Bohlke, 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 (R.I.), 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, 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.”

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.”

Meg Madison from Winsor (Massachusetts) and Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss (19:06) finished second and third.

Strauss’ effort helped lead Glastonbury as the girls big school team winners, beating out North Kingstown, Rhode Island, by 28 points.

MEDIUM RACES

In the boys medium race, Luke Anthony was the individual champion. The East Lyme senior finished in 16:03, which was the second-fastest time among all runners.

Jack Martin was the second-place finisher with a time of 16:19, leading his Avon squad to first place in the medium school team rankings.

On the girls side, it was Tolland senior Petyon Bornstein who claimed first place individually in 19:36.

The medium girls team winner was East Lyme, also coached by Flynn. Despite no top-10 finishes, the team beat out second-place Tolland by a total of 47 points.