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10/18/2014 12:00 AMWhile the Guilford boys’ cross country team entered the SCC year with a newer cast of characters compared to the previous two, it exited conference action with a much more seasoned and confident group.
After winning the Class MM state crown two years ago before missing a repeat by one point last fall, the Indians graduated many key runners from that successful run. Despite housing a much younger group for 2014, Guilford sported a strong dual-meet mark of 6-3 and capped off its growth through the campaign with an eighth-place showing at the SCC Championship on Oct. 17 at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison—highlighted by junior co-captain Ben Siciliano finishing sixth for the five-kilometer run.
“I ran about 4:50 for the first mile, but it was a really fast race and tighter than last year,” said Siciliano, who clocked in at a time of 16:21 and earned First Team All-SCC honors. “Our season was good this year; we had a young team that had some injuries, but I think we did pretty good this year. For starting from basically nothing, we did pretty well.”
Siciliano finished just 25 seconds off the winning pace, which belonged to Amity’s Kyle Beaudette (15:56). The finish for Siciliano only padded his strong season-long resume, as he also won the West Beach Invitational on Sept. 9 before winning two races during the Indians’ dual-meet season. For Head Coach Jon Faitsch, the progress of Ben and the rest of his boys are making him a proud leader by seeing youngsters stepping in to fill veteran shoes.
“I was really happy with how they all performed today,” said Faitsch on the SCC title run. “We lost six of our seven guys from last year, and it’s a lot to be asked of a sophomore to run his first year of varsity with guys like [sophomores] Finn Davidson and Joshua Stern. For many of them, it was their first experience in a championship race, yet they ran well and to the best of their ability.”
Following Siciliano was senior co-captain John Reagle, who traversed the terrain in a time of 17:41 to finish 31
st
. The Indians, who totaled a team tally of 176 points on the day, then boasted another top 40 athlete in Davidson, as he was only six ticks behind Reagle (17:47) to slide into 36
th
place.
The Guilford underclassmen continued to show their presence with junior Lukas O’ Callahan (50
th
; 18:10), Stern (53
rd
; 18:11), plus juniors Adam Germaine (57
th
; 18:22) and Josh Crampton (63
rd
; 18:35).
Even dealing with a competitive SCC field, Guilford finished ahead of its own division’s champion by a wide margin, as Hammonasset Division-winner Foran came in ninth (276 points), which was another sign of how the Indians held their own during a challenging regular-season run.
“It’s not easy in the SCC; it’s almost like baptism by fire,” said Faitsch, whose squad also finished third with a 2-2 mark in the SCC Hammonasset Division. “Yet they have to learn lessons by some point, and they are learning. As a coach, I can’t ask for anything more, because they are trying their best. They really cut down on the number of mistakes they made as the season has gone on.”
Faitsch went on to praise the new-look group for the student-like approach they take towards the sport—demonstrating that they are A+ pupils both on and off the trail.
“They really are all a smart group of kids,” said Faitsch. “They are all highly motivated in school and they translate it here. They see their mistakes and fix them immediately. Once they get it all out of their system by next year, they will be a team to be reckoned with.”
Although before they can look ahead to next fall, the Indians mist now turn their attention to the Class MM State Championship on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Wickham Park in Manchester at 10 a.m. After being a state champion at the event two occasions ago and being a close second last year, Faitsch and Guilford know that there are no clear-cut favorites going in, because it’s about who has the fastest collection of feet on that day.
“Weird things can happen at states, and I think we will do ok,” said Faitsch. “We will try to finish as high as we can and hope to surprise some teams.”
Based on his performance during the Wickham Invite at the same venue where states will be held, Siciliano is pretty positive going into the next postseason push.
“We did well at the Wickham Invite and I broke the 17-minute mark, which was also nice,” said Siciliano. “I’m pretty optimistic about our race at states.”