Krebs and Englander Run Fastest Times of the Day at Winding Trails.

The most noteworthy aspect of this weekend's Winding Trail Invitation in Farmington was who didn't complete.  Newtown and Pomperaug had their dual meet postponed to Friday and while, the Newtown girls still competed, the other three teams pulled out.  Also, Cheshire, led be Brendan Murray had their varsity team do a workout earlier in the day and allowed their JVs to compete in the varsity race.

But success comes to those who show up and New Canaan boys and Avon girls took home the victories in the large school races.  New Canaan used its 23 second pack to place in third through eight place to earn a 27- 49 point victory over Middletown. 

The surprise of the day had to be the 1-2 finish of Middletown's Ben Carlson Ben and Matt Lecky who ran 16:54 and 16:57 on the fast 5000m course over the groomed trails at the Winding Trails recreation facility.  Middletown is much better known for its track program than cross country, but the two captains organized summer conditioning sessions that have paid off.

Avon was hoping to contend against Pomperaug, but they took advantage of the Panther's absence to take the large school girls race.  Avon was the Class MM runner up last fall and have returned five of their top seven.  They had individual champion Sara Leavens who went to an early lead and ran 19:59 to earn a 13 second victory over Ariana Monarca of Middletown.

The fastest times of the day came from the small school races.  Shepaug's Emma Krebs, who was injured last fall, took her 2:19 800m speed and had a strong summer of training to give her a great chance to win the Berkshire League title and earn All State.  She ran 19:24 to defeat Kathyrn Shea of Northwest Catholic who beat her the week before at Stratton Brook by 41 seconds. 

Nonnewaug defended their small school title with an 83- 99 win over Ellington.  The Chiefs'  Helene Berger was their only finisher in the top 10, but they had all their scorers in the top 30 to use their depth to take the win. 

Kyle Englander of Suffield used the down hills to pull away to a five second over Sam Schiffer of Northwestern.  The junior trained over the summer with Suffield alum Patrick Begley, who is currently running for UConn.  His increased mileage and tempo runs have helped him improve 33 seconds over his time on the same course last year. 

Northwestern Regional took the win the small school race behind the 2nd and 4th place finish of seniors Sam Schiffer and Spencer Connor.  They won by getting all five scorers in the top 23 and won by a 58-96 over Lyman Memorial.