Sports
Dissa Second In State Open, Advances To New England Championships
Published: Nov 10, 2023 7:00 am
Newtown High School cross country standout Soheib Dissa followed up his first-place South-West Conference and Class L State championship performances with a second-place outcome in the State Open, at Wickham Park in Manchester, on November 6. The Open featured the top runners from all class sizes throughout the state.
Ridgefield’s Steven Hergenrother was first in a time of 15:32 and Dissa completed the course in 15:37. The top 25 runners advance to the New England Regional Championships at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, Maine, on Saturday, November 11. New England competitors are striving to qualify for the Nationals in San Diego, Calif.
Soheib Dissa races this fall. Dissa went on to win conference and state class titles, and has advanced to the New England championships. —Bee Photo, Hutchison
“New England competitors are striving to qualify for the Nationals in San Diego, Calif.”
The New England Championship is its own race. Top 25 in that race get the All-New England title. To qualify to San Diego, California (The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships), the runners have to place top 10 in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional in Boston, Massachusetts, not The New England Championship.
Also, could you please use a different picture other than the senior night picture? All the other sports don’t get repeated pictures for their articles, so why use the same picture again and again for cross country? That seems unfair.
None of the four photos published this season have been repeats. Three were from the same meet since there was only one home meet this fall. Please remember that most other sports compete three times per week and have roughly 10 times the number of home competitions than cross country, so cross country is the one sport with most limited photo opportunities. The Bee did cover one of your away meets, at Masuk, as well. Cross country is also a sport that yields fewer photo options in order for the photographer to be at the finish line to see winners.
XC gets little respect. Unless they are in the sport they don’t have any idea how it all works.
Information provided to The Bee indicated what was reported. We will run a correction (or clarification) that qualification for Nationals hinges on the other race once that information is confirmed with school officials.