In a dominating performance, the Ridgefield High girls cross country team successfully defended its post-season three-peat.
After repeating as champs at the FCIAC and Class LL meets, the Tigers won their second straight State Open championship by a comfy 66 points on Sunday at Wickham Park in East Hartford. Ridgefield had 83 points to finish well ahead of runner-up Avon (149 points) in the 22-team field.
The Tigers also qualified for the upcoming New England championship — the top-six teams at the State Open advance to regionals.
Ridgefield’s Laura Hergenrother continued her impressive post-season with a third-place overall finish in a time of 19:22 for the 3.1-mile course.
Teammate Sarah Guilluame also finished in the top 10 as she was seventh overall in 19:38.
Caroline Carr (22nd, 20:08), Melissa Budicini (37th, 20:34) and Jeanne Jacullo (56th, 20:51) also contributed to Ridgefield’s team score.
The RHS boys team also ran well at the Open, finishing ninth with 247 points.
Trevor Hopper led the Tigers with a ninth-place overall finish in 16:35.
Kristian Sogaard was 38th (17:10), Gabriel Altopp 82nd (17:33), Ethan Realander 118th (17:59) and Clint Corso 127th (18:04) to round out the five Ridgefield scoring runners.
