By Holly D’Addio, Courier Sports
Writer:
By now, the word on
the street is that the Valley
Regional High
School girls’ cross-country team is the team to
beat this season. With senior captain Dana Callahan now officially out for the
season, the underclassmen have stepped up to the challenge.
“With the reality of
losing senior captain Dana Callahan for the season, the sophomores have taken
it upon themselves to help the seniors make this a positive cross- country
season,” said Coach Lou Luciani. “Dana, who had sustained a stress fracture at
running camp this summer, was thought to have tendonitis and be back in two
weeks. That is not the case and our No. 1 runner was lost for the season. Liza
Dee, Amelia Haney, and Megan Callahan, along with freshmen Georgia O'Neil and
Colleen Gardner, have stepped up and run with more confidence.”
The Warriors
competed in two meets this past week including a dual meet at Cromwell on Sept.
29 and a new 5,000-meter course at John
Winthrop Middle
School on Oct. 3. Valley captured first place in
both meets behind strong performances from the entire team (individual results
listed above).
“With our seniors
Brittany McConnell, Brenna Kelly, and Kim Shepherd leading the way, they needed
help to finish out our top five,” said Luciani. “Our gaps between our top five
runners has been coming down and was just 18 seconds at our home meet on
Friday. Big meets are coming and hopefully they will still continue to improve.”
Game at a Glance
Sept. 29: Dual Meet
against Old Saybrook, Coginchaug, Morgan and Cromwell at Cromwell
Key Stats
Results (1st place
overall)
• Brittany
McConnell: 3rd, 21:48
• Brenna Kelly: 5th,
22:00
• Kim Shepherd: 6th,
22:11
• Megan Callahan: 7th,
22:12
• Georgia O’Neil: 8th,
22:21
• Amelia Haney: 13th,
23:12
• Liza Dee: 15th,
23:20
• Annie Kingston: 28th,
25:41
• Colleen Gardner:
30th, 25:47
• Sophie Marion: 42nd,
28:01
Game at a Glance
Oct. 3: Meet against
Hale-Ray, Morgan, and Old Saybrook at John Winthrop
Middle School
Key Stats
Results (1st place
overall)
• McConnell: 3rd,
21:47 (school record)
• Dee:
4th, 21:50
• Kelly: 7th, 21:55
• Shepherd: 8th,
22:00
• Callahan: 10th,
22:05
• O’Neil: 11th,
22:10
• Haney: 16th, 23:16
• Gardner: 22nd, 24:25