Girls
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
With the top 2 teams separated by 1 point and places 4th through 6th all with the same score after their top 5, 2024 Division 1’s may have been the most competitive team race ever!?!?!? While we knew this was going to be competitive, we did not expect it to be that tight! What was expected was Bedford’s Mikita Barry attacking the course from the gun and taking the lead immediately and that is exactly what happened. Exeter’s Alexis Paterna, Pinkerton’s Sookie Folsom, North’s Laura White, BG’s Anna Fondakowski, Dover’s Anique Poulin, Alvirne’s Anna Simpson, and Exeter’s Brianna Paterna.
By the top of the hill after the 1 mile, Barry’s lead had steadied at 8 seconds with only Paterna, White and Poulin still in the hunt. Team wise, Exeter had 3 in the top 10 to Pinkerton’s 2, but Pinkerton countered with the rest of their top 5 in the top 13!
At 2 miles, Barry still had the 7 second lead, but only White was left hunting. Paterna and Poulin were solidly in 3rd and 4th. BG’s Fondakowski ran a great 2nd mile to propel herself into 5th just ahead of Folsom and Portsmouth’s Sophia Cosgrove, who also had a fantastic second mile. Winnacunnet’s Carson Mariotti gave close chase as did Pinkerton’s Bedard. Right behind Bedard was Exeter’s Brianna Paterna, but her teammate Molly Kells also had a brilliant 2nd mile to move ahead of the Pinkerton pack of Parker Knowlton, Kalisan Marzolf and Althea LeBlanc. And with a mile to go, it looked like the favored Pinkerton was well in control.
Over the final mile, Barry would open the lead more winning in 19:18 to White’s 19:40. Alexis Paterna would place a strong 3rd in 19:59 (she was 40th last year!). After Fondakowski caught Poulin, Poulin kicked away to finish 4th in 20:18 with Fondakowski crossing 10 seconds back. Portsmouth’s Cosgrove placed a somewhat surprising 6th in 20:45 with Mariotti in 7th, Bedard in 8th. Brianna Paterna ended up in 9th in 21:05 and Simpson would complete the top 10 in 21:14.
The team race got a heckuva lot tighter as Pinkerton’s Folsom truly spent everything and was unable to finish. Our hearts obviously go out to her. And credit to her teammates, especially Sarah Rzasa their new number 5 as Pinkerton came through to win by 1 point over a game Exeter squad 92-93.
And not to be outdone was the race for the top 5 auto qualifying MOC spots. Bedford took 3rd outright with 169 points, but Concord, North and BG all tallied 178 points after their top 5 were scored, so final placing would be decided by each team’s 6th scorer. Concord had 2 in the top 20 scorers with Quinn Doherty and Shelly Smith but they have to thank Gianna Gualitieri as she placed higher than the other 6th scorers on North and BG to give them 4th. Laura White’s Nashua North would claim 5th, courtesy of Skyler Hewson. Bishop Guertin would wound up 6th, but they nabbed 1 of the 3 at-large spots to MOCs based on their team average time. Matter of fact, D1’s Alvirne led by Anna Simpson and Windham, led by Darby Madden and Natalie Rogers placing 14th and 15th should claim the final 2 at-large spots as well.
Boys
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
By Ian French
The Division I race looked primed to be a battle in both the individual and team races and it did not disappoint on either front. I kind of grimaced the whole writing of the preview because I knew it was going to be really competitive on both sides and it was all going to be about who just happened to be at their best on race day.
From the gun, Matt Giardina and Sully Sturtz made it clear it was going to be a two man race, shooting to the front and quickly establishing themselves ahead of the rest of the field. By 800 meters into the race they had built a visible lead on the field but a solid chase pack of approximately ten runners had formed behind them.
By the top of the first hill, the race had become a little clearer. Sturtz was no longer shoulder to shoulder with Giardina and seemed to be in the process of opening up a gap on the defending champion. There was only about five meters between them, but you could tell that Sturtz had a plan to push the reservoir and see if he could close the door early on Giardina. Behind them, Bishop Guertin’s Ethan and Carson Fischer and Sam Prescott were off to a great start all cresting the hill as a group and making it feel like they had locked up the team race early. Pinkerton’s Oscar D’Amelio and Trainor Mailloux were hot on their heels though along with South’s Daniel Byrne and Camdon Brien. With a lot of race left, there was plenty of time for the tide to turn. Brody Chisholm and a pleasant surprise in Concord’s freshman Spencer Clemans also found themselves in the competitive mix.
At the top of McIntyre, Sturtz had built a commanding lead. A quick peek over his shoulder as he rounded the turn revealed to him a gap that likely filled him with confidence that the championship was his to lose. The bigger surprise was that Ethan Fischer had closed the gap on Giardina and was only about five meters behind him. Daniel Byrne followed quickly by D’Amelio rounded out a solid top five. Carson Fischer and Brody Chisholm were quick behind and none of the top five were going to be able to take it easy if they wanted to keep their position. The team race looked like it was BG’s to lose at this point with four in the top ten and Pinkerton’s chase pack back closer to 20th.
As it was at the top of the hill, it kind of stayed to the end of the race. Sturtz’s lead only grew over the final 2000 meters and he took an impressive win by nearly 30 seconds. Could we have seen the first championship of a three week win streak for Sturtz? He looked like a guy ready to take it all. Giardina and Ethan Fischer made for a powerful 1-2 punch for the Cardinals. D’Amelio managed to break away from Byrne in the field leading to an impressive fourth place for the cross country rookie with Byrne holding off Carson Fischer to take fifth.
On the team side, Bishop Guertin placed four in the top ten and while Pinkerton managed to get their entire scoring squad in the top twenty five, it simply wasn’t enough. BG takes the win by 8 points with an incredible effort by both teams. A resurgent Nashua South was only 11 points behind Pinkerton with 84 points. Salem was only another 14 points back for fourth with 98 points. Sturtz will not be along at the MOCs as Keene claimed the final auto-qualifying spot for MOCs with 157 points. And just like the girls, the 3 at-large bids emanate from Division 1 as Alvirne, Exeter and Londonderry made it in based on their team average times!
Looking forward to next week’s Meet of Champions where I could absolutely see things falling differently!
