Immaculate High School Cross Country

11/22/2022

Over the 16 years of coaching XC I have received approximately 175 tshirts from the athletes as they moved on to college. Packing some stuff up today and found this one. It was the first. I don’t know if the young lady who gave it to me is on FB but I’m sure someone out there can take a guess as to who it was.

09/18/2022

One of Our own Patrick Clarke is really in need of our prayers as he undergoes a serious surgery on Wednesday to remove a tumor at the base of his Brain Stem.
Those of you who had the pleasure of running on the team with Patrick know what kind of kid he is. I’ve said this before but he was the best boys Captain I ever had.
Please keep him in your prayers and help him get back to being the best Doctor and helping many others.

10/12/2021

This past Saturday, 10/9, the Immaculate High School Cross Country Team competed in the Wickham Invitational. It was a great opportunity to gain experience on the State Championship course, and both teams performed very well.

The boys were finally joined by Canaan Sturdevant, who has been forced to wait patiently all season due to CIAC transfer rules, and who made a big impression in his first real race of the season, finishing second on the team and 16th overall. The boys finished 2nd in the small school race out of 35 schools who had athletes entered in the race, 16 of which were capable of scoring (meaning they had at least 5 runners). All of the boys on the team finished in the top 35 out of 147 total finishers.

The girls were missing some key members of the team but still managed to finish 5th out of 37 schools who had athletes entered in the small school race, 15 of which were capable of scoring. Three of the girls finished in the top 20 overall. In a merged score with the medium school race, the girls team also defeated SWC rivals Barlow, Brookfield, and Bethel.

Wickham Park is a MUCH slower course than Ocean State or Brewster, so we were not expecting a lot of PRs or SRs. However, some runners still managed to surprise us by running their best times or the season (or ever). The following athletes ran SRs or PRs:

Kayla Ondy- 20:33 (SR by :22)
Hunter Brown: 18:51 (PR by :03)
Will Doran 23:35 (PR by 1:00)
Trevor Fuller 18:46 (PR by :09)
Jesse Hanniger 19:59 (Tied his PR)
Canaan Sturdevant 18:00.00 (PR by :17 according to Athletic.net)

10/03/2021

Today the Immaculate High School Cross Country Team competed at the Brewster Invitational. It was interesting to travel across the border into NY to see teams that we do not normally run against and we got very competitive races for both girls and boys. Both varsity teams finished 9th out of 18 teams, despite being in the far stronger varsity sections (by far).

The following runners all ran PRs or Season Bests:

Boys:
Seamus Reidy- 17:03 (PR by :38)
Cole Ross- 18:29 (PR by :08)
Trevor Fuller- 18:55 (PR by :01)
Jesse Hanniger- 19:59 (PR by :17)
William Tucker- 20:56 (PR by :44)
Jude Cappiello- 21:06 (PR by 1:01)
Nikolas Badinelli- 23:02 (SB by 1:23)
Johnathan Timmel- 23:33 (PR by 2:36!)

Girls:
Kayla Ondy- 20:55 (SB by 1:00)
Caitlin Conley- 23:42 (SB by :17)
Caitlyn Mascetta- 24:50 (PR by :40)
Kylie Macancela- 25:59 (PR by :12)
Julong Williams- 26:00 (SB by 1:01)
Isabel Taiman- 27:35 (SB by 1:06)
Nicole Killackey- 31:21 (PR by 3:57!)

Any day in which this many people ran PRs or SBs has to be considered a great day, and some of these improvements are just huge. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication that these athletes, and everyone else on the team, has consistently exhibited all season.

09/29/2021

Last set of pictures courtesy of Ms. Ross. The two pictures of the start are like a "Where's Waldo?" game. Where's the Immaculate runner? They are there, I swear.

09/29/2021

More photos of the boys from Ocean State, courtesy of Ms. Reidy.

09/28/2021

Here are some photos from Ocean State taken by one of the parents. Most of these are of the girls team, so if any other parents have more pictures of the boys team, please feel free to send them.

09/26/2021

Yesterday, 9/25, the current varsity runners from Immaculate High School competed at the Ocean State Invitational at Goddard Park in Warwick, RI. Despite worrying weather forecasts, it ended up being a beautiful day, and it was a good opportunity to compete against great teams from all over New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

Both teams performed very well, with the boys taking 12th out of 30 teams and the girls taking 8th out of 20 teams (not counting those teams with fewer than 5 athletes in the varsity race, of which there were a number). More importantly, every single athlete on the boys team ran a PR and every athlete on the girls team ran either a PR or an SR.

