After a few weeks of large state wide and interstate invitationals, this past weekend teams spread across several smaller invites as well as hitting the road out of state for a couple large invitationals. We just decided to do quick recap of what occurred as we enter into championship season. That’s right, this week we see the JV and Middle State Championships as well as a couple more regional championships. So the regular season is concluded, here we go to the championship phase!
CVC Championships
Friday night saw the CVC Championships take place on the lightning fast Swanzee Fairgrounds. How fast? Well take a look at Keene’s Sully Sturtz who ran 14:58 on the 5k course a week earlier in the dark. Sturtz followed that with an encore performance in the daylight breaking the tape at 14:46. Wow! To their credit, placing 5 in the top 8 as well as having 4 under 16 minutes (also Wow!), NH#1 Hanover won the meet comfortably tallying just 22 points. They were led by senior Andrew Valentino’s runner up finish in 15:27.
NH #2 Hanover girls actually scored less points as they won with only 19 points. They were led by the 1-2 finish of Megan Faris (18:02) and Lea Perreard (18:14). Keene was second in both meets.
Pelham Invitational
This past Saturday, Pelham quietly put on one of the more competitive invites of the season. Pelham is great grass roots NH invitational held on another flat and fast course with its finish on the track. While it was a blustery day, the direction of the wind did not hamper performances as most of the spectator friendly course is in the woods.
Featuring 3 ranked squads, the girls kicked things off and Pinkerton demonstrated why they are ranked so high in the state. Led by Sookie Folsom’s 4th place finish in 18:59, the TrailBlazers sported a pack time of a little over 1 minute placing all 5 scorers in the top 13 to total 48 points. Led by Maddy Lane’s runner up finish in 18:17, NH#5 Hopkinton with a full lineup this week placed 2nd with 97 points. Bedford’s Mikita Barry continued her win streak v. NH competition as she blazed to a 17:45 win. Bedford, NH #6 placed 3rd with 119 points.
The boys side featured 3 ranked schools as well. Led by Luc Kerouac’s 5th place finish in 16:12, NH #7 Coe-Brown saw all 5 scorers finish within 54 seconds of one another to win with 55 points. NH#3 Bishop Guertin was once again led by the Fischer brothers, Carson and Ethan, who finished 3rd and 4th in 15:56 and 15:59 to place 2nd as a team with 89 points. They should keep their ranking of #3 as Matthew Giardina has been training through the final few weeks of the regular season. Plug him in as a low stick and they would have won with a score in the mid 30s.
Team and individual story of the day had to be Milford. Do not sleep on Logan Korthals any longer as the junior won over a talented field which included runner-up Con-Val’s Will Simard. Korthals broke the proverbial tape in 15:45 to Simard’s 15:54 in what was a nice competitive race. Korthals’ team made claim to a possible ranking as they placed 3rd overall with 94 points. Watch this team as their top 4 were in the top 18 in a larger invitational. Division 2 just got more interesting!
Merrimack and Newfound Invitationals
Couple smaller invites also took place. NH#4 South and NH#5 Salem actually tied through their first 5 scorers at the Merrimack Invitational which was held at Freestyle Farm. It was South’s 6th runner, Matthew Motherway who gave South the victory in the tiebreaker. The overall winner was South’s Daniel Byrne who covered the beautifully hilly course in 16:27. Winnacunnet won the girls’ meet led by Carson Mariotti’s overall win with with a time of 20:36. Newfound’s Colin Foster and Ceilli Irving swept the individual titles on their home course at the Newfound Invitational leading their teams to the team titles as well.
Out-of-State Meets
Bob Glennon Twilight Meet Results
Oyster River traveled to Cape Cod for the Bob Glennon Twilight Invitational. Short several of their top 7, the Bobcats still managed to finish runner-up in the medium school race. They were once again led by Haley Kavanagh who rolled through the night to cross in 18:00. Maddy Cook and Olivia Kavanagh were also in the 18’s in this one. Led by Mitchell Keesee’s top 10 finish, the boys placed 10th out of 33 teams.
Manhattan Invitational
Londonderry made its annual trek to the Bronx and Van Cortland Park, most storied course in the country. The Manhattan Invitational is also the largest invite in the country with 42 races ranging from middle school to a coach’s race taking place throughout the day. NH#7 Londonderry girls continued their super solid season placing 4th in the Girls Varsity F Race (results) and were led by senior Sayde White. The boys ranked #6 in NH, placed also placed 4th in the Boys Varsity C Race (results) and were led by Carson Fitzgerald and Josh Twomey.
