By Michael Letendre
At one point in the history of the annual City Series Cross country bouts, the boys squad from Bristol Eastern – under then head coach Bob Rottler — actually won the event over rival Bristol Central.
Over the last 20 years, it’s been all Central as the squad put up undefeated seasons and even a Class L championship back in 2010 while sinking Eastern and St. Paul Catholic along the way.
But just this past Thursday, the streak was broken by the Lancers – zipping up a 24-31 victory for its first city series title since 2003.
It was a tremendous accomplishment that spanned nearly a generation of runners.
That 2003 squad, the last to defeat Central before the 2023 team accomplished that feat, was highlighted by the exploits of Eric and Justin Garren, Tony D’Amato, Jason Bak, Francesco Garzone, Tommy O’Connor and Bryan Anderson.
That squad finished ninth overall at the Class L championships and had a good season overall with Eric Garrett finishing up in 17th place (17:25) at the event and took 80th place at the State Open.
After Eastern, Eric and Justin Garren ended up running collegiately at Elon University.
But 20 years later, Eastern finally got back to the top of the city series mountain with its wins over Bristol Central (24-31) and St. Paul Catholic (21-39).
And it was off the power of two super sophomores as Jase Koczur (19:24.6) captured third place while Cole Beland (19:27.4) made an amazing finish for fourth place.
“A lot of those guys, it was their first year running cross country,” said Eastern coach Paul Ryskowski. “Jace and Kyle, it was their first year. They put the work in during the summer and it shows. Hats off to them. I’m just so proud of them.”
A few juniors hand their hands over the victory as well with Kyle Kelley (sixth, 19:46.2) and Brendan Tartarelli (seventh, 19:59.7) both placing under twenty minutes and finally, Aidan Gezelman (ninth, 20:38.5) made it a win for Eastern over rival Central and St. Paul Catholic.
This was a tremendous feat by the boys squad over at Bristol Eastern and you can bet the Kingstreeters will take that momentum into the CCC South Championships this coming week, and beyond.
“They deserve it and I’m happy the hard work paid off,” said Ryskowski.
