Newington’s Bohlke, Somers’ St. Germain win at Wickham
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 Michael Bohlke, who had the top time of all runners throughout the day.
“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.”
The second-place finisher clocked in 24 seconds after Bohlke.
“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.”
Wilbur Cross senior Nikita Omelchenko finished second in 16:18 while two New Hampshire runners finished third and fourth.
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, clocking in at 18:16, nearly a minute before the next runner to cross the line.
“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.”