Newington’s Bohlke, Somers’ St. Germain tops at Wickham Park
The Wickham Park Invitational returned Saturday, as many of the top runners in the state competed on the course for the first time since 2019.
Due to sizing limits, the structure of the 37th annual Invitational differed from previous races. Rather than large championship meets for the boys and girls, runners competed in small, medium and large school championships.
For the boys, the day’s top runner was Michael Bohlke. The Newington senior finished the course in 15:54 out of the large school championship, his first time breaking 16 minutes in cross country.
Rachel St. Germain of Somers had the best girls time, and was the only one to break 19 minutes with a time of 18:16 in the large school race.
North Kingston (Rhode Island), Avon and Hale Ray were the three winning teams in the boys races while Glastonbury, East Lyme and Bolton each claimed team championships for the girls.
LARGE RACES
The large boys race was highlighted by Bohlke.
“I came in and my goal was to finish under 16,” Bohlke said. “This is my first time running under 16 on a cross country course so the fact that I’m now five seconds under, I’m super happy about how today went.”
Wilbur Cross senior Nikita Omelchenko finished second in 16:18 while two New Hampshire runners finished third and fourth.
“This is the season I’ve done the most mileage and it’s been paying off,” Bohlke said. “When I was going around the corner I locked in, as soon as the clock came into sight it was just eye contact.”
The team championship was won by North Kingston, Rhode Island, which edged out second-place Hall by 18 points.
Somers’ St. Germain was the individual winner in the girls large race, outpacing the next runner by nearly a minute.
“It feels unreal to have the top time of the day,” St. Germain said. “I try to set my goals realistically so I was just trying to stay in the top today. I had broken 19 minutes before on other courses but I was not expecting it on Wickham.”
Meg Madison from Winsor (Mass.) and Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss (19:06) finished second and third.
MEDIUM RACES
In the boys medium race, Luke Anthony was the individual champion. The East Lyme senior finished in 16:03, which was the secondfastest time among all runners.
“Luke is a maniac,” East Lyme coach Mike Flynn said. “He is a nationally ranked triathlon, so this is the first time he has really focused on running. We had a plan of where he was going to make his move, and he made it and gapped the field pretty quickly. His fitness level is so high it’s hard to come back on him.”
On the girls side, it was Tolland senior Petyon Bornstein who claimed first place individually in 19:36.
SMALL RACES
Sean Kennedy-Wonneb was the individual winner in the early slotted small school races, and helped lead Hale Ray to a team win as well.
Kennedy-Wonneb finished in 16:34, and was followed by second-place finisher and teammate Micahel Kraszewski in 17:15.
The girls individual winner was Megan Minicucci of Bolton. The senior finished the course in 19:58, the only one to break 20 minutes in the small school race.