With a strong team effort, the Trumbull High boys cross country team placed sixth Saturday at the Class LL championship meet at Wickham Park in Manchester.
In addition to the Class LL competition, the meet also determines the teams that qualify for the State Open Championship meet, and based on their performance the Eagles will be racing this Friday against the top teams in the State.
It is the first time since 1997 that Trumbull will be competing as a team at the Open meet.
“This was the fastest team time we have ever run at Wickham Park by about two minutes,” coach Jeff Klein said. “The race has been run at location for over twenty years and in that time we have never had more than four runners under eighteen minutes in the Class LL meet.
"This year all seven of our runners accomplished that, which is great. They worked very hard for this and it was great to see their strong result. We look forward to competing (at the Open) to see what we can do against the best in the state.”
Charlie Taubl was the Eagles’ top placer, as he was 15th overall, just missing All State honors. His time of 16:38 on the five kilometer course tied his own team record for fastest time ever at Wickham.
Tyler Rubush (36th) and Chris Alegi (37th) were next for the Eagles, in 17:12 and 17:13.
Tyler Gleen was 48th and Tevor Rochelle 56th in 17:25 and 17:33, respectively.
Beau DeMelo placed 69th and Jack Stachura 78th.
The team totaled 192 points, finishing behind Staples in first, followed by Danbury, Xavier, Warde, and Amity.
Overall of the over 150 schools competing in the Class championship meets, Trumbull had the seventh fastest time of the day.