WATERTOWN - At first glance, Wednesday's Naugatuck Valley League cross country championships held at Veterans Park might have looked like a rerun of last year: A runner named DeLuise captured a first-place plaque and a Watertown team ended a long victory drought.
But it wasn't exactly the same.
The DeLuise who won Wednesday was Callie, an Oxford junior who's the sister of 2025 boys champion Joseph DeLuise, who graduated. Callie took the crown by pulling away from Avah Hoxhallari of Watertown over the last mile to remain unbeaten against NVL foes.
And the Watertown team that ended a long dry spell was the girls, who captured the Warriors' first NVL team championship in 20 years while also snapping a three-year string of wins by Holy Cross.
The Watertown boys, who won a year ago for the first time since 2012, made sure it wouldn't take that long again by repeating as champions. And in the boys individual race, Wolcott junior Brayden Wyner outraced Naugatuck's Andrew DoNascimento to the finish line to win by just under six seconds.
Callie DeLuise finished fourth in 2025 in her first year of running cross country. With all three girls ahead of her graduating, this figured to be her year in the NVL. Aside from second place at the Nonnewaug Invitational and third place at the Wickham Invitational, she has won every outing.
She has raced Hoxhallari, a Watertown sophomore, four times this year and is 4-0. Wednesday, the two girls quickly put distance between themselves and the pack. Hoxhallari stayed a few paces behind DeLuise until the Oxford girl pulled away to win in 19:36.56. Hoxhallari was second in 19:48.35, with Wolcott junior Lily Ruscz third in 20:56.68.
"I went out fast and tried to see how long I could hold it," said DeLuise, who was well off her personal best of 19:13 after being sick over the weekend. "I did feel a little pressure halfway through, but I just kicked the last mile and felt pretty good with that."
She left Hoxhallari baffled about how to beat her.
"I have no clue," she said. "She's just a natural, and her amazing coach keeps her in great shape."
"She's a very strong aerobic runner," said her coach and father, Joseph DeLuise Sr. "She's very self-motivated. You lay out a workout, and she doesn't whine. She doesn't groan. She says, ‘OK, what can I do next to get better?' On her own, she decided to start doing double threshold workouts this year, which is a lot for someone going to school."
Hoxhallari could take comfort in leading the Warriors to a milestone triumph. A year ago, Watertown nearly beat Holy Cross. This year, it returned five runners from that squad.
Besides Hoxhallari, Lily Roberts took fourth and Madison Grimes 10th for Watertown, followed by Ana Correia in 17th, Alexis Crofford 21st, Emily Cronan 22nd and Olivia Rosario 27th. Their 39 points beat the Crusaders with 55. Woodland was third with 72.
"The girls really persevered and came through for each other," said Watertown coach Brian Lafontaine. "We've been runner-up six times in the past 11 years. We've had a lot of great races against great teams and just come up short. I think that was extra motivation."
The boys were in a different situation. Instead of returning most of the squad, the Warriors had graduated five all-league runners. But Watertown also placed nine of the top 10 in last year's JV race, so there was young talent on the team.
How did they pull off the victory again?
"That's on the kids. They wanted to repeat," Lafontaine said. "In the JV race last year, we took a lot of positives out of that. We had a lot of good performances, and they used that ‘next man up' mentality and got it done."
Two Warriors finished in the top 10: Nino Mattei in eighth and Chad Feliciano in 10th. Aiden Benjamin was 13th, and Jacob Goncalves, Tiege Gavallas and William Gauthier bunched together at 22nd, 23rd and 24th, respectively. Jacoby Rooney took 43rd.
They finished with 76 points to runner-up Naugatuck's 97. WCA was third with 102.
For Wyner, Wednesday's race was a chance to turn the tables on DoNascimento after losing to him by only two seconds just eight days before. It was the second time Wyner had lost to the Naugatuck junior this fall.
He flip-flopped their finish this time by keeping his foot off the throttle at the start.
"He usually goes out super fast, but he decided to hold back a little, which is why his kick was great," said Wolcott coach Becky Riviezzo. "He really was focused the last two weeks in his workouts, knowing his kick is where he needed to work. It showed today."
Midway through the race, a pack of four led the field. Ultimately, it came down to DoNascimento and Wyner. As they reached the final straightaway, Wyner went past DoNascimento to win in 17:04.21, less than six seconds ahead of DoNascimento (17:09.80). Naugy senior Adin Hasipi was third in 17:22.75.
"In the beginning, I was going more for place than time. I just wanted to stay to the front," said Wyner, who was 14th in this race as a sophomore. "Toward the end, I sped up. I was worried he would speed up."
"I went out too hard at the start," said DoNascimento, who improved from sixth last year. "I couldn't hold onto the pace. I couldn't handle it at the end."
NVL championships
Boys
Girls
Individual Top 10: 1. Callie DeLuise (O) 19:36.56; 2. Avah Hoxhallari (Wat) 19:48.35; 3. Lily Ruscz (Wol) 20:56.68; 4. Lily Roberts (Wat) 21:00.21; 5. Sofia Alonzo (HC) 21:08.45; 6. Ella Iannone (Wood) 21:34.46; 7. Giavanna Prince (WCA) 22:03.68; 8. Allie Obuobi-Djan (WCA) 22:07.53; 9. Madeline Saunders (HC) 22:22.12; 10. Madison Grimes (Wat) 22:44.87.
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This article originally published at Oxford's DeLuise, Wolcott's Wyner win NVL cross country titles; Watertown sweeps team crowns.