woodland. We are family, and the guys stuck together and really brought it in this race.”

Sophomore Charley Marenghi also earned All-Iron status by finishing 19th (18:08).

Sophomores Brendan Soubannarath (30th, 18:45) and Bryce Cegielski ( 35th, 19:02) and juniors David Garces (47th, 19:26) and Austin Herb (51st, 19:35) landed Naugatuck in third place as a team.

“The coaching is a huge motivator for us,” Herb said. “I knocked a minute off my time coming in here and to take another minute off my time is just an incredible feeling. If you work hard it eventually pays off and that’s what happened today.”

Naugatuck’s Abigail Lombardi runs during the Naugatuck Valley League cross country championship meet Oct. 18 at Veterans Park in Watertown. Lombardi finished tenth overall. The Naugatuck girls placed eighth. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

Sophomore Abigail Lombardi, who finished 10th in 21:33, led the girls team.

“I worked really hard to stay with the top of the pack,” Lombardi said. “I’m proud to have finished in the top ten. As a team I think we did amazing. The improvement we made since the start of the season has been phenomenal. Going to the states, as long as we do our best that’s all we can hope for because that’s what it’s all about.”

Sophomore Lauren Rupsis (32nd, 23:34), senior Brianna Lennon (41st, 24:14) and junior Jade Lima (49th, 24:58) all broke into the top 50.

Freshmen Brittany Soubannarath (58th, 25:33) and Gina Conforti (65th, 26:53) rounded out the runners for the Greyhounds.

Naugatuck will now get ready to compete in the Class L state championship Saturday at Wickham Park in Manchester.