Meet Preview: Thetford VT’s Woods Trail Run

Every first Saturday of October (except last year of course), a small public academy in Thetford, VT hosts one of the preeminent invitationals in all of New England.  On a course designed for cross country, Thetford Academy invites schools from New England and NY to challenge themselves with true cross country.  It has simply become a favorite due to the world class quality of the course and hospitality of Thetford Academy.  Combine this with LancerTiming providing world class efficiency, and athletes, coaches and fans are in for a return of a treat.  We will also be there to record race videos, snap pics and conduct interviews!

In addition, Scott Bliss, long time coach of Champlain Valley, has penned quite the comprehensive preview.  Since leaving coaching, he has started a free website to truly cover Vermont High School Cross Country (sound familiar?).  With his permission, his preview is posted below.  Please check out his site!  It genuinely reminds us of, well, us!  We have also talked Scott into being a guest commentator during the races on Saturday.  He brings experience from a coaching career which included numerous state and New England titles as well as multiple trips to Nike Cross Nationals.  Thanks Scott!

VTHSXC

Lancer Timing’s Meet Information, Schedule, Entries

By Scott Bliss

Thetford Academy will be hosting the 30th Thetford Invitational this Saturday with races beginning at 10:30 am. After the last couple of years I think many of us appreciate the opportunity to have big invitationals again. Thetford Invitational has another level of importance to VT HS teams because it is also the site of the Vermont State Championships every year. This year it also raises its level of significance with New England teams because it is also the site of the New England Championships this year. This race is a different format with each runner assigned to a seed that corresponds to their best 5k time this season. This hopefully allows for runners to race against similar competition and will hopefully make all of the races fairly even. Other important information to be aware of is that this is a SAT date and some runners may be missing from their teams because of the need to take the test this weekend.

Girls Teams and Individuals

Teams(in no particular order)

1. Burlington VT

2. Glastonbury CT

3. New Milford CT

4. Keene NH

5. Bishop Guertin NH

6. Concord NH

One of the disappointing things about the girls race is that we won’t be able to see the matchup of Harwood v Burlington who are basically tied at the top of the girls top 10 rankings. Harwood always goes to Maine to the Festival of Champions race in Belfast. It also looks like there is a possibility that Burlington will be without one of their top 5 runners. There will be three teams ranked #1 in their state rankings in this race and the one to probably watch the most is Glastonbury from CT. They are historically a top New England level program and are looking like one of the favorites to win the New England Championship in November. Keene is the new #1 in NH and finished a close second to Burlington by 8 points at the Manchester Invitational last weekend. Other notable teams are New Milford CT #5, Bishop Guertin NH #7 and Concord NH #8. Burlington led by Rebecca Cunningham will try to use their course knowledge and depth to bring the Thetford title back home for the Seahorses. Rebecca showed how well she can run this course last year at the State Meet and with the improvement that she has made this year she should be in the top group of runners. One other team to note is East Greenwich RI who would be one of the team contenders but is not running their top 2 runners. Their number one runner Reese Fahys is one of the best runners in the country and would definitely be their individual favorite if she was racing.

Individuals to watch(in no particular order)

1. Abby Broadley Bellows Falls VT

2. Rebecca Cunningham Burlington VT

3. Loghan Hughes BFA St Albans VT

4. Alice Kredell CVU VT

5. Gillian Fairfax Burlington VT

6. Sierra Fisher So Burlington VT

7. Madelyn Durkee Thetford Academy VT

8. Claire Daniels New Milford CT

9. Sydney Kelleher New Milford CT

10. Brooke Strauss Glastonbury CT

11. Jacqueline Caron Glastonbury CT

12. MaryKate Finn Bishop Guertin NH

13. Brooke Marshall Dover NH

14. Alina Pincoske Concord NH

15. Chloe Trudel Souhegan NH

Boys Teams and Individuals

Boys Teams(in no particular order)

1. U-32 VT

2. BFA St Albans VT

3. St Johnsbury VT

4. CVU VT

5. Bishop Guertin NH

6. Concord NH

7. Coe Brown NH

Here we go and let the fireworks begin. U-32 should be the favorite here but behind them there could be some very interesting racing. BFA will look to continue the strong start of their season and see how they compare to U-32 on the hills of Thetford. This is a great dress rehearsal for U-32 to show their team depth to the rest of New England and make a statement on the Thetford course. BFA gets a chance to see how the three headed monster of Ethan Mashtare, Jacob Tremblay and Calvin Storms hold up over the Thetford course and how close can they get their #4 and #5 runners to the lead trio. Bishop Guertin gets another shot at the top 2 VT teams and is ranked #1 in NH. Concord was only 16 points behind BG at Manchester and will be looking to turn the tables on their in-state rival. Coe-Brown is a question mark here. Aidan Cox is one of the best runners in New England but has been dealing with an injury and is not likely to run. Without him they will struggle to compete with other teams here. St. Johnsbury and CVU are locked in a battle to see who will be the challenger to BFA in Division 1. Both teams have clear number ones who will finish as a high stick but it may be determined by the CVU pack in their 2-5+ spots. Their spread is an impressive 18 seconds from #2 to #6 but the St Johnsbury #2 made the difference at Manchester. This has the makings of a very exciting race with all of these teams having something to prove.

Boys Individuals(in no particular order)

1. Evan Thorton-Sherman St Johnsbury VT

2. Matthew Servin CVU VT

3. Ethan Mashtare BFA St Albans VT

4. Brady Geisler Rutland VT

5. Austin Beard U-32 VT

6. Jacob Tremblay BFA St Albans VT

7. Hale Boyden St Johnsbury VT

8. Ollie Hansen U-32 VT

9. Luke Miklus Essex VT

10. Sky Valin So Burlington VT

11. Cyrus Hansen U-32 VT

12. Calvin Storms BFA St Albans VT

13. Holden Vaughan Barrington RI

14. Aidan Cox Coe Brown NH(? If racing…)

15. Sam Hilts Concord NH

16. Jared Khalil Sanborn Regional NH

17. Tyson Khalil Sanborn Regional NH

18. Luke Brennan Pinkerton NH

19. Nate Fondakowski Bishop Guertin NH

20. Zachary Hooper Concord NH