Stratford High School in recent years has never gotten respect for its cross country program. Membership has been small and victories few over the past decade. This year, the boys' and girls' teams, led by coaches Mr. John Pfaff (boys), Ms. Geralyn Sculli, and Mrs. Kathy Riha (girls co-coaches), tried to forge a new era of success.Although team victories were few this season, respect was earned. The girls' team battled injury and inexperience to show great improvement throughout the season, defeating Jonathan Law in an unofficial win. The boys' team garnered only one win, but was able to post 10th place out of 13 at the South-West Conference championship meet.For the girls', injuries left the team with only 4-6 runners at any meet. Despite this, sophomores Sara Leventhal and Alison Janowski proved that they are a bright future for SHS distance running. Individual success carried the boys' team, led by senior captains Larry Hamilton, Matt Fratancangeli and James daSilva. Hamilton recorded the only individual win for the team, in a meet at New Fairfield, while daSilva finished no lower than third in any regualr season meet.In the SWC championships at Bethel, daSilva managed first team All-SWC with a 7th place finish, while Hamilton passed over 20 runners within the last mile to finish 13th, making 2nd team. Hamilton unfortunately suffered an injury, which did not allow him to compete at states. daSilva, Pat Noonan, Fred Wills, Dan Conti, and Camillo Ochoa represented the team at states, which saw daSilva finish 10th place, qualifying for State Open, where he was 87th.