By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – For the second year in a row, a freshman competitor earned the top prize of the annual Bristol city series girls cross country race.
And this past Saturday morning from the course at St. Paul Catholic High School, it was Kaelyn Gonzalez of Bristol Eastern crossing the finish line first.
The first-year competitor won the meet with a stellar time of 22:00 to seize the individual championship.
“It’s really nice, I’m proud of myself,” said Gonzalez of winning the race.
Gonzalez led from start to finish and kept her foot on the gas until the very end.
“There’s so many stressors on anyone that thinks they may be leading the race to begin with because you need to know where to go, you need to be the one setting the pace and for her to do that as a freshman does speak to her composure and that ice in her veins where she understands what she needs to do and she’s able to do it at a young age,” said Eastern coach Paul Ryskowski of Gonzalez. “It’s very impressive.”
In terms of the team championship, it came down to the programs from Bristol Central and St. Paul Catholic once again.
And Central, off a slick finish, tallied the team title as the Rams downed the Falcons by a single point 27-28.
St. Paul Catholic defeated Eastern 22-38 and in the battle between the two public schools, the Rams downed the Lancers by a 23-35 final.
“It’s been like a rollercoaster of a season,” said Central coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk. “I actually started out with 13 girls which was more than I had in a few years. I had more girls than boys. We just slowly lost people to grades or to just transitions to high school and not able to do both. I understand those things happen as a coach but we’re down to seven girls and only raced six today.”
“We knew that everyone had to just get out there and run hard.”
St. Paul Catholic’s Maddie Bielecki – last season’s city series winner – had another tremendous day on the course, attempting to keep up with Gonzalez the best she could.
Bielecki ended the morning with a time of 22:43 as the runner up at the event.
But Central’s wheelhouse of Sophia Stark (3rd, 22:54) and Katie Tran (fourth, 23:03) helped set the tone for the Rams and the twosome kept in front of the pack for the entire showdown.
“Sophia Stark and Katie Tran are leading the girls as juniors,” said Stafford-Kirk. “They’ve really come a long way and really stepped up their summer training this year.”
Not far behind was the Falcons’ duo of Gretchen Radcliff (fifth, 23:58) and Charlotte Jennings (sixth, 24:17) while Eastern’s Lauren Ayotte – who finished in the top-10 of last season’s city series bout as a sophomore – placed seventh with a time of 24:24.
Over the next four slots, the Rams were able to snare the team championship.
Central’s Lynae Lewis (24:47) finished in eighth place while teammate
Emma Cavallari (24:57) was just a spot behind.
St. Paul Catholic’s Calista Oria placed 10th at 25:40 and Central’s Johannie Juarez was huge with a finish of 25:55 – good for eleventh overall.
“Just like the boys, they held their positions,” said Stafford-Kirk of her crew. “Johannie Juarez came up huge for us today. We didn’t even know if she would be able to come today and she was able to move around her work schedule.”
Gonzalez led the pack off the bat and the pattern of the event was set.
And even as Gonzalez rounded the bend to the softball field the first time around, Bielecki was behind in second followed by the Stark/Tran duo.
But once the Eastern harrier reached the driveway that went up to Stafford Avenue, she started to kick a bit.
Coming back down to the St. Paul Catholic campus, it was Gonzalez in the lead and no one else anywhere near the freshman sensation.
“I did pretty good,” said Gonzalez. “I went a little slower than I usually do, like up in front. But I think I ran well, and the course is pretty easy.”
The cluster of Bielecki, Stark and Tran was a competitive one as the runners from Central were trailing the Falcons’ top athlete by just about 10 meters or so.
A little bit behind, Radcliff and Jennings were battling along with Ayotte.
But it was a repeat the second time to Stafford Avenue, as Gonzalez increased her lead on the road, came back down the hill, and hit the track one more time to easily finish the race in twenty-two minutes flat.
The original pack placement remained the same throughout the end as Bielecki, Stark and Tran netted second, third and fourth places, respectively, with all three teams having multiple runners finishing among the top ten at the event.
“They have put in the work this year,” said Ryskowski of his squad. “They have improved so much. It’s a little bittersweet but at the same time, at the end of the day, I think that you can zoom out and see how far they’ve come and be really proud.”
Four runners from each of the Rams and Falcons’ squad already crossed the line and when Juarez finished 15 seconds in front of St. Paul Catholic’s Amelia Jennings (12th, 26:10), Central had its one-point win in hand over an exciting finish.
“All my girls are returning [next year] which is really exciting,” said Stafford-Kirk. “That was one of the things we were cheering about [at the end]. “It was like ‘we won and you’re all coming back.’ We’re excited. It was fun.”
Girls 2022 City Series Cross Country – Saturday, October 15
BRISTOL CENTRAL 27, ST. PAUL CATHOLIC 28
ST. PAUL CATHOLIC 22, BRISTOL EASTERN 38
BRISTOL CENTRAL 23, BRISTOL EASTERN 35
Individual Results – Top 15
City Series Champion – Kaelyn Gonzalez (Bristol Eastern), 22:00
Runner-up – Maddie Bielecki (St. Paul Catholic), 22:43
3. Sophia Stark (Bristol Central), 22:54
4. Katie Tran (Bristol Central), 23:03
5. Gretchen Radcliff (St. Paul Catholic), 23:58
6. Charlotte Jennings (St. Paul Catholic), 24:17
7. Lauren Ayotte (Bristol Eastern), 24:24
8. Lynae Lewis (Bristol Central), 24:47
9. Emma Cavallari (Bristol Central), 24:57
10. Calista Oria (St. Paul Catholic), 25:40
11. Johannie Juarez (Bristol Central), 25:55
12. Amelia Jennings (St. Paul Catholic), 26:10
13. Grace Steck (St. Paul Catholic), 26:46
14. Ruth Smith (Bristol Central), 27:09
15. Rita Gao (Bristol Eastern), 27:44
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