Greenwich Academy’s Maddie Lee places first at FAA cross country meet; Gators finish second in team standings; Sacred Heart’s Ava Lillis places second, Macy Putka of Greenwich Country Day, fifth

By David Fierro on October 22, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

Contributed photo: Maddie Lee of Greenwich Academy, front, runs to a winning finish at an FAA cross country meet, at Purchase College in Purchase, N.Y., on Oct. 19, 2022. Behind her is Ava Lillis (wearing green) of Sacred Heart Greenwich.

Greenwich Academy junior Maddie Lee propelled the team’s sensational showing at an FAA cross country meet held on Wednesday at Purchase College, in Purchase, N.Y., winning the race in impressive fashion.

Lee crossed the finish line first for Greenwich Academy in a time of 18:40.4 to continue her outstanding season. Greenwich Academy placed second as a team in the third FAA meet of the fall on Wednesday, with 90 team points. GA defeated Sacred Heart Greenwich, Greens Farms Academy, Rye Country Day School, Greenwich Country Day School, St. Luke’s, School of the Holy Child and Masters. The Gators’ lone loss came against Hopkins School, which went undefeated in the meet.

Greenwich Academy clinched second place in the FAA regular season standings with its strong effort on Wednesday. Finishing behind Lee for a stellar second-place finish was Sacred Heart Greenwich junior Ava Lillis. Lillis posted a time of 19:24.6. Ava Maccaro of Hopkins finished fourth in the race (19:35.3), followed teammate by Saki Tomita (20:04.4).

Contributed photo: Greenwich Academy’s Grace Crookenden, middle and Casey Duval, right, compete at an FAA cross country race, held at Purchase College in Purchase, N.Y., on Oct. 19, 2022, in Purchase, N.Y.

Macy Putka had Greenwich Country Day’s top finish, placing fifth with a time of 20:17.6. Hopkins had a winning team score of 36 points, followed by Greenwich Academy (90), Sacred Heart (112), Greens Farms (112), Greenwich Country Day (133), St. Luke’s (171), Holy Child (197) and Masters (200).

Wylie Dell’Ollie, a senior, had a seventh-place finish for Greenwich Country Day (20:20.0), while Sacred Heart sophomore Maggie Finn posted a 15-place finish (20:52.7).

Grace Sullivan, a GA junior, was 18th in 21:20.6, while teammate Emily Goodman, a senior, finished 19th in 21:32.9. Natalie Simpson had a top-25 finish for Greenwich Country Day, placing 22nd in 22:07.5, while GA freshman Nadia Kowalski helped pace her squad with a 24th-place showing (22:19).

Senior Katherine May representing Sacred Heart, was 27th in 22:25.9 and Greenwich Academy freshman Isabel Pombo also had a solid race, clocking in at 22:29 for a 28th-place finish. Freshman Priya Marsh, also from GA, posted a time of 22:29.

Contributed photo: From left to right: Emily Goodman of Greenwich Academy, Nadia Kowalski of Greenwich Academy and Natalie Simpson of Greenwich Country Day School run in an FAA cross country meet held at Purchase College.

Anne Finn, a Sacred Heart senior, finished the race in 22:35.7 (31st place). Sophomore Penny Lazar (22:52.5), freshman Olivia MacEachern (23:16.5) and senior Grace Crookenden (23:26.3) each posted top-40 finishes for Greenwich Academy. Jacquelyn Monahan, a senior, finished among the top-40 for Sacred Heart (23:20.5).

The FAA Cross Country Championships is scheduled to take place on October 31 at Sherwood Island in Westport at 2 p.m.