MANCHESTER – It was Brooke Strauss’ last high school race at Wickham Park, where she’s raced so much over her last four years, and she wanted to make it memorable.
Strauss, a Glastonbury senior who won the State Open cross country championship last week, won the New England cross country title for the first time Saturday, running a personal best of 17 minutes, 46 seconds over 5,000 meters. Old Lyme junior Chase Gilbert made it a 1-2 Connecticut finish, finishing second in 17:53.
“I’m really happy to have my last race here be a good one,” said Strauss, who will run at UConn next year. “Definitely hearing people on the course, lots of people cheering for me and Chase, that was cool.”
Soheib Dissa of Newtown won the boys race in 15:13. Ridgefield was the boys team champion with 63 points and East Lyme was second (160). Champlain Valley (Vt.) won the girls team title (100) while Glastonbury was the first state team (fifth, 191).
Strauss finished third at the New England championships last year after finishing second in the State Open and second at the Class LL championship.
This year, she dominated, starting with winning the CCC championship, then the Class LL title, then the Open – all in the familiar confines of Wickham Park.
Gilbert pushed Strauss the entire race until Strauss broke away from her in the last 200 meters.
“It was really great to have a really competitive race,” Strauss said. “(Mikita Barry from Bedford, N.H., who finished third) and Chase were pushing it from the start. That’s really what I was hoping for going into it. Me and Chase, we were going back and forth for a little while. She made it really tough on me.”
It was also Gilbert’s personal best time at Wickham. It was warm at the State Open, so she enjoyed Saturday’s cooler temperatures.
“We were working with each other, and she broke away and I was just saying to myself, ‘Brooke is Brooke, she’s at a different level, let her go, just run as best as you can, you have a really good chance of getting second now.’
“Having her right there along with me feeling better was really important. I hope I was able to help her. We’re good friends. I’m really happy she got the win for her senior year and I’m really happy I got second.”
For complete results, go to www.nestiming.com.