Preparing for the postseason.

That has been one of the themes this fall for the Greenwich High School boys cross country team, which intends to make its mark in the rapidly approaching postseason meets.

“It’s been a really great season for us, we have really high expectations,” Greenwich coach Sean Astle said. “We want them running until close to December. We began the season for the first time ranked in the top-10 in the state. The last poll, we were No. 9, so we’re looking to move up and we’re hoping for a successful postseason.”

The Cardinals closed out their regular season on Tuesday with a home meet against Danbury, Norwalk and Trumbull at Greenwich Point – a meet also marking Greenwich’s Senior Night.

Several of Greenwich’s top runners didn’t compete in the Senior Night meet against Danbury, Trumbull and Norwalk, since they competed in the Brewster Bear Cross Country Classic in Brewster on Sunday. Still, the Senior Night meet was special for the upperclassmen and the team.

“The season has been going great,” said Greenwich senior Christian Zawislack, one of the squad’s captains. “The team has been looking good so far. We have very good team chemistry, everybody is bonding and we are hoping to be a really solid team by the end of the season.”

An experienced runner, Zawislack has posted Greenwich’s best times so far this season and will be relied upon to help pace the squad in the postseason meets. Zawislack didn’t race in Tuesday’s final regular season meet at Greenwich Point, since he ran on Sunday at the Brewster Bear Cross Country Classic. Greenwich also held out several of its top runners at some of its regular season meets, so they could compete in invitational events, while keeping them geared up for the championship meets.

Zawislack placed second overall at the Brewster Classic with a time of 16:18 at the 5,000-meter course.

“We all did great at the Brewster Bear Classic,” Zawislack noted. “Our freshman team won the race, our JV team won the race and our varsity came in second. It was really tough competition and we did great.”

Matteo Chiesara, a sophomore, placed seventh at the Brewster Bear Classic, posting a time of 17:00.40.

“The season has been really good,” Chiesara said. “The freshman have been really good, we have a lot of rising stars.”

Chiesara has some specific personal goals in mind.

“For the rest of the year, I’m hoping I can break 4:15 in the mile,” said Chiesara, also a standout track and field athlete. “If anything, cross country is more intense, because you are putting in a lot of miles each week.”

The FCIAC Boys Cross Country Championships is scheduled to take place on Oct. 18 at Waveny Park with a starting time of 2:15 p.m. The CIAC Class LL Cross Country Championships is slated to be held on Oct. 28 at Wickham Park and the State Open Championships will be competed on Nov. 3.

“I think our team is looking great,” said GHS junior Chase Nizielski, who will also be looked upon to spark the Cardinals during the championship meets. We have a lot of young talent. We had a great group of races on Sunday at Brewster and we’re really looking forward to the postseason.”

Nizielski appreciates the opportunity to run at Greenwich Point.

“The course is beautiful, we are so lucky to have it,” he said. “I think our team is looking good, we can go pretty far. Everyone just has to give their best effort.”

In Tuesday’s regular season meet at Greenwich Point, Danbury won it with a team score of 25 points. Trumbull finished with 36 points, Greenwich had 88 and Norwalk had a team score of 113.

David Carillo of Trumbull, a senior, won the race at Greenwich Point with a time of 15:53.60. Teammate Harjaap Singh of Trumbull, a senior, was second in 16:11.90, followed by Danbury junior Alex Neves (16:59.60).

Junior Shafi Reilly of Greenwich finished 17th in 18:16.10, while senior Thomas Andruss, one of the captains, was 18th (18:21.10) for the Cards.

“My senior season has been nothing short of phenomenal,” Andruss said. “It’s amazing to see how it feels good to leave my mark on this team and train, teach and lead the next generation.”

Indeed, Andruss has accomplished plenty during his senior cross country season.

“I have a lot of PRs and I’m very proud of what I’ve done and what the coaches have done for me,” he said. “It’s been an overall great experience. I’m excited to say that I’ve given it my all.”

Oliver Sheppard, a junior, registered a time of 19:07.20, while Michael Wooten, a freshman, clocked in at 19:08.60 for GHS on Tuesday. Sophomore Emmanuel Tertiropoulos (19:21.30), junior Benjamin Santos (19:39.20), sophomore James Mathieson (19:39.70) and senior Connor McDonnell (20:15.60) were among some of the Cardinals’ competitors in their Senior Night meet.

Now, the Cardinals are aiming to excel at the FCIAC Championships.

“At FCIACs, every runner has individual goals,” Astle said. “We want to see how we stack up against the absolute best teams in the state. We have some of them in the FCIAC, so we’re excited for the opportunity. The FCIAC is a really good league and you have to have a really good performance on the day, so we’re preparing.”

The 2022 season saw Greenwich finish eighth in the team standings and qualify as a squad for the CIAC State Open – a goal it hopes to accomplish this postseason.

“With luck we’ll be at the State Open as a team,” Astle said. “That was the first time we made it in quite a while. Last year we thought we could make it, but we were a little surprised that we made it. This year, we expect to be there, so we’re preparing for that.”

Added Andruss: “We have the guys, we have the mindset and we have the mentality so I think the next thing to do is execute.”