This weekend at the CIAC State Open Championships we witnessed two of the best distance runners in the Northeast face off head to head. Xavier High School (CT) senior Robbie Cozean faced off against Conard High (CT) sophomore Gavin Sherry on a hilly Wickham Park course in Manchester, Connocuittet.
Throughout the entire race, the two were only separated by a few seconds. Just before the home stretch Sherry opened up a slight lead on Cozean. At the final turn, Cozean made a hard push to try and get by Sherry, but Sherry also had more left in the tank. He accelerated up the hill to open a six-second gap and take the win.
Sherry's final time was 15:38.00 while Cozean was just behind at 15:44.00. We will likely see a similar duel again this coming weekend at Wickham Park for the New England XC Championship.