Mucchetti wins in Bethel; RHS teams second

By Ed Flink THE NEWS-TIMES

2001-09-23 BETHEL — Less than a mile into the girls race at the Bethel High Invitational Saturday, Amy Hicks of Woodstock Academy was setting the pace when she mistakenly veered off course. Several runners in the lead pack, including Ridgefield’s Nicole Breves and Joel Barlow’s Courtney Dugan, instinctively followed Hicks.

Oops!

“I knew we were going the wrong way,” Breves recalled, “but I thought maybe they changed the course.”

Once the frontrunners were alerted, they were forced to retrace their steps and make up 15 to 20 seconds.

“The course is pretty poorly marked in one area. There are no cones and the arrows are hard to read,” Hicks said. “I took a right, people followed me and then someone screamed you’re going the wrong way, so I turned around and jumped through pricker bushes.”

A few small puncture wounds on her arm served as proof of her misadventure. But Hicks, a senior who finished third in the 2000 State Open, regained the lead with about one mile remaining. She then opened up during the final 800 meters and won the race for the second time in three years, completing the 2.5-mile layout in 16 minutes, 40 seconds.

Senior Kristan Lucas of Edison, N.J., also followed Hicks but still managed to take second in 16:52. Bethel senior Viktoria Brautigam was third in 16:58.

“I felt like I sprinted (for) half the race,” Lucas said.

Breves wound up seventh and teammate Rebecca Chain was ninth, helping Ridgefield to a solid second-place showing, only two points behind E.O. Smith-Storrs, 61-63.

Barlow, the three-time defending Class M state champion, was third with 108 points. Ashley St. Pierre finished fifth and Shannon Kenefick claimed 12th. Dugan, however, was unable to complete the race after suffering a knee injury. She was a team-best fifth at last week’s Wilton Invitational.

“When Ashley and Shannon yelled to her, she turned abruptly to come back and she twisted her knee,” Barlow coach Dan Spinner said of Dugan. “She ran about another mile after that screaming in pain and stopped going up the last hill.”

Ridgefield, victorious at the Wilton Invitational, benefited again from a tight pack. Also scoring for the Tigers were Jill Schweitzer (14th), Caitlin Helgesen (15th) and Marisa DeYoung (18th). Non-scorer Carrie Pinchbeck (19th) was only 40 seconds behind Breves.

“It was a close second,” Ridgefield coach Sandy Hoddinott said. “I wish we were first but we came close to a real power in E.O. Smith. We’re progressing.”

E.O. Smith was last year’s State Open runner-up.

“I’m excited. We were two points behind E.O. Smith,” Breves said. “We’re got a lot of sophomores who are really picking it up.”

Four of the Tigers’ top six Saturday are sophomores, while Breves is a junior.

The 2.95-mile boys race was less dramatic and more predictable.

Despite what he considered a subpar performance, Ridgefield senior Steve Mucchetti prevailed in 16:18. The 2000 State Open runner-up beat Tim Andrews of Cheshire by five seconds.

Pomperaug senior Rob Rosasco was the only other area boy in the top 10, taking seventh in 16:54. Just nine runners broke 17 minutes.

“I didn’t run very well,” Mucchetti said. “I felt very bad during the race. I had a pretty hard week of training and maybe the humidity had a little to do with it, but I ran pretty slow.

“I wanted to get a workout out of it. After about 400 meters my body was getting tired. I was able to win, so that was good. But I was kind of disappointed with it,” he added.

Foran’s Ken Simeone, who won the South-West Conference championship on this course last fall, was 12th. Senior Joe Mohn of Immaculate, the SWC runner-up, did not compete. He was on a college visit to the Merchant Marine Academy.

Xavier-Middletown, third in last year’s State Open behind Danbury and Ridgefield, won the team title with 50 points. It had five runners in the top 17. Ridgefield was next with 95. Jay Martin (14th), Jeremy Sloan (22nd), Zack Pegan (26th) and Aldace Fleming (32nd) joined Mucchetti as scorers for the Tigers.

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