Full Results – Courtesy of Millennium Running
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MI49!!! The festival had everything from the debut of a new course to individual battles to team battles to surprises and confirmations. But the bottom line is, Manchester Invitational is still the granddaddy of them all! Thanks to Millennium Running for putting on a first class event which truly celebrates and showcases athletes from all over New England. Special thanks to the new course design which was necessary and timely. The new course eliminates a lot of the pavement and may be slower, but it is still Derryfield.
Great job NH on being gracious hosts and even better competitors! Congrats to all!
Girls Small School
In the preview, I highlighted Maddy Lane of Hopkinton to be the one to beat and that prediction proved to be right. At 600 meters Lane had already started to open a gap over a small chase pack made up of Erin and Kaitlin O’Shea of Mascenic, Elli Englund of Plymouth, Samantha Swanbon of Souhegan, Allie Schmitt of Cheverus, and Ava Hayden of Thetford. The chase pack followed closely with Fall Mountains Jenna Fillion, Lane’s teammate Shaylee Murdough, Leah Unger of Raymond, Aedyn Kourakos of St Pauls School, Danielle Lynch of Rham, Charlotte Behnke of Haddam-Killingworth and Annelies Hanna of Lebanon.
By the mile, Lane had a sixteen second advantage over the field, with Swanbon, Englund and Schmitt fronting a chase pack that was beginning to stretch out. At the top of the hill after the mile, Lane was away, running the second hilly mile in a quick 7 minutes to further drive the stake home. Englund and Schmitt would follow just over half a minute later, with Swanbon almost another twenty seconds back. Erin O’Shea and Ava Hayden would cross the two mile mark just under 14 minutes.
Lane would continue to extend her lead, crossing the line in 19:28.4, winning by almost forty seconds. Englund would out-leg Schmitt for second with Swanbon able to hold off a hard charging Hayden. O’Shea would cross the line ten seconds later with Harwood’s Ceili Wing, who moved from 25th to 10th over the second mile another ten seconds in arrears. Hopkinton’s Murdough, St Pauls Kourakos and Rham’s Lynch would round out the top ten.
In the team battle, Connecticut’s Haddam-Killingworth would finish first with 82 points, with their scoring five in the scoring top 23. St Pauls would be second, scoring 117, all scorers in the top 31. Hopkinton would be the top in state public school, finishing third with 122 points. Plymouth would beat out Souhegan for fourth, 183 to 197.
–Mike Smith
Boys Small School
While in the girls race, Maddy Lane had asserted her dominance, the boys race was a lot more congested up front, with ConVal’s Will Simard taking the race out hot and reaching the 600 meter mark at the front. Behind him a pack of Tycen Labelle of Griswold, Michael Upton of Catholic Memorial, Luke Zahurak of Walpole, Teddy Tremblay of BFA, Peyton Joslyn of Monadnock, Dallen Noorda of Souhegan, Daniel Dalbec of Kearsarge and unheralded Elijah Bodanza of Hillsboro-Deering (who I neglected accidentally in the preview) were hot on his heels and by the mile mark. By the mile the pack tightened up with Upton now was at the front heading into the hill that climbs to the reservoir. Mascoma’s Gunner Currier, having overcome a bad start where he went through 600 meters in about 60th place, had joined the front pack. Things were about to get shaken up over the hilly second mile.
By the two mile mark, Upton was still at the front with Simard off his shoulder and Labelle off of Simard. Tremblay and Zahurak were a few seconds back, with Bodanza a few seconds back on that. Joslyn was in a bit of no man’s land, with Dalbec and Currier leading Brady Sloop of Thetford who was running a great second mile, going from 25th to 10th, like Hayden of Harwood in the girls race.
Upton, Simard and Labelle would battle that entire third mile, with a scant four seconds separating the three, with Upton winning in 16:32.3. With the best final mile in the race, Bodanza would finish fourth, four seconds back on Labelle. Zahurak would beat out Tremblay, both crossing the line with 16:43.3, with the top six finishers within eleven seconds of each other. That’s some solid racing. Joslyn would hold off a hard finishing Currier, with Sloop beating Catholic Memorial’s second finisher Daniel Norton to round out the top ten.
In the team race, Catholic Memorial squeaked by Coe-Brown, 93 to 99. Coe-Brown was winning at the mile, but Catholic Memorial ran a great second half of the race. While Coe-Brown had their scoring five in the scoring 30, Catholic Memorial had two in front of Coe Brown’s first, with all their scorers in the top 32. Oyster River would follow in third with 170 points, eight points up on Haddam-Killingworth. Algonquin would finish a close fifth with 180. D3 Mascoma would finish tenth.
