One of the brightest spots of the season for the Old Saybrook cross country team this fall was the emergence of standout sophomore Gordon Martino. Through a lot of hard work and dedication, he showed an undeniable ability to out-race many of his conference and state adversaries, while collecting a plethora of accolades along the way.

The Rams sophomore has been running cross country since he was in eighth grade, making the most of his three short years on the trails. Gordon has a close family member to thank for his desire to get out there and make running a serious endeavor.

“My mom pushed me to start running because she was a big runner. I would say that was one of my biggest reasons,” says Gordon. “My friends were also doing it, which made me also want to try something new.”

His passion for running carried over into his high school days, where Gordon used his freshman year to set a basis for growth moving forward. This past season, Gordon was able to cut down his time from his rookie year by two minutes, averaging around the 17.48 mark. At the Shoreline Athletic Conference (SLC) Championship race, Gordon finished 12th overall on the three-mile course. His final time was 16:06.6, a new personal record, which was fast enough to earn him a spot on the All-Conference Second Team along with one of his teammates. This meet, to Gordon, was the most fulfilling one.

“I know a few other runners in the Shoreline that were also very fast, so it was memorable because I was able to keep up with them,” says Gordon. “Being able to compete with them and even beating some of the team made me feel like I had really improved since last season.”

On Oct. 26, Gordon finished 11th overall at the Class S State Championship. He clocked in at 17.43, qualifying him for the State Open meet and landing a spot on the All-State Team.

“My season this year was fantastic for cross country. I made Second Team All-Conference for Shoreline, which I was happy about,” says Gordon. “I was able to get my times down a lot. Making it to the State Opens was my ultimate goal in the beginning of the season, and I was able to accomplish that.”

At that State Open Championship meet, stacked with only the best long-distance running competitors that Connecticut has to offer, Gordon finished 85th out of 190 runners with a final time of 17.24.

“Going into the season, I did not think that I was going to be able to qualify for State Opens,” says Gordon. “As we got closer and closer to Opens, I realized that it was an achievable goal, so I worked for it.”

During the offseason, Gordon followed a specific plan that Old Saybrook cross country Head Coach Pete Capezzone created for him, which involved running on a seven-day plan for four weeks. Having the strong discipline to stick to this training program helped Gordon to just keep growing as a runner. He showed his strengths against top adversaries early on in his sophomore season, finishing 20th in the 12th Connecticut River Valley Invitational. Gordon set a new personal record of 17:16.7 in the 5000 meters.

Last year, Gordon competed at the state championships and finished 48th out of 204 runners. He put some natural pressure on himself to grow on that performance this fall, and he went into the contest with a lot of expectations for himself.

“Leading up to the race for states was scary because I knew that I had the ability to qualify for opens,” says Gordon. “Before and leading up to the race, I was really nervous, but I was able to run a good race and qualify for opens.”

With his improved time in just one season, Capezzone speaks of Gordon with only the highest remarks. He explains that there aren’t many athletes out there who work as hard as Gordon does, and his dedication to his craft paid off tenfold this fall.

“He had a really strong year as a freshman, but obviously he has gotten extremely better. He worked extremely hard over the summer, which really paid off,” says Capezzone. “He ran that much better in the Class S Championship, although he only finished 11th overall in the conference championship. He is an excellent student, a good teammate, and listens well. He helps the other kids on the team, and he outworks everybody. Those are really his strengths: a bright kid, a hard worker, and someone that always wants to get better.”

As Gordon looks ahead to the rest of the year and into next fall, he plans to stay conditioned and stumble into the shorter distances. In the winter and spring, Gordon will be competing on both the indoor and outdoor track teams for Old Saybrook as a distance runner. Additionally, he hopes to help guide his underclassman peers on the cross country course next season and watch them contribute to the team in a positive way.

“I really like the mile, so I will be working on my time for that. I determine my speed on my mile, and working on getting that time down will be good,” Gordon says. “Seeing the other freshmen come up next year is something that I am looking forward to, as well. There are some good kids coming up next year, and I am excited to see how the team grows next season and the year after.”