BETHEL -- There was a little bit of everything Thursday at the SWC cross country championships.

The meet featured a pair of individual records, a repeat team champion, a dethroning of a seven-time champ and a tribute to Bethel track athlete James Thomsen, who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer.

New Fairfield's teams wore special T-shirts with the initials `JT' on the back and presented them as a tribute to members of the Bethel team.

"It's not all about winning and losing," said New Fairfield coach Tim Murphy. "This kid's in the fight of his life. That's a race nobody wants to run."

As for the meet, held on the Mark Goodwin Cross Country Course, Bunnell's Lauren Sara clocked in at 18:43.66 to break her own course record of 18:52 set earlier this month.

New Milford won the girls team title, ending Newtown's streak of seven straight championships. The Green Wave finished with 68 points -- ahead of Newtown, which won the tie breaker for second place at 84 points with Pomperaug.

On the boy side, the New Milford boys extended their streak of SWC titles to eight. The Green Wave placed seven runners in the top 20 and scored 45 points to edge second-place Pomperaug (55).

"Our luck's going to run out sometime," said New Milford coach Chris Bacich, "but hopefully not soon."

"I thought we'd score 77 today and we ended up scoring 68 so everybody stepped it up," said New Milford girls coach Tom Marks. "They all worked so hard."

The boys first-place finisher also enjoyed record-setting day.

New Fairfield's John Raneri was also an easy winner in a time of 16:00.35 to break the boys' record by 19 seconds.

The Nike track All-American said he ran a 4:48 first mile and was feeling "pretty comfortable" until he remembered that the course's infamous steep hill was coming up.

"I just forgot how hard `The Beast' was," said Raneri. "But as soon as I hit the two-mile, I knew that breaking 16 was going to be close so I just pushed my pace as hard as I could possibly push it."

After Sara crossed the finish line and walked into the grass beyond the track, she turned to look back at the stretch run of 100-plus yards to see who might have been gaining on her.

But the track was still empty.

Second-place finisher Brittany Mendelson of Pomperaug finished more than a minute behind at 19:54.87, followed by teammate Sara Greco at 19:59.

"Somebody told me they were right behind me," said Sara.

"It was one of my teammates probably because I have trouble pushing at the end so she wanted me to go as fast as I could."

Raneri didn't have any competition for the top boys spot either.

New Milford's Zach Kraus finshed in 16:44.03, followed by Joel Barlow's Connor Stauffer at 16:57.81.


Team Scores

1. New Milford, 45; 2. Pomperaug, 55; 3. Weston, 95; 4. New Fairfield, 120; 5. Newtown, 161; 6. Brookfield, 168; 7. Joel Barlow, 170; 8. Bunnell, 189; 9. Bethel, 213; 10. Immaculate, 222; 11. Oxford, 343; 12. Masuk, 369; 13. Notre Dame-Fairfield, 391.

Top 25 Individuals

1. John Raneri, NF, 16:00.35; 2. Zach Kraus, NM, 16:57.81; 3. Connor Stauffer, JB, 16:57.81; 4. Joel Anderson, M, 17:04.72; 5. Colin McCrory, P, 17:06.17; 6. Jon Bauer, P, 17:06.57; 7. Jake Critelli, P, 17:12.80; 8. Spencer Mannion, Brook., 17:14.69; 9. James Bloom, W, 17:19.53; 10. Jake Delucia, NF, 17:20.17; 15. Cole Rossiter, M, 17:31.58; 16. Stephan Vento, W, 17:42.93; 17. Nick Hull, Bun., 17:46.93; 19. Steve Piscetelli, W, 17:56.88; 21. Bruce Berkeley, Bun., 18:07.02; 23. Jake Feinstein, N, 18:14.38; 24. Ryan Gilmore, W, 18:15.55;


Team scores

1. New Milford, 68; 2. Newtown, 84; 3. Pomperaug, 84; 4. New Fairfield, 118; 5. Weston, 157; 6. Bethel, 165; 7. Bunnell, 170; 8. Brookfield, 208; 9. Oxford, 233; 10. Immaculate, 256; 11. Masuk, 312; 12. Joel Barlow, 321; 13. Lauralton Hall, 328; 14. Notre Dame-Fairfield, 368.


1. Lauren Sara, Bun, 19:43.66; 2. Brittany Mendelson, P, 19:54.87; 3. Sara Greco, P, 19:59.04; 4. Katie Collins, I, 20:01.02; 5. Allie Thoms, NF, 20:11.08; 6. Jen Paradison, NM, 20:11.86; 7. Jess Walsh, W, 20:13.26; 8. Annie Martino, N, 20:19.03; 9. Rose Willey, Brook., 20:31.59; 10. Erin Begg, N, 20:36.08; 12. Katie Burns, N, 20:51.26; 13. Jenna Roberts, M, 21:00.34; 15. Cassie Gildea, LH, 21:15.25; 19. Mara Scallon, N, 21:36.56; 21. Kara Bucaro, W, 21:38.16; 22. Skyler Werner, O, 21:43.26; 23.