–Mike Smith
Girls Large School
With 13 ranked schools multiple states along with a collection of regional and national class runners, the Girls Large School Race at MI49 was a barnstormer! XC newcomer Bedford’s Mikita Barry took the pace out hard from the start on the new course at Derryfield, but by the mile, she settled in a pack which included national star Brooke Strauss of Glastonbury, CT, Needham’s (MA) Greta Hammer, Allie Schmitt of Cheverus (ME), Mt. Mansfield’s (VT) Acadia Enman, Hanover’s Lea Perreard, Oyster River’s Mackenzie Cook and Haley Kavanagh. Pre-race team favorite, Champlain Valley VT’s top 4 notably hung back over the first half.
The second mile would decide both team and individual titles this go around. By the 2 mile mark, the pack at the mile had been blown up as Strauss built a 4 second lead over Hammer. This lead would balloon to over 40 seconds as Strauss cruised to victory in 18:18. This is particularly impressive as the new course is considered 25 or so seconds slower than last year. Hammer would place a comfortable 2nd in 19:01 with Barry was top NH finisher placing 3rd in 19:09.
Team wise, led by the dynamic duo of Kavanagh and Cook racing together, Oyster River established the lead through 2 miles, but defending champion Champlain Valley has a reputation of winning titles over the final mile of big races. In the end, Oyster River proved too strong on NH soil to finish with 59 points to CVU’s 83. Haley Kavanagh completed her best race of the season placing 4th in 19:17, and despite a spill in the final stage of the course, Cook kicked to a strong 5th in 19:21. Cook outkicked Mt. Mansfield’s Enman with Hanover’s Megan Faris a tick behind crossing for 7th in 19:22. CVU’s top 3 then came in like gangbusters sweeping places 8-10 with Lydia Donahue, Charlotte Crum, and Audrey Nielson. To their credit, OR countered with Haley Bezanson’s 13th, Madelyn Cook’s 18th and Neely Roy’s 19th place finishes to seal the deal.
Hanover would be 3rd led by the aforementioned Faris as well as Lea Perreard’s 12th place finish. Pinkerton was next best NH team as they placed 9th with 317 points while Exeter placed 10th with 338.
Congrats to all!
-Tim Cox
Boys Large School
The Boys Large School Race had all the makings of a great one! 17! That’s right 17 ranked schools from various states toed the line for this one! Incredible national class individuals all battling a new course. No one quite knew how the splits would compare to the previous year; however, every one knew the competition was going to be intense.
From the outset, 2023 Footlocker qualifier (he placed 3rd!) Phillips Academy’s Tam Gavenas took the reigns of the race and never really let go. He led the field through the mile at 4:52 with only Loomis Chaffee’s Alex Fisher and BG’s Matthew Giardina willing to roll with him. The field already was strung out, but the all-stars chasing the top three included East Lyme CT’s Sean McCauley, St. Johnsbury’s Andrew Thornton-Sherman and Emmett Johnson. Over the 2nd mile, the toughest mile, Gavenas and Fisher were separated by only a couple seconds, but were away from the field. Eventually Gavenas pulled added to his lead over the final mile for the 13 second win crossing in an incredible 15:24! Fisher finished in 15:37. Both incredible performances on a tougher and slower course than 2023.
East Lyme’s McCauley placed a strong 3rd crossing in 16:12 leading his 3rd ranked CT squad to the big W. East Lyme proved they were simply the best team scoring 76 points with a 58 second spread. They were slightly behing St. Johnsbury at the mile split but established a strong lead by the 2 mile. Jilali Benjdid placed 7th, Sam Leone 15th, Matthew Carrier 26th and Jack Faitsch 29th. Brookline would place second with 126 points followed by St. Johnsbury’s 140 points. Hanover was impressive with their 4th place showing accumulating 157 points. They were led by Andrew Valentino’s head turning 10th place finish in 16:28. He was actually the 2nd Granite Stater to finish with also an impressive time of 16:28. Continuing off their momentum from last week, Pinkerton was next best in NH placing 5th with 192 points and South was 6th with 225 points.
BG’s Giardina was top NH finisher battling to a 4th place finish in 16:20. Following Valentino was Concord’s Josiah Conley claiming 11th in 16:36. South’s Daniel Byrne had a nice one placing 14th in 16:43 while Portsmouth’s Nolan Peters placed 17th in 16:50 completing NH’s representation in the top 20. Great job to all!
–Tim Cox
