By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Last season, at the annual Bristol Girls Middle School Cross Country championship, a future Bristol Eastern running sensation won the title at the bout from Rockwell Park.
Chippens Hill’s Kaelyn Gonzalez established a new course record with a finish of 13:51.1 as the school came away with a huge win at the 2021 event.
This time around, from the championship meet at the extremely hilly course at Page Park last Wednesday, it was another athlete from Chippens Hill leading the charge.
Mia Stopkoski ended winning the championship behind an outstanding time of 14:59.3 to seize the individual title.
That finish established a new middle school course record at Page Park.
Chippens had a great afternoon of competition as three of the top six finishers – and six of the first 13 harriers – were from that same school.
Hills won the title with a score of thirty points – finishing well ahead of Northeast Middle School who tallied 56 for second place.
West Bristol (61 points) came in third place while St. Joseph (79) seized fourth.
The top five times of each runner from every school made up the final score as Chippens had its top five athletes cross the finish line with times under 17:50.
Stopkoski is a speedy seventh grader while teammate Olivia Stafford, also in seventh grade, did well seizing third place in 15:47.
Sixth grader Quinn Floyd placed fifth for Chippens in 16:18.1 and to round out their top five, seventh graders River Fellows (10th place, 17:46.2) and Mia Carenzo (11th, 17:49.2) helped the program seize the championship.
West Bristol eighth grader Emersyn Mazzei (15:30.8) was the runner up of the event while Northeast seventh grader Klaudia Twardy (15:58.8) earned fourth place.
Also, for the program from West Bristol, seventh grader Isla Thibodeau placed sixth in 16:38.1 while Northeast’s duo of seventh grader Mary Primus (7th, 16:44.6) and sixth grader Arianna Lestorti (8th, 16:51) also performed well over a tough course.
Rounding out the top-10 was sixth grader Marissa Moreau from St. Joseph with a ninth-place finish of 17:38.
Here are the top results from the race from Page Park:
2022 Bristol Girls Middle School Cross Country championship
From Dewitt Page Park, Bristol
Top Eleven Finishers
Name Place School Time
Mia Stopkoski 1st Chippens Hills 14:59
Emersyn Mazzei 2nd West Bristol 15:30
Olivia Stafford 3rd Chippens Hills 15:47
Klaudia Twardy 4th Northeast 15:58
Quinn Floyd 5th Chippens Hills 16:18
Isla Thibodeau 6th West Bristol 16:38
Maryn Primus 7th Northeast 16:44
Arianna Lestorti 8th Northeast 16:51
Marissa Moreau 9th St. Joseph 17:38
River Fellows 10th Chippens Hills 17:46
Mia Carenzo 11th Chippens Hills 17:49
