By Steve Bigham

Newtown resident Brian McGovern put an exclamation mark on a storied high school cross-country career last weekend in Thetford, Vermont when he won his second straight New England high school championship.

McGovern, a senior at Fairfield Prep, also ran away with the Connecticut State Open title just a week before. In that race, the local runner broke a 70-year-old course record when he crossed the finish line in 15:33.

The Open was held at the 3.1-mile loop at Wickham Park in Manchester. Ridgefield’s Steve Mucchetti finished second in 15:41, which also broke the course record.

Last Saturday, McGovern ignored the rain and muddy conditions to repeat last year’s performance at the New Englands. He won in a time of 16:07, coming in three seconds ahead of Mint Henk of U-32, a high school in Vermont. Last year, McGovern became the first Connecticut runner to capture this event since Staples’ Tom Scheeran ran to glory in 1988.

On Saturday, McGovern will compete in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional Cross-Country Championships at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. He will need to finish among the top eight runners if he is to return to the national cross-country championships at Disney World in Orlando next month. A year ago, McGovern finished sixth at the regional, becoming the first Connecticut runner to qualify for the nationals since JT Burke of Xavier High in Middletown did it back in 1988.

McGovern finished 15th out of 32 runners at last year’s national meet – good enough for All-American status.

The national meet will be aired on ESPN some time in December. McGovern is determined to be there for a return trip.

So how does McGovern expect to fare against the nation’s best?

“It’s hard to say. It depends on the other runners,” he said this week. “The top 10 would be a realistic goal, but there are some phenomenal runners out there.”

Among them is Nathan Ratzenhein of Michigan who will attend the University of Colorado next year. He is considered to be the best high school runner in the country right now.

The son of Phil and Kathleen of Newtown, Brian will attend the University of North Carolina next fall and join the Tar Heel’s cross-country team.

“I just committed last week,” McGovern said.

McGovern says he does not believe in the gene pool theory, which states that humans may inherit certain characteristics or traits from their parents. Despite the fact that his entire family has enjoyed different levels of running success over the years, the youngest McGovern believes genetics has nothing to do with it.

“I think it has more to do with the fact that I was exposed to running at such a young age,” he said. “Not many people have that same kind of exposure.”

McGovern remembers watching his oldest sister Katie flourish on the cross-country circuit. A 1990 NHS graduate, Katie was the first of the four McGovern kids to test the distance running waters. Her success helped pave the way for the kind of career that her younger brother is now experiencing.