Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
Girls Varsity Results Boys Varsity Results Girls Junior Varsity Results Boys Junior Varsity Results
Girls Race Recap
The 2015 Nashua North-South Invitational started quick with Bedford’s Leya Salis, the transfer student from Virginia taking it out. Right on her heels were Cassie Shea (Concord), Nicolina Braccio (North), 3 girls from Bishop Guertin and 2 from Pinkerton. It didn’t take long for Salis to separate from the rest of the field and make it obvious that it would be an easy win for her.
Heading into the woods, Heidi Ntgeneri (BG) was second with Shea (Concord) in tow. Pinkerton had a strong duo with Ariel Vaillancourt and Madison D’Amelio coming on strong to round out the top 5. Team-wise it appeared as though it was a battle between Pinkerton and Bishop Guertin. Pinkerton seemed to be coming on strong after having a more conservative start. Rounding out the top ten at this point were Alvirne’s Jessica Fontaine, Bishop Guertin’s Chloe Conway, Tyngsboro’s Jayla Fraser-Mines, Merrimack’s Bailey Carrillo and Londonderry’s Kalin Gregoire.
The second mile helped the Astros, as they had 4 in the top 10 which makes them a team hard to beat. Salis stayed strong for the easy win with a fast early season time of 19:03. Sophomore D’Amelio had a great last 800 to run down all but Salis, posting a great early time of 19:26. Ntengeri hung on for third (19:27), Shea ended up 4th (19:32), Vaillancourt ended up 5th (19:40) and Nashua South’s freshman Lauren Robinson coming on strong to end up 6th. Pinkerton’s Jordan Vaillancourt and Ciara April, Londonderry’s Gregoire and Merrimack’s Carrillo finalized the top 10.
Pinkerton was the easy team winner with 39 points over Bishop Guertin’s 72. Alvirne (100), Concord (109) and Merrimack (114) were the remaining top 5 team finishers holding on to their NH top ten ranking. These teams will get another big test this coming weekend at Derryfield Park for the Manchester Invitational.
Boys Race Recap
The Nashua Invitational is a really exciting early season meet with many of the D1 teams and individuals competing against each other for the first time of year. The meet this year did not disappoint on either the team or individual side as we saw a little shake up in both.
First, on the team side, Pinkerton showed everyone that their preseason rank of number one was well deserved. They started the day by putting on a clinic in the JV race missing a perfect score by only one point. The varsity race would prove a little more exciting as they held off Londonderry by only 9 points racking up a tiny team total of 30 points. Tom Hanlon paced the team with an overall victory but he was not lonely in the front. Nico Sevilla followed close behind taking third. The big surprise for the Astros was first year cross country runner Noah Davis coming in as the third man and taking 6th place overall. His great transition from the track is definitely making the team even stronger. Londonderry took a close second, but overall got beaten across the board. Cam Dickson certainly turned some heads taking second place and the whole team did incredibly well with four in top 10. They could taste victory, but the Pinkerton runners managed to be one step ahead of them at every turn. It will be exciting to see these two battle again at Manchester next weekend.
A bit of a gap followed the top two but 3-5 were very close, only separated by 9 points. Nashua North continued running well and managed to hold off Concord. The team surprise of the day, Alvirne. Alvirne was outside of the top 10 in the preseason rankings but are clearly a team to watch going ahead this season. Nashua South followed in 6th but don’t expect them to stay there. This race looked like a bad day for them and they will be battling for that third spot in Division I again next weekend.
On the individual side, Hanlon ran a gutsy race taking off from the front group with about 1000 meters left in the race and never looking back. Dickson made a late charge to only finish one second behind Hanlon. He looked like a force to be reckoned with going ahead this season. Sevilla also produced a late charge to catch Kendall Westoff and another surprise runner Noah Schrank came in shortly behind them. All of these guys will look to repeat their success at the Manchester Invitational next weekend. It’s a very different course, so we could see these front runners shake up a bit.
See you next weekend!
