MI48 Preview!

HERE WE GO!!!  The 48th Manchester Invitational!  You ready???  We are!!!

Visit our MI48 Meet Hub as our center for everything Manchester Invitational over the past several years!!!  We have race videos, interviews, articles, photos! It will also be THE place for this year’s NHCC.com’s coverage!

Use the link below as Millennium Running will have live results and splits!!! All event info including course maps, box info, etc can also be found on their website.

Millennium Running’s Live Results

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Girls Small School @ 12:00

The Manch Invite small school girls race is looking like a battle of titans this coming Saturday.  With NH’s #1 team in Hanover, along with #3 Oyster River, #9 Hopkinton, #10 Plymouth and Mascenic.  Toss in the Tilton School and that’s just from NH.  Add the neighboring states of Massachusetts, Vermont, New York,

Connecticut, and Maine and you’ve got yourself a race.

Coming out of New Hampshire, we’ll see a fantastic battle between Hanover and Oyster River.  Hanover has had the upper hand in the rankings after a fantastic year last year.  The Marauders are led by Lea Perrard and are in the driver’s seat; however OR has been on a roll, crushing the competition at their home Invite, the Bobcat Invitational, which has many of the same features of Derryfield Park.  Led by Mackenzie Cook and Haley Kavanaugh, along with a couple new freshmen, the Bobcats will be looking to show they deserve to be at the top of the D2 heap, and by virtue of that, the state of NH.

Behind them we have D3 Hopkinton.  Led by the state’s top freshman in Madeline Lane, the Hawks look to soar above the rest of the field on Saturday.  And behind them is Mascenic, sitting in a tie with Plymouth at NH’s #10.  Mascenic upset Hopkinton last year at Meet of Champions and is looking to do so again this year, however that is no easy task.  Hopkinton has sat at the top of the D3 heap for the last decade and won’t go down without a fight.  Led by the O’Shea sisters, Erin and Kaitlin, the Vikings are looking to make inroads this Saturday.

And not to be left underrated, Plymouth Regional, behind the front running of the Englund sisters, Addi and Elli, deserve to be mentioned right alongside these teams and only are being profiled behind Mascenic because of the D3 matchup.  Plymouth is the third D2 in the top ten and has earned their way into the preview and the rankings.  Add in all these other teams along with a strong showing on Saturday and Plymouth could easily find themselves leapfrogging the aforementioned teams.

Other New Hampshire teams to keep eyes on would be D1 Bishop Guertin and Anna Fondakowski, D2 Souhegan and Stephanie Svendsen, D3 Fall Mountain and Jenna Fillion, and the Tilton School, which being private means I have no idea what’s “ under the hood.”

As far as our friends from around the region, we have Austin Prep and North Shore from MA, BFA and White River Valley from VT, Haddam Killingsworth from CT, Cold Spring Harbor from NY, and Orono from ME.  BFA and White River Valley are ranked #2 and #3 in Division 3 cross in VT at the moment so we’ll have to see how that translates to Derryfield park. Considering they run at Thetford, things should be comparable.  After that, all I can say is I would be simply making assumptions on those other schools with the exception of that Orono won’t be a threat to the team title as they are only running four individuals, but keep your eyes out for that Orono jersey.

Individually, Ruth White of Orono is my top pick winner of New Englands the last two years and recent top Maine finisher of the Beach to Beacon. I expect White to be well out in front much like fellow Maine HSer Greely’s Ben True was back in 2003.

Behind her I think we’ll see Hopkinton’s Lane, Newmarket’s Alana Hagen, Hanover’s Perrard, White River Valley’s Anita Miller and Anya Young,  Thetford’s Ava Hayden, Plymouth’s Englund sisters, Kearsarge’s Molly Ellison, Oyster River’s Cook, Kavanaugh, and Haley Bezanson, BG’s Fondakowski,and Fall Mountain’s Fillion.

–Mike Smith

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Boys Small School @ 12:30

The Boys Small School Race at Manchester will not be an exact reflection of the girls small school race as we only have 3 teams from NH ranked in the top ten competing in it,  #3 Souhegan, #5 Hanover and #9 Oyster River.  Not only that, there were two of the top three teams represented along with the top individual in that race and not likely so in this one. Though Coe-Brown (Jamie Lano) and BG (Matthew Giardina) could have run in this race, they elected the better competition of the large school race in an effort to prepare for one of those elusive top spots at MOCs to get to New Englands.  Still in NH but playing the private school league is Tilton School, stepping out and onto the Derryfield course.  Also looking to do the same, we see teams from VT, MA, ME, NY and CT traveling to the Queen City to tackle

the Derryfield course.  Recon for future New Englands perhaps?

