Meet Preview: Mascenic Homecoming

Completing teams: Campbell, Conant, Derryfield, Fall Mountain, Hinsdale, Mascenic, Monadnock, Newfound, Raymond, Trinity, Winnisquam

Mascenic will host ten teams this coming Friday, September 15th at 4pm as part of their homecoming festivities.  While the Vikings have entered three contests so far this fall, this will be their first race at the full 5K distance.  And while their home course can run fast on dry years, with course records of 16:00 and 19:39, the wet weather over the summer as well as this past week will likely make the times slow.

However there will be some great D3 racing on hand as many of the top teams and individuals will be at this meet.  On the girls side, Mascenic was the D3 runner up last year and top D3 team at Meet of Champions.  Led by the O’Shea sisters (Erin and Kaitlin) the Vikings are looking to pick up where they left off last year.  Also looking to get their season started is neighboring Conant, D3s #3 team last season.  Led by Amelia Hill and Bella Nero the Orioles will be looking to upset Mascenic’s homecoming events.  

Two teams making the long drive are Fall Mountain and Newfound, last year’s #6 and #8. Often off the radar, the Wildcats of Fall Mountain should not be underestimated and are led by Jenna Fillion.  Newfound is making the southerly trek as well and are fronted by Ceili Irving.  The Bears have the requisite pieces for a good team over the coming years and it’s just a matter of piecing the puzzle together for the end of the season.

One other team to watch will be Monadnock.  Arguably with one of D3s best in Summer Bentley, the Huskies suffered some loss over the summer and are retooling with a new cast and are getting better every week.  Keep an eye on them.

Individually the race should be between Mascenic’s Erin and Kaitlin O’Shea, Fall Mountain’s Fillion, Newfound’s Irving, Monadnock’s Bentley and Conant’s Nero and Hill.

On the boys side, last year’s champion Trinity is back.  The Pioneers have gotten off to a slow start but still have the requisite pieces for a title run.  Fronted by Copper Krause and Nick Lenti, look for the Pioneers to pack up together in an effort to lock in those points.  However probably the most dangerous team is Fall Mountain, last year’s #4 team.  Led by Ben Tetu and Ben Fritthsen, the Wildcats are looking to mix things up in D3 this year.

After not having enough boys to score, Monadnock is looking to make inroads this season to the top five.  Led by Peyton and Jace Joslyn, they are getting Carter Sylvester type support from Carlton Lampinen, who just finished 7th individually at Bobcat.  Keep a close eye on them.    Host school Mascenic finished #5 in D3 last season but have graduated two of their top five and are running with only five runners.  However they have been coming along better than expected so far this season and will be looking to try to be in the mix behind the winning team.  Newfound is also quietly assembling a solid team that will be lurking at the end of the season so it will be interesting to see what they can do here.

Individually I expect the race to be between Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn and Fall Mountain’s Ben Tetu.  After that I can see Monadnock’s Lampinen and Jace Joslyn, Fall Mountain’s Fritthsen, Newfound’s Evan Foster, Conant’s Nathan Alajajian, and maybe Mascenic’s Derek Somero and Dylan Callahan.