With 2025 Season Previews on the way and races not that far off, NHCC is getting excited for this upcoming season! It is always fun to assess the accuracy of our predictions given all the variables which contribute to a high school cross country season! So, just how good are we here at NHCC with predicting Divisional Championships and MOC outcomes? Let’s find out! Below are the summaries of what we predicted in contrast with the real results of the 2024 XC season. Anyone can make predictions but we here at NHCC demand accountability from…ourselves!
Disclaimer: Many different people contribute to these predictions over the course of a given season, so is this a perfectly scientific breakdown of accuracy? Nope, it’s just for fun and we are happy to expose our inaccuracies (and brag about our successes too). Accurately predicting team success (especially before we’ve had any meets!) is incredibly difficult.
The number of teams in each category reflect the number of teams automatically eligible to advance to the next level of competition.
Division 3 Girls
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | Divisional Championship Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Mascenic | 1) Hopkinton | 1) Hopkinton |
| 2) Hopkinton | 2) Gilford | 2) Gilford |
| 3) Newmarket | 3) Newmarket | 3) Newfound |
| 4) Gilford | 4) Newfound | 4) Newmarket |
| 5) Fall Mountain | 5) Fall Mountain | 5) Sanborn |
A decent start here with three out of five (60%) correct in the always tricky Seasonal Preview, but some redemption with four out of five (80%) selection hits in the Divisional Preview. Two perfect predictions were found there in the 1-2 spot and a one slot transposition for 3-4 so a really nice effort here. A bit of a hit to our reputation with Sanborn’s 5th at D3s and they did not get one mention as a top 5 team in either preview. Congrats to them for coming up big in a big spot!
Overall Grade: B
Division 3 Boys
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | Divisional Championship Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Hopkinton | 1) Mascoma Valley | 1) Mascoma Valley |
| 2) Fall Mountain | 2) Hopkinton | 2) Mascenic |
| 3) Mascoma Valley | 3) St. Thomas Aquinas | 3) Newmarket |
| 4) St. Thomas Aquinas | 4) Newmarket | 4) Portsmouth Christian Academy |
| 5) Mascenic | 5) Portsmouth Christian Academy | 5) St. Thomas Aquinas |
An ok start here with three out of five (60%) correct in the Seasonal Preview but a solid four out of five (80%) in the Divisional Preview. Having Mascoma Valley in the correct winning slot in the Divisional Preview was nice but a whiff on Mascenic for 2nd for sure. Newmarket, STA, and PCA all performed very close to predictions here so a good effort all-around.
Grade: B+
Division 2 Girls
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | Divisional Championship Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Oyster River | 1) Oyster River | 1) Hanover |
| 2) Hanover | 2) Hanover | 2) Oyster River |
| 3) Souhegan | 3) Plymouth | 3) Plymouth |
| 4) Lebanon | 4) Souhegan | 4) Souhegan |
| 5) Merrimack Valley | 5) Coe-Brown | 5) Coe-Brown |
Similar start here with three out of five teams (80%) predicted correctly in the Seasonal Preview. But then we showed some real improvement with a whopping five for five (100%) correct in the Divisional Preview and except for a 1-2 transposition, teams performed exactly as predicted!
Grade: A
Division 2 Boys
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | Divisional Championship Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Hanover | 1) Hanover | 1) Hanover |
| 2) Coe-Brown | 2) Coe-Brown | 2) Coe-Brown |
| 3) Oyster River | 3) Oyster River | 3) Oyster River |
| 4) Souhegan | 4) Milford | 4) Souhegan |
| 5) Milford | 5) Souhegan | 5) Milford |
This is by far our best work. Not only five out of five (100%) correct in the Seasonal Preview; all perfect matches! The Divisional Preview had five out of five correct as well (100%) with only slots 4-5 switched so this means we are taking a victory lap here! We could have saved time and simply done a “cut and paste” of the Seasonal Preview….
Grade: A+
Division 1 Girls
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | Divisional Championship Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Exeter | 1) Pinkerton | 1) Pinkerton |
| 2) Pinkerton | 2) Exeter | 2) Exeter |
| 3) Concord | 3) Bedford | 3) Bedford |
| 4) Bishop Guertin | 4) Nashua North | 4) Concord |
| 5) Bedford | 5) Londonderry | 5) Nashua North |
Really nice work here in the Seasonal Preview with four out of five (80%) accurately predicted. No “exactos” but very close for all the four slots. In the Divisional Preview we kept that exact percentage but then outdid ourselves and absolutely nailed the top three predictions perfectly and only missed one team by one finishing position. Props to Concord for performing better than expected to surprise us!
Grade: A
Division 1 Boys
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | Divisional Championship Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Nashua South | 1) Pinkerton | 1) Bishop Guertin |
| 2) Salem | 2) Bishop Guertin | 2) Pinkerton |
| 3) Pinkerton | 3) Nashua South | 3) Nashua South |
| 4) Bishop Guertin | 4) Salem | 4) Salem |
| 5) Londonderry | 5) Londonderry | 5) Keene |
A very solid four out of five (80%) correctly predicted in the Seasonal Preview, and a nice four out of five (80%) correctly predicted in the Divisional Preview as #1 and #2 were one-spot transpositions and adding in getting 3-4 spot on. Keene did what Keene does and nabbed the 5 spot from “nowhere”.
Grade: A-
MOC Girls
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | MOC Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Oyster River | 1) Hanover | 1) Oyster River |
| 2) Hanover | 2) Oyster River | 2) Hanover |
| 3) Hopkinton | 3) Pinkerton | 3) Exeter |
| 4) Exeter | 4) Exeter | 4) Hopkinton |
| 5) Souhegan | 5) Hopkinton | 5) Pinkerton |
| 6) Bedford | 6) Bedford | 6) Bedford |
Very tough to predict category here early on, but some very nice work with five out of six predicted correctly (83%) in the Seasonal Preview and 1-2 exactly correct. Pair that with three teams performing only one slot off of prediction coupled with the degree of difficulty and this might be our best Preseason Preview of the year. Tremendous work in the MOC preview article as well with six out of six (100%) teams accurately predicted, four teams only a one spot transposition difference and a perfect call on placement in the #6 spot.
Grade: A+
MOC Boys
| Seasonal Preview Predictions | MOC Predictions | Actual Results |
| 1) Nashua South | 1) Bishop Guertin | 1) Bishop Guertin |
| 2) Hanover | 2) Pinkerton | 2) Pinkerton |
| 3) Salem | 3) Nashua South | 3) Nashua South |
| 4) Bishop Guertin | 4) Hanover | 4) Salem |
| 5) Pinkerton | 5) Salem | 5) Hanover |
| 6) Londonderry | 6) Coe-Brown | 6) Keene |
A strong five out of six (83%) correctly predicted teams from the Seasonal Preview. Can’t get much better than that, right? In the MOC Prediction article however again five out of six (83%) correctly predicted teams and perfect placements with the #1, #2, #3, teams and a 4-5 spot transposition which qualifies this as a pretty good outing. Well done Keene by somehow yet again flying under the radar for the MOC Prediction article and performing big when it counted the most by surging for a #6 placement.
Grade: A+
Thanks for reading, and please understand that our grading system may have been inflated to soothe our delicate egos.
Good luck and good health this season; as always please try your best to prove as many of our predictions wrong as possible!
-NHCC
