NEW HAVEN — On any given school day in the fall, it is impossible to miss the pack of talented runners putting in the work on a drive down or up Randolph Road in Middletown. The countless miles and challenging practices all seemed worth it when the Mercy and Xavier High School teams sweep the team titles at the Southern Connecticut Conference championships at East Shore Park on Wednesday.

It began with the girls’ varsity race when Mercy sophomore Cora Wasiolek held off a spirited challenge from Hand’s Annecy Vlieks to win the 5-kilometer race in a personal-best time of 18:36.06. 

“I didn’t look back, I said I just have to go and I just pushed,” Wasiolek said. “It feels really good. Coming in, I was a little nervous. It was kind of a tossup [with Vlieks and Mercy’s Sarah Roberts in the lead pack]. 

Roberts finished third and teammate Ruby Kuselias placed fifth as Mercy won the team title for the second season in a row with 36 points. Cheshire was second, followed by Hand and Amity.

“That is our big goal always,” Mercy cross country coach Matt Conyers said. “We have a lot of respect for the teams we compete against in the SCC and this meet means a lot. We always want to go all in on this race. It is a great starting point for our postseason.

“It has been an interesting year, but this was one that we needed to follow through on, and I am really proud of how calm the girls were before the race and how they executed.”

Less than three seconds separated Wasiolek and Vliets in the girls’ race. The boys’ race saw Amity senior Luke Cushing win in dominant fashion for the second year in a row in 15:43.15.

Led by Nolan O’Connor’s fourth-place finish, Xavier had six runners in the top 10 to win the SCC boys’ team title for the 10th year in a row. The Falcons won with 32 points with Amity at 44.

With Cushing winning the race and Evan Griffiths finishing third, Amity made Xavier work to keep its string of SCC titles intact.

“We knew that they would put up a fight,” Xavier cross country coach Chris Stonier said of Amity. “They kept us looking behind our backs until the very end.”

Xavier had two pack of runners separated by less than 10 seconds and that was enough in the closest race in the SCC boys’ team competition since 2016.

It made for a memorable trip back to Randolph Road for the victorious teams.

“It is great for the schools,” Stonier said. “Having coached the girls for the past couple of years, they are a very talented group, very deserving student-athletes. I am proud of them and for the Randolph Road community.”

Cushing won the boys’ individual title by 23 seconds in 2024. It was a little closer this year, with Hamden’s Alexander Medina finishing less than 16 seconds behind the Amity senior.

“First mile, I wanted to go out nice and conservative,” Cushing said. “I didn’t want to push it too crazy or anything. In Mile 2, the goal was to push it. I wanted to create separation from the pack, really push the pace and make some guys kind of second guess why they are out there today.”

He saved his best for the last mile of the race. Having a strong showing by his teammates only made his accomplishment all the sweeter.

“We wanted to come away with the win today,” Cushing said. “We are really excited about the future of this team. Getting second to a really solid program in Xavier, we are all really proud of that.”

Final Girls Team Results: 1. Mercy, 36; 2. Cheshire, 91; 3. Daniel Hand, 122; 4. Amity Regional, 127; 5. Guilford, 146; 6. Shelton, 176; 7. Sacred Heart Academy, 192; 8. Hamden, 199; 9. North Haven, 216; 10. Wilbur Cross, 248; 11. Lauralton Hall, 256; 12. Lyman Hall, 285; 13. Jonathan Law, 380; 14. Foran, 403

Cora Wasiolek (Mercy), 18:36; 2. Annecy Vlieks (Daniel Hand), 18:38; 3. Sarah Roberts (Mercy), 18:57; 4. Stephanie Sanborn (Shelton), 19:40; 5. Ruby Kuselias (Mercy), 19:50; 6. Claire Theiss (Amity Regional), 19:53; 7. Emily D’Souza (Cheshire), 19:55; 8. Kendall Montabana (North Haven), 20:02; 9. Olivia Jackson (Guilford), 20:03; 10. Eleanor Chamberlain (Sheehan), 20:06; 11. Lisa Koivukangas (Shelton), 20:14; 12. Madeleine Caron (Amity Regional), 20:23; 13. Mackenzie Spooner (Sacred Heart Academy), 20:25; 14. Alyson Low (Mercy), 20:26; 15. Allison Pelletier (Mercy), 20:31; 16. Sally Banks (Sacred Heart Academy), 20:34; 17. Skielyz Reyes (Hamden), 20:35; 18. Alexa Tirado (Cheshire), 20:40; 19. Fiona Cox (Wilbur Cross), 20:41; 20. Ava Ciccone (Cheshire), 20:44; 21. Maribel Smith (Daniel Hand), 20:48; 22. Kate Cushing (Amity Regional), 20:49; 23. Sophie Perrin (Lyman Hall), 20:52; 24. Harper Vanacore (Sheehan), 20:57

Final Boys Team Results: 1. Xavier, 32; 2. Amity Regional, 44; 3. Hamden, 108; 4. Guilford, 132; 5. Daniel Hand, 154; 6. Cheshire, 187; 7. Notre Dame, 193; 8. Shelton, 251; 9. North Haven, 253; 10. Fairfield Prep, 286; 11. Wilbur Cross, 297; 12. Lyman Hall, 318; 13. Hillhouse, 332; 14. Sheehan, 334; 15. Foran, 399; 16. Jonathan Law, 400; 17. West Haven, 530

Luke Cushing (Amity Regional), 15:43; 2. Alex Medina (Hamden), 15:58; 3. Evan Griffiths (Cheshire), 16:13; 4. Nolan O’Connor (Xavier), 16:17; 5. Landon Rubano (Xavier), 16:25; 6. Peter Torello (Xavier), 16:26; 7. Jack Mooney (Cheshire), 16:39; 8. Jackson Gould (Xavier), 16:41; 9. Holden Hines (Xavier), 16:43; 10. Xavier Laudati (Xavier), 16:50; 11. Lucas Cohen (Amity Regional), 16:53; 12. Benjamin Tomaszewski (Amity Regional), 16:55; 13. Zayd Vohra (Hamden), 16:55; 14. Lewis Thoreen (Guilford), 16:59.3; 15. Daniel Carone (Notre Dame), 16:59.7; 16. JJ Funk (Daniel Hand), 17:01; 17. Cooper Tomaszewski (Amity Regional), 17:06; 18. Dimitry Komanetsky (North Haven), 17:06; 19. Jordan Espinosa (Guilford), 17:09; 20. Julian Quintero-Perez (Hamden), 17:10; 21. Max Millard (Daniel Hand), 17:12; 22. Samuel Haddad (Lyman Hall), 17:14; 23. James Perrault (Xavier), 17:15; 24. Truman Kaczmarczyk (Amity Regional), 17:18