By Michael Letendre
The overwhelming benefit of winning a scholastic state championship can be seen decades after achieving it.
And that’s been the case ever since the Bristol Central boys cross country squad took home the 2010 Class L title.
Long after the crew of Michael Duprey, Jacob Eschner, Connor Kelley, Ethan Washburn, Jake Mancini, and Spencer Johnson graduated from the program, the blueprint they helped establish – along with head coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk – still persists today.
And winning is a tradition several squads from Central has maintained to this day.
The Rams won CCC South titles in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 –
winning the division eight out of 10 times since the program seized the Class L championship.
Even this year’s crew at 5-2 backed up last season’s outstanding team that tallied a 15-0 overall record (14-0 CCC South).
Central could have been a three-time state champ as the recent squads from 2018 and 2019 were the runner’s-up in Class L, losing to a ‘school of choice’ that slipped into the tournament field both years.
Xavier made up one of the many Class LL in 2017 and, for whatever reason, the all-boys Catholic school in Middletown was able to drop a class – even after winning the State Open and was the runner-up in LL during that 2017 campaign.
And just as Central was looking to add to its title collection, Xavier stood in the way – posting championship victories over the Rams in both 2018 and 2019.
“Flash-forward to my 2018 and 2019 teams and, let’s face it, if Xavier hadn’t been moved from Class LL to L, we would have been Class L Champions both of those years,” said Stafford-Kirk. “In 2018, Devin and Pacifico Flores, Mark Petrosky, Nate DeAngelo, and Jose Ramirez were, I believe, a stronger five than the 2010 [squad]. The 2018 team time was 1:24:52 and 2010 [ended up timing out at] 1:25:34. I do believe the 2010 [scoring] six was stronger than the 2018 six, however.”
In the 2018 Class L race on October 26 from Wickham Park in Manchester, Xavier crushed all the competition, scoring 26 points compared to Central’s 80 which was outstanding on its own merits.
One year later on October 26, 2019, Central held an early advantage in the Class L title bout but ended up falling to Xavier again, 62-94, in the end.
That gap was greatly narrowed from 2018 to 2019 but Central came up just a bit short in the title round.
However, that 2010 unit helped to continue a winning culture and tradition that still exists today for the Bristol Central boys cross country team.
Between the CCC South and Class L banners in the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, the effort, ability, and history of the program is carried on by its students athletes in 2021.
“What I am most blown away by is the way the programs continues to grow and I owe it all to the past runners and teams,” said Stafford-Kirk. “They have built such a great legacy and current runners like Nate DeAngelo and Frankie Porrini and future runners want to continue and further that legacy.”
