Pack attack paces New Milford

Boys cross country team runs past defending SWC champion Pomperaug

By Ed Flink
THE NEWS-TIMES
2002-10-09

NEW MILFORD — New Milford High’s boys cross country team had payback on its mind.

Last fall, Pomperaug handed the Green Wave its only dual meet loss in five seasons before ending its streak of three consecutive league titles.

After a year of anticipation, New Milford broke from the starting line with more than enough incentive.

"It was almost like a vengeance kind of thing, to try to get it back and show them what we could do,” senior Pete Matthiessen said. "It’s what we’ve been waiting for.”

New Milford showed them, all right. In fact, it dominated so thoroughly that the outcome was anti-climatic. And the same might be true of next week’s South-West Conference championship meet.

By taking the first six spots — and nine of the first 10 — the Green Wave whipped the reigning SWC champion, 15-49, as well as Bethel and Immaculate.

The sweep gave New Milford a 69-1 record in league meets since 1998.

Matthiessen won the 3.1-mile race in 15 minutes, 53 seconds. Also scoring were Reid McEwen, Nick DeCrescenzo, Dave Hunt and Jon Freeman.

So strong is the Green Wave that Freeman, its frontrunner last year, was the No. 5 scorer in this meet.

The top five were separated by a mere 17 seconds, earning the admiration of Pomperaug coach Sam Lewbel.

"I was impressed. Nobody has pushed us all season. They’re really good,’’ Lewbel said. "I knew they were tough but I didn’t think they’d beat us by that much. They were ready.’’

"I’m a little surprised,’’ New Milford coach Mike Abraham said, "because Pomperaug is always well prepared and we’ve had a good rivalry with them for the last few years. And I still think they’re a strong team. I just think we happen to be hitting our stride right now.’’

The Green Wave’s lone setback across the past five seasons was inflicted by Pomperaug last Sept. 11.

"They ran a great race on their course,” Abraham said.

As preparation for the Class L state championship race in two weeks, Abraham has decided to bring his team to Saturday’s Wickham Park Invitational in East Hartford so it can get familiar with the course, even though the league meet is next Thursday.

"We really want to do well in the class meet and get to the (State) Open. We have to run Wickham,” Abraham said. "It’s a tactical course with a lot of turns, a lot of changes of terrain. It’s hilly, it’s flat. These guys have to learn to run big races and to run in big crowds.”

Matthiessen is already thinking ahead, to the weekend and beyond.

"I almost look at it as more important (than the SWCs),” he said. "because that way we’re going to get a good idea of what the state meet will be like. It’s almost like a preview.

"And I think the way the season has been going...I think we have the SWCs pretty well under control,” Matthiessen added.

The girls meet was the opposite of the boys in that it couldn’t have been any closer unless it ended in a tie.

Behind senior pacesetter Ashley Ryan, New Milford nipped Bethel 27-28 and beat Pomperaug 23-32.

Bethel, despite going 3-4-5 overall, was also edged by Pomperaug, 27-28.

Ryan, Kristin Weller, Kelsey Bull, Anna Cullen and Jen Marden scored for the Green Wave, which finishes the regular season 14-1, losing only to defending SWC champion Joel Barlow.

Cullen, a sophomore, normally doesn’t figure in her team’s top five. But she provided a lift as the fourth scorer on a day when Laura Cusack, the usual No. 5, was bothered by a knee injury and failed to score.

Ryan, who won the SWC title and was the Class L runner-up last year as a cross country rookie, broke her own record here on the 2.53-mile course with a time of 15:06.

Pomperaug’s Kasey Sullivan, an impressive freshman, was the runner-up in 15:34.

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