Below are the times and the amount of improvement:

Boys-
Seamus Reidy- 17:41 (PR by 14 seconds)
Matt Reeves- 18:16 (PR by 1 minute and 2 seconds)
Ben Gasparrini- 18:29 (PR by 52 seconds)
Cole Ross- 18:37 (PR by 22 seconds)
Hunter Brown- 18:54 (PR by 2 minutes)
Trevor Fuller- 18:56 (PR by 1 minute and 26 seconds)
Jesse Hanniger- 20:16 (PR by 42 seconds)

Girls-
Keelin Bremner- 20:31 (SR by 7 seconds)
Kayla Ondy- 22:02 (SR by 1 minute and 15 seconds)
Jenna Saidman- 22:18 (PR by 42 seconds)
Cait Conley- 23:58 (SR by 58 seconds)
Caitlyn Mascetta- 25:30 (PR by 25 seconds)
Kylie Macancela- 26:11 (PR by 38 seconds)
Julong Williams- 27:01 (SR by 25 seconds)

*Note: I edited the post to correct the finishing positions of Hunter Brown and Trevor Fuller. According to Coach Steve, who was standing by the finish line, the official results were incorrect.

09/24/2021

This past Tuesday, 9/21, the IHS Cross Country Team had a dual meet at Joel Barlow against Barlow, Bunnell, and Kolbe. Both teams went 2-1, losing to Barlow but defeating Bunnell and Kolbe. The varsity runners have their big meet of the week Saturday at the Ocean State Invitational, but a number of JV runners, and even some varsity athletes, ran season bests or lifetime personal records.

This is a list of all those who ran PRs:

Hunter Brown- 20:54 (:1 PR)
Hayley Curry- 30:06 (:20 PR)
Will Doran- 24:35 (:16 PR)
Francesca Friscia- 30:10 (3:41 PR)
Caitlyn Mascetta- 25:55 (1:35 PR)
John Timmel- 26:09 (:32 PR)
William Tucker- 21:40 (1:09 PR)

I look forward to seeing what all of these athletes can do on faster courses!

09/16/2021

Yesterday, 9/14, the Immaculate High School Cross Country team competed in their first dual meet of the year at Brookfield High School. Because we have no invitational this coming weekend, athletes had a rare chance to really race a dual, and despite running only three days after Stratton Brook (which had to leave them a little tired) there were a number of very strong performances.

The boys went 3-0, defeating Masuk, Newtown, and Brookfield. They were led once again by Junior Seamus Reidy, who came in first overall. The rest of the top 5 were Cole Ross, Matt Reeves, Ben Gasparrini, and Trevor Fuller.

The girls went 1-2, losing to Newtown and Brookfield but defeating Masuk. The girls were led by Junior Keelin Bremner, who won by over a minute. The other runners in the top 5 were Jenna Saidman, Kayla Ondy, Cait Conley, and Kylie Macancela.

A number of runners also beat their times from Stratton Brook to set season records or lifetime personal records. To a runner, those kinds of improvements are every bit as important as their finishing position in a race, if not more so.

The following athletes all had SRs or PRs:
Girls-
Keelin Bremner (SR)
Cait Conley (SR)
Nicole Killackey (PR)**
Caitlyn Mascetta (PR)*
Jenna Saidman (SR)

Boys-
Hunter Brown (PR)*
Jude Cappiello (PR)*
Will Doran (PR)**
Trevor Fuller (PR)*
Jesse Hanniger (PR)*
Matt Reeves (SR)
Cole Ross (PR)
William Tucker (SR)

*= PR of over 30 seconds
**= PR of over 1:00

09/14/2021

This past Saturday, the Immaculate High School Cross Country Team competed in the Stratton Brook Invitational in Simsbury, CT. It was a beautiful day and a great meet.

The boys had a great day, finishing 3rd out of 18* teams in the small school division and 8th out of 32 teams when merged with the large school results. The team was led by Seamus Reidy, who finished second overall, and he was followed by Cole Ross, Ben Gasparrini, Matt Reeves, and Trevor Fuller to round out the top 5.

The girls team had a good first effort and showed plenty of opportunities for growth, finishing 6th out of 18* teams in the small school division and 13th out of 32 when merged with the large school results. The team was led by Keelin Bremner, who finished 5th overall, and she was followed by Kayla Ondy, Jenna Saidman, Caitlin Conley, and Caitlyn Mascetta to round out the top 5.

It is a long season from here and it will be exciting to see what both teams can accomplish by the end!

*this number includes teams that were too small to score officially or who ran their varsity team in the JV race.

08/24/2021