BIB Assignments – updated!
For all meet information, pics, results, interviews from past years and this year, check out our Battle of the Border Meet Hub!
The 20th Annual Battle of the Border Invitational between Massachusetts and New Hampshire will be held this Saturday, October 5, 2024. This year’s meet, at Alvirne High School in Hudson, New Hampshire, is looking like it will be the most competitive, perhaps ever, among NH teams. This is the 3rd year the NH Meet of Champions is going to be held on the BoB course, so that may be why 9 of NH’s top 10 boys ranked teams are attending along with 7 of the top 10 girls teams. The annual wrinkle with this traditional invitational is the border battle as the superior state between NH and MA is determined by placement of the top 5 teams from their respective states. NH has won the last 6 years!! Let’s Go!!
Representing New Hampshire will be Alvirne, Bedford, Bishop Guertin, Campbell, Coe-Brown, Concord, Con-Val, Dover, Goffstown, Hollis/Brookline, Keene, Londonderry, Central, Memorial, West, Milford, Nashua South, Oyster River, Pelham, Pinkerton, Portsmouth, Salem, Spaulding, Windham, Winnacunnet.
Massachusetts will be represented by Holy Family Academy, Innovation, Marshfield, Methuen, Needham, Newton South, North Andover, Notre Dame Academy-Hingham, and Tyngsborough.
GIRLS RACE
With the top 7 NH teams scheduled to compete along with MA #6 Needham, MA#9 Marshfield as well as North Andover, this race should be just as competitive as an MOC. The meet is certainly headlined by NH#1 and Northeast #3 Oyster River. Led by Haley Kavanagh and Mackenzie Cook, the Bobcats may have the best 1-2 combination in perhaps New England as well as the best supporting cast with Haley Bezanson, Neely Roy, Maddy Cook, Olivia Kavanagh and as the next supporting cast. Needham, #6 in MA, beat all NH schools besides OR and Hanover at Manchester Invitational, so look to them for top 3 as they are led by Greta Hammer. Hammer placed 2nd overall at Manchester Invitational.
After these 2 teams look for the chase pack to be led by NH#3 Pinkerton and MA#9 Marshfield. Led by Sookie Folsom, we all know Pinkerton has a knack for peaking second half of seasons and this is where they usually begin building that momentum. Marshfield returns to BoB this year with the 9th ranked squad in Mass and are led by Eleanor Angeles-Whitefield. Once again, Londonderry NH#6, may be the most intriguing as this will be the first time in a few weeks we get to see them at full strength! Led by Sayde White, Londonderry is buoyed by a couple freshmen with high ceilings. This will be fun for them. A couple strong individuals lead the other potential contenders. Bedford #7 is led by XC newcomer Mikita Barry who will be looking forward to another duel with Needham’s Hammer. Anique Poulin seems to be getting better each week and leads number 10 Dover to Hill House. Do not sleep on North Andover MA. Led by Luna Prochazkova, North Andover surprised many last year essentially tying with Pinkerton.
Individually look for the front pack to include Hammer, Barry, Mackenzie Cook, and Haley Kavanagh. Chase pack should be crowded with Poulin, Bezanson, BG’s Anna Fondakowski, Maddy Cook, Roy, Prochazkova, Angeles-Whitefield and Alvirne’s Anna Simpson.
BOYS RACE
Last year, North Andover trekked north to take the 2023 Battle of the Border rather comfortably. Led by potential top 5 contender Emmett LaRosa, look for them to make their presence known for sure. They will certainly have their hands full as NH has 9 of the top 10 teams competing. NH#2 Pinkerton is the top team from the Granite State competing. The Long Red Line has a few athletes who can lay claim as their top man with Sean Hayes, Oscar D’Amelio, and Trainor Mailloux. This is good for any team. By contrast NH#3 Nashua South is led definitively by Daniel Byrne. Last year’s NH#1 team, South has bounced back buoyed by a strong performance at Manchester 2 weeks ago. Talk about bouncing back, NH#4 may be a bit of a surprise this year as Coe-Brown was seemingly decimated by matriculation entering this season. However buoyed by a couple dynamite freshmen in Patrick Youngs and Ben Larson along with developing athletes like Ben Jobin, the Bears find themselves in a familiar contending position.
The chase pack of teams should be comprised of NH#5 Londonderry, NH#6 Salem, NH# 7 Oyster River, NH#8 Bishop Guertin, Marshfield and North Andover. Led by Carson Fitzgerald and Josh Twomey, the Lancers will be at full strength once again as they add their freshmen back into their line-up. Watch out for Salem as the hope is they are back at full strength as well with the Chisholm brothers and Brock James. Continuing to develop their young squad, Oyster River will certainly make their presence known led by Mitchell Keesee and Oliver Lehman. Perhaps slightly under-ranked, Bishop Guertin boasts possibly the best top 3 in several states with Matthew Giardina, Carson Fischer and Ethan Fischer. Look for them to possibly shake up the rankings a tad. Looking to crash the NH party will be North Andover and Marshfield. Both are led by the aforementioned low sticks, so if their supporting staff step up while NH teams are too busy trying to beat one another, they can steal the show much like North Andover did last year.
Individually, BG’s Giardina will be looking to defend his crown from last year when he won in 15:32. Perhaps his stiffest competition could be from Concord’s Josiah Conley who has had quite the bounce back season highlighted by his latest venture onto the track for a pretty swift 5k according to Strava lore. In that top group mix we should see names like South’s Byrne, Con-Val’s Will Simard, Marshfield’s Heinrich and McCabe, North Andover’s LaRosa, Portsmouth’s Nolan Peters, Pinkerton’s Mailloux and D’Amelio, and BG’s Fischer brothers. With this being a different course than Derryfield look for other names who could infiltrate the front pack. Names like Youngs, Hayes, Lehman Chisholm among others.
NHCC will be there snapping pics, recording races, posting on Instagram live! We will also be selling NHCC tees with proceeds going to support the website! Thanks to all for the support! Marathon Sports will also be there with a tent full of merch for purchase as well!
Good luck to all! Especially those from the 603! Let’s Go!
