Accurso, Seniors Lead Boys XC at Conference

GHS boys' cross country captains (l-r) Jackson Stone, Cody Stone, Will Haddad, and Joseph Accurso

After losing several top runners to graduation last year, Glastonbury boys cross country started the 2021 season in a rebuilding process and are finishing as a solidified unit.

Last Tuesday, the Guardians placed 6th at the conference final, besting 24 other schools.     

Senior Joseph Accurso said, “We had a rocky start to the regular season, a little slower start than we’d like, but we’ve used this season to collectively grow and build from the ground up. In that aspect, we’ve come further than what we thought we would. That record we had and the scores we had in the regular season are a lot higher than we first might have expected.”

Accurso was Glastonbury’s top runner, finishing 14th with a time of 17:07 at the CCC finals at Wickham Park in Manchester. Conard’s Callum Sherry won the event with a time of 15:31. 

“He’s talented enough and he’s had the work ethic to do what he has done,” said head coach Mark Alexander. “What has helped him is being in the division we are in. Conard, Hall, Avon, Simsbury are some of the top teams in the state with the top runners and Joe runs with them stride for stride. They pull him along, which makes him a better runner.”

Assistant coach Kim Libera added that Accurso has matured as a runner, “He bought into the program as a freshman, so the goal for him is to keep getting as much hardware as he can earn. We left it up to him, we didn’t say save it all for the end of the year and we didn’t tell him to blow every race apart. When you’re feeling good, you go.” 

Accurso is captaining the team, along with Will Haddad and twin brothers Cody and Jackson Stone.

Haddad had a top-20 finish in the Junior Varsity race, finishing as the Guardians top runner in the event.

“A course like Wickham is so well known in this area and is so hard. It’s got the infamous Green Monster and racing there before is a huge advantage for us, knowing when to push and where to back off, but ultimately a lot of teams we’re running against are in the same position,” said Haddam. “The team is pretty confident. We’ve built up during the year and gotten better in workouts throughout the year. We’ve seen improving times from everybody on the team, especially the younger runners, and our confidence is about as high as it’s been all year.”

Alexander said the example set by the captains have bled over into the underclassmen.  

“The younger guys saw that work ethic in Joseph and Will and they just copied it. It wasn’t necessarily the younger guys pushing the older guys, it was more of the younger guys wanting to be like the older guys.”

The Stone Brothers both finished the conference finals course with sub-19:30 times. Cody (19:19) and Jackson (19:27).

“A lot of guys have been improving, getting PR after PR, and that’s good to see as a captain. All the guys are super enthusiastic about practice every day and it’s motivating,” said Cody. “[This season] has been a blur. It feels like we just started racing yesterday, but we’ve had a lot of races in that blur so I think we have the experience to perform well.”

Jackson added, “Even though it's been a quick season, we’ve been able to enjoy it and hang out in and outside of practice. It’s been good because we had a bunch of freshmen coming in this year. It’s nice to see them so interested and wanting to be a part of the sport. They are really committed and it makes us a better team.”

Junior Harrison Krause was the second Glastonbury runner to cross the line, finishing 36th with a time of 17:59.

Alexander has been impressed with Krause’s development, “He’s taken four minutes off his time at Wickham over the last couple of years. We wouldn’t be doing as well if it wasn’t for him.”

Rounding out the top five Guardians runners in the varsity race were: Kevin Graziosi (18:07), Dominic Pena (18:30), and Cameron Colletti (18:56).

Freshman Austyn Neidel was the second Guardians runner to cross the line in the JV race placing 27th with a time of 19:48. Neidel was followed by sophomore Max Pawelek (20:06).

“The freshmen have really surprised us,” Accurso said. “They’ve come in here and put in the work. They are doing everything that they are supposed to. That speaks to the future of this team and all the great work the coaches are doing to prepare us for this championship season.”

Haddad added, “In years past, the varsity team has been set and there isn’t a lot of competition, but this year is different. We have a lot of competition. They pushed us as a team and pushed us to improve.”

Thanks to Haddad, Neidel, and Pawelek, Christopher Andriola, Jace Lewis, and Ben Yalof, the Guardians placed 3rd overall in the JV race.

Alexander added that a combination of the senior leaders and the strong tradition of the program can motivate the younger
runners, “They might not be at Joe’s level, but now they know where they want to get to. It’s going to make a better program down the road and it’s making us a better team right now. We want them to get used to running uncomfortable, so when we are at Wickham they’re used to it and can get through it. It’s what they all are doing now and their times are dropping.”

Next are the Class LL finals at Wickham Park on Saturday, Oct 30. The meet starts at 1 p.m.

Because of the cancellation of last year’s state final, this will be the first time the cross country program has competed on a state-level since they finished fifth overall in the 2019 Class LL state championships. 

​Heading into the state finals, coach Libera is happy with the team’s progress, “We didn’t expect to win any because we know it was a rebuilding year. They’re a little bit ahead of where we expected them to be.”