The North Haven cross country program competed in a tri-meet at the Supply Pond in Branford on Oct. 8 and each squad gained a split by defeating East Haven and losing to a fellow Oronoque opponent in the host Hornets. Both teams finished the regular season with winning records as the boys went 8-2 with the girls going 6-4.

North Haven’s boys beat East Haven 15-50 and were edged by Branford 25-30, led by senior captain Jesse Morrow claiming third place at 17:52 and sophomore Ryan Brennan taking fourth (17:53).

Guided by senior captain Dawn Hubbell’s fourth-place showing and her time of 21:51, the girls defeated East Haven 15-50 and took a 17-43 defeat to Branford.

Along with their triumphant overall records, each team placed second in the Oronoque Division at 3-1.

“Our goal for the boys was to beat Branford and win the division, but overall, we had a very good day and only lost by five points,” Coach Carl Jackson said. “I was also impressed with the way the girls performed not only in this meet, but throughout the entire season.”

After Morrow and Brennan, the boys saw junior Zach Munck finish sixth (18:23), senior captain Nick Crispi take seventh (18:23), senior Andrew Amuro place 15th (20:42), junior Nick Sbabo finish 16th (20:48), and sophomore Michael Rich-Fiondella race to 18th (20:15). Additionally competing were sophomore Ben Papsun (20th, 21:16), senior Shane Brennan (23rd, 21:48), freshman Josh Bryson (24th, 21:51), freshman Jordan Tong (25th, 21:52), senior captain Antonio Delvecchio (25th, 21:54), and freshman Forrest King (27th, 21:56).

Jackson complimented his top four finishers for leading the Indians and credited Ryan Brennan for progressing into the team’s No. 2 runner in what the coach felt was an excellent campaign.

“We graduated our top two runners from last year in Raymond Rich-Fiondella and Chris Delvecchio, but Ryan stepped in and he and Jesse have pushed each other to succeed. Our top four have led the team to success and we’ll keep working on getting our fifth-place finisher to be under a minute away from the fourth runner,” Jackson said. “This was an unbelievable season for the boys. Before it started, I thought we could have a good season, but I didn’t think we’d have this kind of success. Then after our first meet, everything started to fall into place and it kept going throughout the season.”

Jackson went on to praise his senior captain trio of Morrow, Crispi, and Delvecchio for doing “beyond a stellar job with helping the younger runners adjust to competition.”

Just like his coach, Morrow feels satisfied with the way things have unfolded for North Haven.

“We’ve done well overall. We had big shoes to fill after last year, but we really stepped up to the plate in terms of pushing ourselves in practice,” said Morrow, who noted wins against Shelton and Notre Dame-West Haven as season highlights. “Our underclassmen have done a great job by working hard and the team can do well next year if they keep that up.”

Following Hubbell in fourth, the Indians’ girls were bolstered by sophomore Erika Salvo in seventh (23:04), freshman Hillary Hoyt in 14th (24:33), freshman Olivia Hoyt in 15th (24:47), senior captain Elizabeth Stern finishing 16th (24:56), freshman Maily Tran taking 18th (25:14), and sophomore Reagan Bathrick in 19th (25:14). Also taking to the course for the 5K were sophomore Connie Tao (22nd, 26:56), freshman Arianna Delvecchio (23rd, 27:03), senior Sydney Brooks (27th, 28:10), sophomore Stephanie Myers (28th, 28:28), freshman Marian Annunziata (31st, 29:26), senior Tori Adinolfi (32nd, 30:07), junior Jia Cai (35th, 30:50), and senior Lauren Pinto (38th, 34:01).

Jackson was pleased with Hubbell’s performance, saying, “Dawn is, without a doubt, having her best season this year.” The coach also said that Hubbell and Stern have done “an outstanding job” in guiding the young team as captains.

Salvo led the large underclass contingent at this meet and the fact that numerous newcomers made an impact for North Haven this fall has Jackson feeling optimistic about the future.

“Our numbers are up this year and I’m glad to have seen some freshmen have great seasons and show continuous improvement. Even though we’ll lose some seniors, the future is bright for the program,” said Jackson. “The girls had a surprising season. We lost a great runner from last year in Talia Gallagher and I wasn’t sure what the team would look like, but the runners came in prepared after a good summer of practices and met their goals.”

Stern was right at the forefront of the Indians’ offseason effort and had nothing but positive things to say about the state of the team.

“We had a strong season and a winning season with a lot of young people,” she said. “Our freshmen have showed such improvement with their times and, hopefully, the team will get more new freshmen next year. The team definitely has potential.”