By Michael Letendre

MONTGOMERY, NY – While the winter sports scholastic season hasn’t gotten off the ground in Connecticut, the boys and girls cross country season continued for a number of Bristol athletes into the end of November.

And that was especially true for Bristol Central cross country standouts Nate DeAngelo, Frankie Porrini, Bella Crandall, and Natalia Popielarz.

The grouping took part of the 12th Annual Rock Northeast High School Club Cross Championships from the Twin Ponds on the Farm in Montgomery, New York this past Saturday.

The event was slated for top cross country runners that featured a 5000 meter event for Club Teams and unattached athletes in an around the Tri-state Area.

The meet saw several outstanding runners from the Hartford area – including DeAngelo, one of the top performers from the Central Connecticut Conference.

The group from Central raced under the Bristol Pride XC/TF Club banner. 

The Bristol outfit battled runners invited from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut and DeAngelo and company made one heck of a showing at the ultra-competitive event.

DeAngelo ended up placing 27th in the Championship/Seeded race with a time of 16:15 and was only six seconds off making a top-20 finish at the event.

And it was that close for DeAngelo at the finish line – ending a remarkable career for the outstanding senior from the Bristol Central boys cross country squad.

But it wasn’t just DeAngelo who made an excellent showing.

In the unseeded 5,000 meter event, Porrini was the top Connecticut finisher in the #1 race, the fastest of the two non-seeded 5K’s.

Porrini crossed the finish line with the third fastest time at the New York tilt.

He clocked in at 16:43 for an outstanding completion of his sophomore campaign.

And in the girls unseeded race, the combination of Popielarz and Crandall performed extremely well in a deeply talented showcase.

Six runners finished the event under twenty minutes and Popielarz was one of those performers.

Popielarz earned a sixth place finish in time of 19:55 while Crandall also made a top-30 showing.

Crandall placed 30th with a time of 22:17 to complete the outstanding showing by the quartet from the Mum City. 

“It was a great way to end a season where only one championship style race was offered,” said Bristol Central coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk. “Nate capped off one of the best cross country seasons in Bristol history. Fellow seniors Natalia and Bella also had great senior seasons and took the opportunity today for one more cross country race. [And] sophomore Frankie Porrini continues to be impressive as an up and coming force in cross country and on the track.”