* Race video from the East Coast XC Championships at Holmdel Park
- - -
The Season's Craziest Finish Saw Nick Bendtsen Top One Of The Country's Top Runners At The Line
With COVID-19 restrictions limiting Connecticut sports to a slow start over the fall, few runners were granted big opportunities to compete at high levels early on.
Many took the road of dual-, tri- and quad-meets, running through their early tune-ups as they readied for one or two end-of-year races. There would ultimately be no Connecticut state championships.
Conard's Gavin Sherry was one such runner, showing the kind of talent that eventually would push him all the way to the top five of the MileSplit50 rankings after a versatile year that saw him dominate much of his competition.
Nick Bendtsen, however, must have been watching from afar.
The Wolcott (CT) High School senior finally suited up for a race on Nov. 28, and revealed his talent, finishing third at the 12thRock Northeast Cross Country Club Championships, just behind Fayetteville-Manlius' Peyton Geehrer and Sherry.
But then the next week arrived.
Bendtsen readied for the East Coast XC Championships at Holmdel Park on Dec. 5.
The day's weather was awful. Wind, rain and slog permeated throughout the park.
But Bendtsen salivated at the opportunity.
In arguably the season's craziest finish, Bendtsen went stride-for-stride with Sherry down to the line, taking the finish in a time of 15:40.00. Sherry crossed less than a second later.
"This was my last high school cross country race of my high school career, so it definitely meant a lot to get a win against a top guy in the entire country," he said. "It really feels good because all my hard work paid off for this."
Bendtsen would finish the year ranked No. 19 on the MileSplit50.
