Under pretty hot but beautiful conditions, NH harriers took on Mines Falls this past Saturday at the 2024 Nashua North Invitational. Expectedly, the favorites won the individual titles, but there was a mild surprise in the team competition. Beginning with the girls, as expected XC newcomer Bedford’s Mikita Barry waited for no one and took off from the gun with only U-32’s Ginger Long giving a real chase. This quickly spread the field out but giving chase were Plymouth’s Elli Englund, BG’s Anna Fondakowski, North’s Laura White, Merrimack’s Melanie Bedard, and Pinkerton’s Sookie Folsom.
The course was the same as the last couple years, so when the field reached the midway point, Barry had opened up a slight gap on Long, which would only grow all the way to the finish line and they were clear of the field. BG’s Fondakowski had taken sole possession of 3rd while the others gave chase. In the end, coming across the football field winning by 40 seconds was Barry in 18:31. Long was comfortably second with Fondakowski 3rd in 19:48, completing a nice strong performance. White and Folsom battled the last moments with host school’s White using the lean to nab 4th. Englund would wound up 6th in 20:18, U-32’s Madison Beaudoin having a great second half to place 7th in 20:21. Merrimack’s Bedard placed 8th with Winnacunnet’s Carson Mariotti placing 9th and Alvirne’s Anne Simpson rounding out the top 10 in 20:30.
Pinkerton lived up to their ‘favorite’ mantle to take the win in this one by placing all 5 scorers in the top 20 totaling 61 points. U-32 of Vermont would nab 2nd amassing 80 points. Perhaps the surprise of the season thus far was Londonderry rising up to claim 3rd place honors with 129 points. They were led by Sayde White’s 18th place but with only a 1-5 scorer spread of 1:03, the Lancers scored quickly. Matter of fact their spread from 2nd to 5th scorer, Drewanne Sherman (22:08) and Stella Dutton (22:30), was only 22 seconds. That is a sign of a team with potential!
Bedford was only 6 points behind Londonderry. With Bedford beating Londonderry last week and the Lancers besting the Bulldogs this week, watch this fun rivalry take shape as the season wears on. Plymouth showed they belonged as a ranked team as they placed 5th on the tiebreaker over upstart Nashua North. Look for North to get some attention in the rankings this week as well as perhaps Alvirne who was only 10 points behind both North and Plymouth. D1 will be a battle. How do we know? Well Merrimack placed 8th only 7 points behind Alvirne!!!
–Tim Cox
The boys race looked like it was going to be a battle and it absolutely lived up to expectations this year.
One of the fun things about writing meet previews, especially early in the season, is you often get hit with surprises. This year’s Nashua North Invite brought the surprises with some new arrivals to the top five conversation and a team winner that was not even in the top three!
One thing that wasn’t a surprise was BG’s Matt Giardina. The reigning champion took the lead from the second the gun sounded and never looked back. The race for second was on though, with ConVal’s William Simard putting in a great effort to keep Giardina close and Concord’s Josiah Conley right on his heels as they entered the trails portion of the race. A chase pack with a variety of different runners formed behind with South, Salem and Pinkerton runners all jockeying for position. Salem looked to be particularly well represented in the early section of the race with a pack of four guys putting together a solid pack.
At the half way point, things really looked pretty much the same. Giardina was slowly edging away from the field and Simard and Conley were in a battle for second. That big pack of everyone else had started to lose some members and South’s Daniel Byrne had moved into the leadership role, but there was no one in clear control of the group.
Flash forward to about 1000m left, and some clear moves had been made. Giardina continued to dominate but Conley had taken sole control of second. Simard had faded back and duo of surprises from Pinkerton in Sean Hayes and Oscar D’Amelio had separated from the pack and were closing in. As they hit the football field, it was Hayes who had managed to push into third place while Simard managed to hold off D’Amelio with them taking fourth and fifth.
The team battle was a roller coaster with several teams making it hard to tell who the winner was. The Astros having two in the top five was a great start but two of Giardina’s teammate’s Carson and Ethan Fischer were not far behind them. Salem had three finish 11-12-13 and suddenly it was impossible to tell who was leading. Pinkerton’s third Trainor Mailloux was just behind that group and it was up to the 4-5’s to decide the day. Ultimately, Pinkerton pulled off an upset with the fifth managing to squeak into the top 30 to provide the depth that Salem and BG couldn’t match. For their strong efforts, Salem would place second with 85 points with Bishop Guertin 3rd with 108. Londonderry also had a great day and shook the rankings up a bit with freshman Patrick Ramsey sticking with their strong top 2 to help them take down South for the fourth spot.
It was one of the most exciting North invite’s I’ve seen in a long time and if I came away with anything… it’s that Division I is WIDE open this season. Keep an eye out next week at Manchester, these rankings are gonna get shook.
–Ian French
