Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern boys and girls cross country teams hit the course for the first time at the Stratton Brook Invite on Saturday

By Michael Letendre

SIMSBURY – Both the Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern boys and girls cross country teams battled it out at the 41st Annual Stratton Brook XC Invite from Stratton Brook State Park in Simsbury on Saturday.

The Central boys were the only squad to score as a team with the program coming in fifth place overall in the Boys Large Schools Varsity Race.

The Rams finished the event with 106 points which was just four behind fourth place RHAM (102).

And Central’s prime-time performer, Frankie Porrini, once again proved why he’s one of Connecticut’s best.

Porrini finished the day in third place overall in an event that featured several athletes from the Central Connecticut Conference area.

Simsbury’s Luke Davis won the race with a time of 16:58 while runner-up Harrison Krause (17:08) had a strong finish as well.

Porrini nabbed third place with a time of 17:33 followed by Avon’s William Lancaster (17:40).

Not far behind was Central’s Chris Roy (tenth place, 18:28) and Patrick Wininger seized 20th place with a finish of 19:17.

Central’s Brayden Dwyer placed 34th overall (20:26) and teammate Lance Archibald (21:18) rounded out a very solid performance by the top five.

“It was great for the kids to get out and race today,” said Central coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk. “They’ve been training hard and many put in long miles over the summer. The boys had several strong performances led by senior Frankie Porrini. Fellow senior Chris Roy and junior Patrick Wininger look strong early on as well. Braydan Dwyer is stepping up as a freshman and Lance Archibald has the potential finish much higher.”

On the Eastern boys front, Dominic Tartarelli (25th, 19:40) led the charge for the Kingstreeters, followed by Jack Mulcunry (39th, 20:48), Aidan Tartarelli (44th, 21:07), Brendan Tartarelli (48th, 21:29) and Aidan Gezelman (49th, 21:36).

Central’s girls had four athletes in the field from the event at Simsbury.

Sophia Stark (23:42) led the squad with a 17th place showing while Kate Tran (26:01) earned 35th.

Lynae Lewis (36th, 26:03) and Maura Waters (42nd, 26:24) rounded up the grouping from Central.

“On the girls side junior Sophia Stark ramped up her summer training and it’s already showing. Fellow junior Katie Tran is looking strong and newcomer junior Lynae Lewis has established herself as a long sprinter on the track but is going to contribute well to this girls team. Sophomore Maura Waters had a great freshman campaign and will step up to support our girls team which should be the strongest it has been in a couple years.”

For the Eastern girls, freshmen Kaelyn Gonzalez finished in 12th place (22:49) while Lauren Ayotte (43rd, 26:29) performed well.

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