CIAC boys cross country championships: Haddam-Killingworth claims 3rd straight Class SS crown

Runners in the Class S boys race take to the course during the CIAC Boys Cross Country Championships held Saturday, October 31, 2026, at Wickham Park in Manchester. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media) Six CIAC boys cross country teams and runners will be crowned champions Saturday at Wickham Park in Manchester. Here's the rundown.Madden, Immaculate rule Class SEast Granby sophomore Rockwell Madden won the small division race at the 43rd Wickham Park XC Invitational in Manchester on Oct. 10. Three weeks later, he became a state champion for the first time.Madden won the Class S championship in 16:37.2. As he got to chute near the finish line, Madden used his fingers to display the ‘EAST GRANBY' across his jersey."I'm not sure I would have believed it if I told myself at the beginning of the season," Madden said about winning the championship. "But after winning the invitational, that kind of helped set the state championship in my mind."In a terrific team battle, Immaculate defeated Thomaston by one point, 53-54."We knew all season that they were the favorites going in. They're a great team with great coaching," Immaculate coach Chris Houser said about Thomaston.Christian Fappiano was the first Mustang to cross the line, taking sixth place overall in 17:09.2. Bear seniors Beau Kociszewski (16:59.8) and Braden Walker (17:06.5) finished third and fifth overall. Immaculate's finishes of fifth, seventh, 11th, 14th and 16th were enough to hold off Thomaston, which took third, fourth, eighth, 19th and 20th."Every one on our team PRed," Houser said, adding: "All season, they've been doing the workouts, they've been doing the right things to recover. That's where the work is."Full resultsBerardino, Voegtli lead the way for H-K three-peat in Class SSHaddam-Killingworth secured a team three-peat, and it did so with a big finish up front. Evan Berardino ran to a first-place finish in 16:42.6 and teammate Wyatt Voegtli was right behind him in second at 16:50.6.Trey Downing was sixth in 17:19.5 and Paul Birkmeyer was seventh (17:22.2). RJ Ortega completed the Cougars' top five with a 17th-place finish in 17:52.3."Just incredible," Berardino said. "I love all the boys, all the hard work they put in, and just a great group of guys. I've loved working with them all year."H-K dominated the team race with 33 points. East Hampton was second with 89."It feels good to carry on something that's been going on for years now," Berardino said.The championship is the 14th for the Cougars, beginning in 1980. In a long run of dominance, H-K won state crowns in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, and it was the runner-up to Old Lyme in 2013.Full resultsClass M12 p.m.Full resultsClass MM1:20 p.m.Full resultsClass L2:20 p.m.Full resultsClass LL3:20 p.m.Full resultsSign up for the Connecticut Briefing from CT Insider. Get the biggest headlines of the day from our network of journalists around the state.This article originally published at CIAC boys cross country championships: Haddam-Killingworth claims 3rd straight Class SS crown.