By Christopher DeMuth
This Wednesday, teams from around Fairfield county gathered in Waveny park for the annual FCIAC cross country championship. Coming to a nail-biting finish, let’s see how our athletes did!
Despite star athletes Ryan Boulanger and Spencer Paine graduating last year, our program at New Canaan High School has remained a powerhouse. Like many other town sports at New Canaan, our running teams benefit from flourishing youth sport programs, which keep a steady flow of star athletes in our rosters. This year, Boys Varsity has seen standouts in the senior class, most notably Ryan Monohan and Quinn Quilkenny.
Ryan Monohan recently made news when he announced his commitment to Amherst Running for fall of 2026, with friends and family eagerly waiting for his performance. On Wednesday, he took 41st place overall with a time of 17:21, 4th for New Canaan. Along with other runners on the team, he is looking forward to state championships this weekend on the 25th.
Taking 4th overall and 1st for New Canaan, Quinn Quilkenny had a fantastic performance. With a time of 15:52, and within 4 seconds of 1st place, it was a battle throughout the entire race. Quinn has proven an upset this year, as despite his incredible performance this season, it is actually his first year running cross country. In this short time, Quinn broke the school record for the boys 5k with a time of 15:35.8 at the Great American XC festival, a record that had stood since 2018 under Andrew Malling.
An unfortunate turn on an otherwise happy day, Greenwich runner Ryan Newcomb, the 1st place finisher, made several comments on his post-race interview alleging certain misconduct among New Canaan runners. Specifically, he claimed that certain FCIAC runners were claiming fake PRs from the Great American XC festival, calling it a “short course”. In reality, a large majority of FCIAC runners ran much faster at the FCIAC championships in Waveny than they did in North Carolina. This is highly indicative that the Great American course down south is actually significantly harder than Waveny park’s FCIAC course. Other than these comments, Newcomb represented his team well, taking 1st place with a time of 15:48.
Coming back to New Canaan, the juniors of the team saw a splendid performance. Coming in close together, junior runners Boyd Cousley and Charlie Cavanagh took 29th and 31st places, with times of 16:50 and 16:59 respectively. Liam Gonzalez, took a season record for himself with a time of 18:30.
Though dominated by upperclassmen, both sophomore varsity runners had successful race days at this FCIAC championship. Oscar Humphreys had a standout performance with his placement of 5th overall for New Canaan, a 17:55 run that earned 58th place and a PR. The second sophomore, Peter Tsapralis, had a successful day in his own right when he took 85th place with a time of 19:07, a PR.
Towards the start of the race, New Canaan runners formed a running line, a common racing tactic among teams. By doing this, runners benefit from help pacing themselves, preventing competing teams from taking placements, and demoralizing opponents. These lines typically die out naturally, stemming from different runners holding their own race pacing. Although this was largely true on Wednesday, remnants of the line could be seen with runners Cormac Quilkenny and Cooper Smith. Finishing within a second of each other, these runners not only took 70 and 71st places, but also took home dual PRs. Cormac Quilkeny was the faster of the two, taking 18:17, with Cooper Smith nipping at his heels for a time of 18:17.6.
Throughout the race, top NC runners Ryan Monohan and Quinn Quilkenny fought hard in the top pack of runners. Quinn, after the race, attributed his success in part to his luck in placement. Because of where the pack formed, he was largely protected from aggressive runners easily passing him, and found himself free to concentrate more on the race. Looking forward to the next race, runner Ryan Monohan hopes to position himself more actively in the first kilometer of the race, which would set him up in a stronger position for the race as a whole.
Moving away from Varsity, New Canaan saw Boys JV take 7th overall. While a slightly lower team placement then compared to Varsity, the JV team saw incredible individual success.
Standing out in this race was Sean Deasy and Jake Triana. Both took home PRs with a time of 19:27, scoring places 35 & 36. Senior Blake DiCapua also saw a strong performance with a time of 19:36 and 39th place. Runners Owen Edmonds and Niko Nikeas had great races, with both athletes achieving PRs, timed 20:42 and 21:12 respectively.
The Freshman team had the best performance out of the 3 boys teams, taking 2nd place overall. This included a 1st place finish from Conor Harding, closely followed by a 4th place spot from Edward Carr. Rounding out the top 10, runner John Spilker took 9th place. Micheal Cantu, another strong New Canaan freshman, saw a 15th place finish with friends Ethan Pound and Teddy L’Henaff closely following. Ryan McGloin took 71st place, notably breaking through a Greenwich line on the last turn. Breaking from the patterns of the JV and Varsity races, a group of freshmen including Kellen Wong, Everett Wingate, Arav Kamboj and Ryan Schimmeck stayed close together throughout most of the race. For the NCHS freshman, this was a very successful race.
Overall, Boys Varsity saw a very successful day. Out of 9 athletes, 5 of them saw PRs on this race, with 1 more taking a season record. With a 2:03 spread between 1st and 5th place, New Canaan took home 5th place overall as a team in the Varsity race. Looking ahead to this week, New Canaan runners will be competing in the CIAC state championships, with coaches and players hopeful of a strong performance. Following this race, runners will get a short break before starting their winter track season.