There should be a nice little battle among NH’s #3 and #5 to redefine the pecking order for next week’s rankings.  Souhegan is the top contender on paper and had looked to potentially be NH’s #1 team this season but they’ve taken their time getting going.  They last ran without Owen Stine, who is back in the lineup on the entry sheet, so we should see where they are in the preparation to take on the rest of the state in October.  Hanover is also in this race, led by Lucien Gleiser and Ben Groves.  Expect the maroon to be up there towards the front of this race.  Oyster River is the other ranked team, having placed third at Bobcat behind Belmont HIlls (MA) and Bedford, NH’s #6 team.  Led by The Bobcats are led by Ian Hricz and

looking to move up the rankings.

Behind these ranked teams and from D3 are Fall Mountain, Monadnock and Hopkinton.  Fall Mountain easily won Mascenic’s homecoming race, placing Ben Tetu and David Northcott in before any other individuals.  Monadnock is improving week to week and is now being led by the bull moose of Carlton Lampinen.  Toss in Peyton and Jace Joslyn and that’s a trio to be reckoned with.  And Hopkinton, who finished right behind Monadnock at Bobcat in seventh, led by Matt Clarner and Ben Daniels should be in the NH mix as well.

We also have Austin Prep, Malden Catholic and Excel Academy Charter from MA, Haddam Killingsworth from CT, BFA, White River Valley and Thetford from VT, Orono and Kent Hill School from Maine and Cold Spring Harbor from NY.

Along with the aforementioned individuals, I expect to see Portsmouth Christian’s Jonas Teeter, Gilford’s Boc Howland- Vlahakis, ConVal’s William Simard and BFA’s Porter Hurteau up towards the front in this one.

-Mike Smith

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Girls Large School @ 1:00pm

With 8 total ranked schools from Vermont, and New Hampshire, this particular race could be somewhat of a border clash; especially since both states each have 4 ranked teams listed. NH will be represented by Pinkerton (NH-2), Bedford (NH-4), Dover (NH-7), and Keene (NH-8). Pinkerton is coming off an impressive Nashua North Invite where they came within 3 points of NH-1 Hanover. Now a three-headed monster up front with Contessa Silva, Isabelle Groulx and freshman Sookie Folsom, Pinkerton will certainly improve throughout the season. And although Folsom will be rolling in the freshman race, expect Pinkerton to still be ultra competitive here.

Racing their full line-up, Bedford had a nice rebound last week placing 3rd at the Nashua North Invite headlined by Fiona Lee’s runner-up and Kelseigh O’Neil‘s 5th place finish only a few seconds after Lee. They also have a strong supporting cast in scoring positions, so they will be a contender for the podium.

Dover has kept a low profile this season, and even though they will be without one of their top runners, it doesn’t change the fact they are good. We expect Allyson Bortz to lead this team to a strong performance and look forward to the time when they are at full strength. Keene also will

be in the mix as they are led by Lily Runez and A. Pinegar.

As strong as NH is, the heavy favorite to repeat as team champs in this division has to be Champlain Valley, VT. The top team in Vermont is also ranked 3rd in the Northeast and are led by Alice Kredell and Estella Laird. Kredell is actually the top returner and along with Laird, they assuredly have 2 low-sticks. This along with the fact they have everyone back, they should improve upon their 98 second pack time from last year. This will simply be tough to beat. Also expect VT #2 U-32 and VT #3 Essex to be in contention for a podium spots.  South Burlington (VT-5), is another one to be watching.

Individually, CVU’s Kredell is the top returner and favorite; however, look to Bedford’s Lee and Kelseigh O’Neil, Pinkerton’s Silva and Groulx, Phillips Exeter’s Tenley Nelson and Daria Ivanova, Portsmouth’s Mia Scherr as well as Kredell’s teammate Laird to be in the highly competitive chase pack.

-Tim Cox

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Boys Large School @ 1:30

The Boys Large School Race could be the most exciting cross country race in New Hampshire this season. With top ranked teams from all over New England making the trip, picking a winner could be a challenge so let’s look at who’s coming and see if we can figure it out.

