By Michael Letendre

MANCHESTER – Maybe Bristol Central cross country standout Frankie Porrini didn’t have the finish he envisioned at the 2022 CIAC Class L Championships last week.

But the senior harrier had a tremendous showing at the CIAC Open event from Wickham Park on Friday afternoon – making a top-15 finish and punching his ticket to the New England Championship.

The All-American Steeplechaser continues to impress on the cross country course this season as he moves on to yet another championship event.

He ended the day at Wickham with a stellar time of 16:30 over a loaded field.

“Bristol Central cross country’s Francis Porrini III is New England Championship bound after a 13th place finish at the State Open Championship,” said Central coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk on Twitter. “What a season!”

Porrini’s time was the fifth fastest of all the runners from the Central Connecticut Conference as Hall’s Isaac Mahler (15:53) was the top CCC finisher.

“Frankie was smart and ran a more conservative first and second mile to be able to blast the third mile,” said Stafford-Kirk. “He moved from 20th to 18th to 13th through the race. I am so proud of Frankie’s dedication to training which got him here today! Making the NE meet is tough- and he is one of a few Bristol runners to to do it over the past couple decades.”

Hall was able to snare the Open title behind an 86-point showing followed by Ridgefield (113), Danbury (120) and New Milford (134).

The 2022 NE Championship takes place next Saturday at Ponagansett High School in North Scituate, Rhode Island and Porrini will be part of an exclusive field.

2022 CIAC Cross Country Open

from Wickham Park, Manchester

Individual Results: 1. Steven Hergenrother, Ridgefield 15:42; 2. 

Griffin Mandirola, Suffield 15:48; 3. Isaac Mahler, Hall 15:53; 4. Brayden Bayek, Rocky Hill 16:05; 5. Collin Walsh, New Milford 16:10; 6. Colin Goldschmidt, Hall 16:17; 7. Owen Martin, Xavier 16:17; 8. David Carillo, Trumbull 16:18; 9. Ryan Gruczka, Stonington 16:23; 10. Alexander Ushchak, Xavier 16:26; 11. William Krause, Glastonbury 16:29; 12. Ben Lorenz, Staples 16:30; 13. Frankie Porrini, Bristol Central 16:30; 14. Parker Broderick, Fairfield Warde 16:31; 15. Benjamin Daniels, New Milford 16:32; 16. Jack Mattingly, E.O. Smith 16:34; 17. Soheib Dissa, Newtown 16:34; 18. Brendan Fant, East Lyme 16:36; 19. Liam Fedigan, Jonathan Law 16:36; 20. Devon Rosemark, Danbury 16:38.