By Michael Letendre

MANCHESTER – The Bristol Central boys cross country program made up part of an extremely loaded field at the CIAC Class L championships from Wickham Park in Manchester on Saturday morning.

The Rams, behind a tremendous performance from its All-American steeplechaser, Frankie Porrini, ended the day in tenth place overall in the team standings.

Porrini nabbed 11th place overall at the event in 16:58 and for the third straight season, the harrier earned All-State honors.

“Senior Captain Frankie Porrini did not have the Class L race he wanted, or we expected but that’s racing,” said Central coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk. “Even though he didn’t have his best day he placed 11th to make the All-State team for the third year in a row and earned the opportunity to race again at the State Open Championship next Friday.”   

Teammate Chris Roy did extremely well, placing 24th overall with a time of 17:48.

That senior duo of Porrini and Roy were extremely proficient over a very busy 2022 slate.

Also, for the Rams, junior Patrick Wininger (18:10) came in 39th place, senior Lance Archibald (19:11) was 69th overall and Scott Petrosky (106th, 19:49) also ran well.

“Our boys stepped up today to place 10th in a tough L race,” said Central coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk. “Seniors Chris Roy, Lance Archibald and Scott Petrosky ran their final race for BCXC 

and left it all out on that course. I’m honored to have coached such wonderful boys these past four years.”

Rounding up Central’s top seven were Nick DiMatteo (113th, 20:02) and Aiden Georgakopoulos (128th, 20:54).

“Junior Patrick Wininger looks ready to lead a young and hungry team next year,” said Stafford-Kirk. “Sophomores Nick DiMatteo and Aiden Georgakopoulos have come such a long way this season and will step up to help us out even more next year.”

Xavier easily won the Class L title as the school’s top five athletes finished among the first 13 racers.

The program scored 36 points while New Milford (74) came in second place followed by Cheshire (148), Conard (162) and Shelton (176) to round out the top five.

The CIAC State Open event takes place on Friday, November 4 from Wickham Park at 2:45 p.m. and expect some big things from Porrini at the race.

Eastern in Class MM race

The boys from Eastern competed at the Class MM Championships on Saturday. 

The Kingstreeters ended up coming in 14th place overall and had several top finishers from Wickham Park.

The Lancers’ wheelhouse of Dominic Tartarelli (34th, 18:12), Jack Mulcunry (55th, 18:42), Brendan Tartarelli (76th, 19:13), and Aidan Tartarelli (91st, 19:46) were the top four runners from the Eastern program. 

Also for the Lancers, Dylan Prince (112th, 20:22), Cole Beland (122nd, 20:50) and Benjamin Kozikowski (124th, 20:57) all ran well for the locals that day and over the entire 2022 campaign.

“There’s certainly reason to be hungry for next year, but for now they should be proud of how far they’ve come,” said Eastern coach Paul Ryskowski.

East Lyme ran away with the Class MM Championship as the team scored 78 points while runner up Edwin O. Smith (115) was far off in the distance.