Lights! Camera! Action! will be happening at the Cheshire fairgrounds this Friday night as Monadnock hosts its Moonlight Madness Invitational for year number 3. Last year we saw Erin O’Shea and the Mascenic girls run the board, fending off a hard charging Keene squad. Both teams lost a lot to graduation with Mascenic returning only the two headed monster that is the O’Shea sisters. For the boys, Keene’s Sully Sturz is back to defend his title as well, one he’s defended before. And of course, all of this, under lights (and in the dark) on the lightning quick fairgrounds in Swanzey.
Girls Race
As mentioned before, Mascenic’s Erin O’Shea is back to defend her title from last year. Erin has had a strong season so far, but it was at Moonlight last year she broke through so it will be interesting to see how this week’s race goes. Second last year was Fall Mountain’s Jenna Fillion, and she’s back looking to upset the apple cart. Merrimack’s Melanie Bedard (3), Kaitlin O’Shea of Mascenic (5) and Newfound’s Emerald Briggs (6) make up half the top ten from last year and all will be looking to finish first under the floodlights Friday night. Also looking to be in on the action will be Bow’s Hannah Pawlowski, ConVal’s Whitney Adair, Conant’s Amelia Hill, Keene’s Abby Pinegar, Moultonborough’s Hailey Watts, as well as Ceili Irving and Addie Alpers of Newfound.
Keene is the top team coming out of the Manchester Invite, having finished 12th in the merge and should be considered the favorite. But I have my eye on Newfound, which didn’t compete at Manchester and have a strong front three. They also have a steadily improving 4-7 which can be huge in Division 3. Merrimack wasn’t too far behind Keene in the merge, finishing 16th and should be looking to make their presence known. After that it could come down to which team has five healthy athletes on the line.
Boys Race
It would be foolish to pick against Keene’s Sully Sturtz on Friday, as he was NH’s top runner last year at New Englands and there is nothing to show he’s taken any steps back along the way. However, Con-Val’s Will Simard has certainly taken steps forward, winning D2s and finishing behind only Matt Giardina at MOCs in the 3200. Simard sat out Coe-Brown’s Black Bear invite and one could only think he wants to pressure Sturtz in this race. Last year’s runner up, Peyton Joslyn of Monadnock will be looking to break up the party, as will Mascoma’s Gunner Currier. Currier leads a strong squad looking to capture the D3 crown in October and will be looking to sharpen his skills these coming weeks. Also looking to make the jump to big time will be Newfound’s Colin Foster (star of “FASTER”), Conant’s Nate Alajajian and Mascenic’s Derek Somero.
Mascoma leads teams coming out of the Manchester Invite, but Keene doesn’t race Manchester so could certainly contest here. Next best but a little ways back would be Merrimack, followed by Bow and then Mascenic. Expect the race for third to be hard fought. After that, much like the girls race, expect the latter team places to be determined by who can put five healthy athletes on the line.
