The top two teams in the state, according to the state cross country poll, were on the same course Tuesday, but it wasn't exactly in a championship venue. Instead, Griswold and Ledyard began their duel for supremacy in the state running around horse rings and through cow pastures near the Woodstock Fairgrounds.

"If this was a basketball tournament -- you would pack the Civic Center," said Griswold coach Gerry Chester. "There wouldn't be a seat available. There were a lot of people here but I think most were either supporters of Woodstock, Griswold or Ledyard -- that's the way it goes."

It will get better.

The two teams will meet two more times in the next week and a day -- first at Wickham Park for the annual Invitational on Saturday and then again next Thursday at the Norwich Golf Course for the Eastern Connecticut Conference Championship.The crowds will be bigger and the stakes higher.

There will likely be more opportunities as the two teams will continue their rivalry in the State Open and New England Championships.

That will give the Colonels plenty of time to try to get the 11 points necessary to beat the Wolverines as they fell in Woodstock 22-34. That margin was already a little better than when they first met this year.

"We're a little closer than we were a month ago but they've got six guys and our strength is our depth and they beat us with their depth," Ledyard coach Charlie Ewers said. "They went 1-2 and their six guys beat our five. Our first four guys ran decently but they stepped up better than we did."

The Ledyard coach had surrendered the top spot as he knew none of his runners would be able to catch Gavin Coombs. The Wolverines top runner finished in a course record 15:59 to win the race. The total was one second better than Griswold alumnus Matt Papuga, who ran the Woodstock course in 16 flat back in 1993.

"I have no idea," Coombs said when asked how many course records he now owns. "I was happy about it because I didn't know if I was going to have to run this course real hard. The Woodstock coach (Bob Mondani) told us before the race that Matt Papuga had it so I thought it would be cool to get it -- I was definitely trying."

The key may have been the second man as Griswold's Reynolds Chapman and Ledyard's Dave Holliday battled for second place from the opening gun. Chapman eventually took Holliday by five seconds as he finished in 16:25.

"He's an awesome runner and he pushed me the whole race -- I knew I had to stay with him the whole time," Chapman said.

"I tried to stay with Gavin at the start but that didn't work out too well so I stayed with Reynolds for the rest of the race. He just sprinted me out at the end," Holliday said.

Tradelle Ward placed fourth overall for Griswold with Josh Bradeen seventh, Chris Croff 10th and Jordan Kimble 12th.

Despite those fine finishes, Chester was still looking for places to improve.

"Some of it worked and some of it didn't. We ran very well today and we're improving but we made some mistakes out there and we still have some work to do."

Griswold beat Woodstock 19-44 and Ledyard also beat the Centaurs 21-38. Despite the two losses, Woodstock coach Bob Mondani was a proud host.

"This is what it's all about. We just hosted the best dual meet in the state of Connecticut and it was a great meet; there's some talent out here," Mondani said.

Girls

The Griswold girls also were double winners as they beat host Woodstock 15-46 and Ledyard 22-33. Ledyard also picked up the ECC Large Division victory over Woodstock 15-46.

Abbey Sadowski took first place in 16:01, 33 seconds better than Sarah Fritz of Ledyard.

Sadowski said it was a good warm-up heading into Wickham, the ECC's and state competition beyond.

"Dual meets are always fun to travel with the team and have like a little family and then when you get to states, it's a little different," Sadowski said.

Griswold coach Shane Steadman agreed, as the team -- seventh ranked in the polls -- gets ready to take on its bigger goals.

"This weekend, the Wickham Invite, becomes a pre-State Open for us," Steadman said. "The ECC's will be a tougher meet than our Class meet so we're just getting ready -- day by day."