On a perfectly clear beautiful fall afternoon, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy hosted the 2017 NH D2/D3 JV State Championships. The girls led things off and Souhegan’s Alissa Reitter did not waste any time as she rolled to the front immediately heading to the individual title in 21:34. She was followed by two of her teammates twenty seconds later as Madeline Barretto and Molly Jennings completed the Souhegan sweep of the top three in 21:54 and 21:57 respectively. With teammates Caroline Apiki placing 12th in 22:55 and Sophie Unger placing 17th in 23:03 to lead the Lady Sabers to repeat champions.
The real team race materialized between Rt.4 rivals Coe-Brown and Oyster River. While Oyster River got out well to place pressure on the host team, the Lady Bears attacked the second half of the course. OR’s Grace Henry (22:17) and Laurel Gordon (22:23) placed 4th and 5th while CBNA’s Miranda Compton (22:24), Kiersten Ranfos (22:37), and Tessa Millette (22:41) blitzed the second half of the rolling course to take the next three spots. CBNA senior Cailinn Monahan epitomized the hard charging Bears as she would pass all but Portsmouth’s Sarah Morin (9th, 22:47) in the last 200 meters to place 10th in 22:48. While OR’s Kaleigh Boulanger (13th, 23:00) and Grace Castonguay (16th, 23:01) would finish in front of CBNA’s fifth scorer, Sydney Carney (20th, 23:30), the Bears would edge the Bobcats 51-56. Defending champ Portsmouth would place 4th with 95 points while Hanover rounded out the top 5 with 117 points.
On the boys side, underdog Coe-Brown would give heavily favored Oyster River all they could handle by employing a similar strategy as the girls. While OR’s Ben Stone “ran” away with the individual title (17:55) to win by 24 seconds over teammate Henry Duisberg (18:19), the Bears would blast the second half of the course to post a 27 second pack time led by Carter Sylvester’s 3rd place finish in 18:31. Oyster River’s Noah Strout would muscle his way to 4th in 18:35 just ahead of CBNA’s Shane Cameron (18:37). Hanover also made some noise as they placed three in the top ten, Trevor Siegel (6th, 18:39), Daniel Frost (7th, 18:43) and Matthew Bonner (9th, 18:48). CBNA’s Cody Tanguay would split the Marauder trio to place 8th in 18:43. Oyster River’s Patrick Lyons placed 10th while Hanover’s Diego Aspinwall would place 11th in 18:53. And while CBNA did score their fourth and fifth runners, Aidan Ahern (12th, 18:55) and Isaac Wells (13th, 18:58) before anyone else’s, Oyster River took this one 32 to CBNA’s 41 and Hanover’s 49 points. Mascenic Regional would place 4th edging Portsmouth. 
