New Milford High School Girls Win CIAC Class L Cross Country Title

For the first time since 1997, the New Milford High School Girls Cross Country team are Connecticut State Champions.

It was 24 years in the making, but on Monday, the New Milford High School Varsity Girls Cross Country team brought the CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference) Class L State Title back home.

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Anytime you achieve greatness and win a state title, it doesn't always come easy. The Cross Country team had to do it without one of their star runners Claire Daniels who was scratched for the meet when she was sidelined with an illness.

Despite the team setback, the Green Wave was able to hold off a strong challenge from New Canaan to win the title with a 55-68 victory.

According to ctinsider.com, coach Giles Vaughn credits the team culture for the win, calling the girls a "driven group".

That statement couldn't have been more true after the team learned that their star runner would be out for the meet, and junior Sydney Kelleher stepped up and won the state individual title with a time of 19:13, which was eleven seconds better then Alexa Ciccone of Cheshire High School, and twenty seven seconds better then her New Milford teammate Madelaine Sweeney, who placed third in the state overall, while her other teammate Mya Morabito placed tenth, both of whom earned All-State honors.

Congratulations to the entire New Milford High School Girls Varsity Cross Country team on an exceptional season, and bringing the state title to New Milford.

Team Results By Place Courtesy of CIACsports.com

  1. New Milford            
            1    3   10   14   27  (28)      =    55
         Sydney Kelleher, Madelaine Sweeney, Mya Morabito, Isabel Greene,
         Elizabeth Rainey, Katherine Taborsak
  2. New Canaan             
            5   12   16   17   18  (23) (55) =    68
         Radea Raleva, Charlotte Moor, Riley Shipman, Elizabeth McLaughlin,
         Sofia Madrazo, Abigail Cheney, Lauren Doherty
  3. E.O. Smith             
            8    9   21   25   34  (47) (73) =    97
         Gabriella Hernandez, Alexis Buskey, Jayden Stygar, Elizabeth Bigelow,
         Briana Ashton, Abigail Rose, Riley Deforest
  4. Darien                 
            4   22   30   31   58  (68) (81) =   145
         Julianne Teitler, Mairead Clas, Avery Johnson, Cam Meyer, Ali Meyer,
         Hope Johnson, Lauren Blake
  5. Cheshire               
            2   13   29   50   69  (95)      =   163
         Alexa Ciccone, Mia Vientos, Meghan Georgescu, Eva Curran, Kathleen
         Hall, Alexandra Palladino