We get to start with a team who’s coming in with a NATIONAL ranking of #28 in Brookline High School from Massachusetts. You might be like, “Wow, that’s exciting! They’re probably going to win!” except the guys they have entered in the varsity race are not their actual varsity. Their top guys are sitting this one out but they do have some solid runners entered but if you’re expecting them to come rock the field you’re going to be disappointed.

Ok, so with them out of the way, let’s look at the rest of the field.

From Vermont we’re going to see four of their top five teams in #1 St Johnsbury, Essex and Champlain Valley who are tied for #2 and then Montpelier who is ranked #4. Those of you who attended the Nashua North Invite also got to see a strong U-32 squad who beat everyone but NH#1 Nashua South and had the second individual Cyrus Hansen. We got a look at St Johnsbury at the Great Glen invitational where they went head to head with NH#2 Pinkerton and came away with a win both as a team and the individual winner Carson Eames. These Vermont teams are legit this year.

Coming up from Rhode Island is their #1 and the defending team meet champions Bishop Hendricken. Hendricken seems to have a strong squad every single year and their state ranking indicates that this year is no different. They attended the Injury Fund Carnival a few weeks back along with RI#2 Cumberland and came away with a solid victory with their entire top seven running under 17:20 winning by almost 30 points. Cumberland will also be in attendance Saturday but is a clear step behind at the point in the season.

Checking on the local teams, we’re going to see six of our current top 10 teams which could result in a big shake up in the rankings. NH#1 Nashua South made an early season statement last week at Nashua with their top two of Daniel Byrne and Dante Castellano taking fourth and sixth and leading South to a 36 point victory over NH#2 Pinkerton. They had come in ranked #2 so it was a pretty exciting upset for the Panthers but might leave Pinkerton looking for some revenge. Also, keep an eye out for NH#4 Salem who had a great race last weekend and has a really young varsity squad who’s top five is entirely made up of underclassmen. They made a big leap up the rankings and might not be done shaking things up yet! We also get to see NH#6 Bedford, NH#7 Bishop Guertin, NH #8 Coe-Brown and NH #10 Exeter in the race and whenever you see that many ranked teams battle it out, there’s inevitably going to be some fireworks. Watchout for Londonderry who isn’t ranked but has been skulking on the edge of a top 10 ranking for a couple of weeks. The New Hampshire wildcard is Phillips Exeter Academy who could be one of the top teams in the meet, but are a little hard to read at this point in the season as they haven’t had any races yet.

Ok, so with all that considered, who looks like the winner? I’m betting it’s either going to be South, Bishop Hendricken, or Phillips Exeter. St Johnsbury didn’t beat Pinkerton by a ton at Mount Washington and South won the Nashua invitational by a significant margin over Pinkerton last weekend. Hendricken’s run at the Injury Carnival showed some really excellent times but definitely not quite on the level of what South did last weekend. That said, Nashua’s course was clearly on the “extra fast” side this year so maybe weighing those times too heavily is a mistake. Phillips Exeter is probably the one of these three to watch with no races yet in 2023, but they also likely have the race winner on their team which is obviously a huge advantage.

The individual side has a potential treat as we may see the season debut of the US#2, Byron Grevious.

Depending on what kind of shape he’s in (this would be very early season for a guy who should have a chance at winning a national championship) could we see the meet record go down? Maybe even the course? Realistically, the battle is for second. Now, he’s not the only ranked runner in the race with Phillips Academy’s Tam Gavenas starting the season inside the top 100 at US#79. A great opportunity for some of the other top runners with a particular eye on Bishop Guertin’s Matt Giardina to maybe enter the national ranking conversation? Giardina absolutely tore it up at Nashua last weekend running in the low 15’s so it seems like he should be able to put up a close fight with Gavenas. After that, there’s a litany of talented guys who will likely try and hang on these front three as long as possible so we may see some really strong early Manchester times this year. I’m watching the Vermonters Andrew Thornton-Sherman (St. Johnsbury), Kelton Poirer (Essex), Carson Eames (St Johnsbury), Daniel Knight (CVU) and Cyrus Hansen (U-32). From Rhode Island we’ve got Sam Henderson (Cumberland), Sam Zabbo (Bishop Hendricken) and Jack Moretta (Bishop Hendricken). From Massachusetts look out for Lowell’s Jack Courtney. Maine has Maddox Jordan (Noble) who had a strong run here last year. Finally, look for New Hampshire runners Daniel Byrne and Dante Castellano from South, Finn Christensen-Kraft from Pinkerton, Jacob Redman from Bedford and Jamie Lano from Coe-Brown.

-Ian French