Fairfield Prep cross country coach Bob Ford Jr. could get used to this. For the second year in a row and the fourth in his career, Ford will be heading to San Diego in two weeks for the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships on Dec. 9.
This year he will be going with junior Christian Alvarado, who finished eighth in the seeded division with a time of 15:49.1 at Saturday's Foot Locker Northeast Regional race at New York's Van Cortlandt Park.
While there are four other divisions who competed Saturday -- freshman, sophomore, junior and senior -- only the top eight in the seeded race qualify for the national meet. The top eight in each division earn all-Northeast Regional honors. Alvarado, who won the Northeast Regional title in the sophomore division a year ago, was the top runner from Connecticut.
"You have to be a special talent to qualify for the national race," said Ford, who had Connor Rog last season and Brian McGovern in 1999 and 2000 qualify. "And Christian has been doing wonderfully in the postseason."
Other Fairfield Prep runners also fared well. They were senior Scott Ball, who was 15th with a time of 18:12 to earn second-team honors; juniors James Mullikan (21st, 18:04) and Matt Scholl (23rd, 18:08), who earned third-team honors; sophomore Andy Thane, who earned first-team honors after finishing eighth in his division with a time of 17:46; and freshmen George Crist (17th, 18:43) and Jack O'Connor (18th, 18:45), who both earned third-team honors.
Christian Alvarado '14 wins Jesuit Cross Country championship
Christian Alvarado of Fairfield Prep won the 2012 Jesuit Cross Country Championship at New York City’s Van Cortlandt Park on Nov. 17. His winning time of 12:55.19 for the 4K race was the only time under 13 minutes among a field of 69 runners. Tyler Spear of Loyola Blakefield (Maryland) was second with a time of 13:10.85.
For Alvarado, this Jesuit Championship win comes off a successful running of the New England Cross Country Championships in Cumberland, Maine, where Alvarado placed 9th and was named to the All New England team. Next stop for Alvarado is the Footlocker Northeast Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park on Nov. 24.
Note: Photo is Alvarado's First Place win at the SCC Championship
Alvarado '14 wins SCC Cross Country Championship
Christian Alvarado '14, Andy Thane '15 and James Mulliken '14 named ALL- SCC
MADISON -- Fairfield Prep's Christian Alvarado captured the SCC boys cross country championship in a time of 16:14.92 on October 18 at Hammonasset State Park.
Alvarado's triumph helped lead the Jesuits to a second-place finish with 64 points. Xavier won the title with 46 points.
Aiding Prep's cause was a 10th place finish by James Mulliken (16:42.55), 11th from Andy Thane (16:43.95), 16th by Alec Hilton (16:59.15), 26th from Scott Ball (17:19.40) and 29th from Raphael Kinney (17:22.55). Read more.
Prep Cross Country wins Wilton Invitational
Congratulations to the Prep Varsity Cross Country team for their Large School Division victory at this weekend’s Wilton Invitational. Christian Alvarado '14 was first overall and Andy Thane '15 and Alec Hilton '14 were trophy winners. The JV team finished 2nd in their race. View more photos.
Prep cross country hopeful to repeat as state champions
MADISON -- When Fairfield Prep cross country coach Bob Ford and his team, including star runner Connor Rog, learned last week that the State Open championships would be run at Hammonasset State Park instead of the usual venue at Wickham Park in Manchester, they were a bit disappointed.
"We're a team that trains on hills, which is what Wickham Park has," Ford said Tuesday. "Hammonasset is all flat, so we felt it might be a disadvantage, even though we run there in the SCC championships every year."
It turns out Ford had nothing to worry about as Rog set a course record with a time of 15:22 to win the State Open and help lead the Jesuits to the team title.
Fairfield Prep, which won the Class LL title as well, finished with 109 points, while Xavier, the SCC champion, took second with 150 points. FCIAC champion Danbury (155), Amity (157) and Darien (170) rounded out the top five. "The kid ran wonderfully," Ford said. "It was very much a team victory."
While Rog finished 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Harry Warnick of Fairfield Warde, the Jesuits got a 14th-place finish from Christian Alvarado (16:17), 28th from Patrick Corona (16:38), 42nd from Michael Whelan (16:49) and 77th from Scott Ball (17:17) to aid the victory.
Rog, who is undefeated this season, will now turn his attention to Saturday's New England Regional in Rhode Island as well as the Foot Locker Northeast Regional in New York. "I love the New England race and I'm studying the competition," said Rog, who is going to the University of North Carolina.
Rog '12 and Cross Country Team win Class LL Championship
Pictured from left: Patrick Corona, Ford-Jr, Michael Whelan, Christian Alvarado, James Mullikan, Matt Scholl, Brendan Terry, Scott Ball, Raphael Kinney, Alec Hilton, Billy Schloth, James Murphy, Ford-Sr, Connor Rog.
MANCHESTER -- Fairfield Prep's Connor Rog and Fairfield Warde's Harry Warnick were victorious at the CIAC cross country championship meets at Wickham Park. Rog won the Class LL individual crown for the third straight year, finishing the course in 15:50--20 seconds before second-place finisher Jake Feinstein of Newtown.
Fairfield Prep won the Class LL team championship with 81 points. "We came in knowing that we could do that (finish first as a team) or knowing that we could finish fourth or fifth depending on how other the teams did," Fairfield Prep coach Bob Ford said. "There are a lot of good teams out there and we had a good day. Our top four guys finished in front of the number ones of a lot of other teams."
The Jesuits' Christian Alvarado finished fifth (16:24), Patrick Corona was 11th (16:33) and Michael Whelan placed 13th (16:38). Other regional runners with top 10 finishes were Staples' Henry Wynne (Class LL, third, 16:13), Fairfield Prep's Christian Alvarado (LL, fifth, 16:24), Barlow's Logan Fulton (M, third, 16:39) and Weston's Noah Krassin (M, ninth, 17:03).
Cross Country team-only specific information is on BlackBoard - all team members are enrolled in "Cross Country" as a class. Please use Blackboard for the most up-to-date team information for runners and parents.
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Fairfield Prep cross country coach Bob Ford Jr. could get used to this. For the second year in a row and the fourth in his career, Ford will be heading to San Diego in two weeks for the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships on Dec. 9.
Christian Alvarado of Fairfield Prep won the 2012 Jesuit Cross Country Championship at New York City’s Van Cortlandt Park on Nov. 17. His winning time of 12:55.19 for the 4K race was the only time under 13 minutes among a field of 69 runners. Tyler Spear of Loyola Blakefield (Maryland) was second with a time of 13:10.85.
MADISON -- Fairfield Prep's Christian Alvarado captured the SCC boys cross country championship in a time of 16:14.92 on October 18 at Hammonasset State Park.
MADISON -- When Fairfield Prep cross country coach Bob Ford and his team, including star runner Connor Rog, learned last week that the State Open championships would be run at Hammonasset State Park instead of the usual venue at Wickham Park in Manchester, they were a bit disappointed.
