2017 Little Manchester Invitational Recap, Results!

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By Jim MacKenzie

The 2017 Manchester Middle School Invitational held on the 2.1 mile High school freshman course at Derryfield Park offered up some exciting competition among the 26 teams that comprised over 850 runners. With two time race winner Addison Cox of Northwood graduating a new champion would be crowned today.

After finishing fifth place last year Sophia Reynolds of Andover looked like she was up to task leading the race from start to finish winning comfortably in 13:27, the same exact time as Cox ran last year.  Recently crowned Nashua Invitational champion Chloe Trudel of Amherst finished 2^nd (13:32) along with teammate Masho Primmer (3^rd 13:38).  Amy Pattelena of Hollis Brookline (4^th 13:45) edged out Milford’s Abbey Halloran (5^th 13:45).  Hillside’s Fiona Doherty (6^th 13:47) was the first Manchester runner of the day.  A pair Hopkinton runners Anna O’Reilly (7^th 13:55) and Cailey Stockwell (8^th 14:12) outdistanced Division III rivals Sophie Hopkins of Deerfield (9^th 14:20) and Mary Joy of Northwood (10^th 14:23).  The race tightened significantly with the next five runners Milford’s Jona Velazques was 11^th (14:25), Northwood’s Libby White (12^th 14:25), Hillside’s Ella Tartsa (13^th 14:26).  Emily Hood of Hood was 14^th and Londonderry’s Caroline Leone rounded out the top 15 in 14:29.

Last year’s team competition was settled by one point with McLaughlin beating DIII Champion Hopkinton.  This year Defending DI Champion Hillside took top honors scoring 122 points.  2017 Nashua Invite runner-up Deerfield placed 2^nd (145 points) just in front of Londonderry (3^rd 148 points), McLaughlin (4^th 155 points), 2017 Nashua Invite Champions Amherst (5^th 186 points), Rundlett (6th 188 points) and Hopkinton was 7^th with 202 points

On the boy’s side there was no question regarding who was going to win the race. The question was how much time was the 2016 Division III State Champion, 7th grader Aidan Cox of Northwood, going to take off of his course record time of 11:31 and could he actually break the freshman High School record time of 11:12 held by Chris Zaino of Londonderry.

Holding a blistering pace and running unscathed throughout, Cox finished 1^st in a new meet record time of 11:21.  Luke Brennan of WRB ran valiantly to place second in 12:13.  Londonderry’s Tyler Kraft took home third place honors in 12:21 running ahead of two Southeast League rivals Lars Hogne of Strafford (4^th 12:28) and Tyler Tkaczyk of Northwood (12:37).  Quinn Booth of Hillside placed 6^th in 12:45 to place first for Manchester runners. John Kotelly of Hollis Brookline (12:48) and Londonderry’s Will Plante (8^th 12:55) were the last under the 13 minute barrier.  Hillside’s Gavin Lins (9^th 13:02), WRB’s Cade Reimer (10^th 13:04), 2017 Nashua Invite Champion Deerfield’s John Murphy placed (11^th13:06),  Rundlett’s Matthew Lavoie (12^th 13:08), McLaughlin’s Roman Carnevale (13^th 13:11), Hampton’s Hunter Holland (14^th 13:11) and Londonderry’s Jack Marshall (13:11) all secured a top 15 finish.

Last year, two of the arguably best teams ever in Middle School history waged war against each other here with 2016 DIII Champion Northwood winning by one point over 2016 Division I Champion Londonderry.  This year was a different story line as Londonderry dominated the competition winning easily with a score of 65 points more than doubling down the opposition.  Hillside placed 2^nd with 131 points to cap off a fine day to go along with the girl’s victory.  Rundlett placed 3^rd with 147 points, 2017 Nashua Invite Champion Deerfield was 4^th with 167 points, Ross Lurgio of Bedford was 5^th with 185 points just in front of Amherst (6^th 187 points) and Hollis/Brookline which took 7^th with 237 points.