Division Favorites – Pinkerton, Hanover, Mascoma Valley
Individuals to Watch – Sullivan Sturtz (Keene), Ethan Fischer (Bishop Guertin), Pinkerton Boys (Mailloux, Hayes, D’Amelio, Robie), Carson Fitzgerald (Londonderry), Ben Groves (Hanover), Oliver Lehman (Oyster River), Patrick Youngs (Coe-Brown), Tate Hayman (Plymouth), Elijah Bodanza (Fall Mountain), Peyton Joslyn (Monadnock), Christian Barnes (PCA)
Annually we pen a preview based upon information available to us. To try and figure out what we can expect, all the graduating seniors from the Division meets and Meet of Champions were removed. We also attempt to consider JV State Championships and Middle School State Championships. Even with all available data, generating a preview is difficult, so if you know of anything you would like to add, please comment below. That said, there are always a few breakout stars who throw a wrench in the formula of any guess for an upcoming season and that’s what makes the whole process fun! Special thanks to those who contributed to this post. Year after year we are reminded as to how incredible and unique our state is!
Note: All times referred to in Division previews are from the 2024 Divisional Championships at Derryfield, while times referred to in the MOC preview are from the 2024 MOCs.
Division 3
Last year, the Mascoma Valley Royals pulled off the first ever Division 3 title in school history. The momentum had been building over the last couple years, with it finally paying off in 2024. The 2025 Royals will look much different however, having lost D3 Runner up in Gunner Currier, along with their #3, #5 and #6 runners. They will be fronted by junior Carl Russell, who has had a great sophomore campaign. Support behind him comes in the form of junior Karson Rogers and sophomore John Runnion-Bareford. The Royals will need some new knights of the round table if they are to remain on top.
Behind them last year was surprise Mascenic. With a long history of performing well when it matters most, the Vikings did enough to secure the second spot but it won’t likely be that easy going forward. The Vikings lost their #1, #3 and #7, and will return senior Dylan Callahan, freshmen Reino Crawford and Donovan Griffis, and junior Logan Vaillancourt. They will need some fresh blood who can make immediate impact if they are to be in the hunt come October.
There are three teams behind the Vikings and the Royals which might stand the best chance to upset the apple cart and they are last year’s #3 Newmarket, #4 Portsmouth Christian, and #6 Hopkinton. If we look at the top four returning athletes and calculate the scores from last year, Portsmouth Christian moves ahead of the pack by twenty points. The Eagles are led by last year 4th placer senior Christian Barnes and packs in nicely through the middle. Freshman George Stewart, junior Simeon Howard, senior Brady Holt, sophomore Judah Howard, and senior Gage Hamblett make up the rest of the Eagle squad, and with any luck, these birds will be catching the thermal to the top of the division.
Another team on the up and up should be Hopkinton. Led by sophomore Max Goupil, the Hawks return the entire top seven while adding last year’s MS D3 runner-up in Liam Tripod and #19 Nicolas Depiano. Mix that in with junior Andrew Clarner, sophomore Finnegan Kovar, junior William Shepard, sophomore Michael Crosby, sophomore Charles Wilkinson and junior Adrian Whiteknact and the Hawks will likely be a formidable challenge for that top spot. We could have an aerial battle between the raptors in this one.
Newmarket is an intriguing case, having lost workhorses Jaron Labranche and Melkato Swanson, but holding onto scorers #3 through #7. Led by senior Sawyer Hill, sophomore Benjamin Partick, juniors William Clark, Simon Hartshorne and Emrys Herman, the Mules will add the MS D3 championships #3 finisher in Kinley McKenna, a last name that’s pretty recognizable in the D3 ranks. With McKenna’s help, if the Mules can each move up ten to twenty spots and pack it in, they should also be in the hunt for that top spot.
So I’ve identified five schools so far for five spots, but Mascoma has some serious rebuilding to do, and that’s not always easy in D3. Unlike the girls, who have a whole bunch of parity for those last few spots, for the boys it looks like there are about five schools looking for that last spot in #5 St. Thomas, #7 Sanborn, #8 Gilford, #9 Conant, #10 InterLakes, #11 Newfound, #12 Derryfield, #13 Belmont, and #14 Trinity. When you look at returners it might seem like Newfound and Derryfield have the best shot, with Newfound headed by junior Colin Foster and returning their top five. Derryfield counters similarly, returning everyone and led by sophomore Jacob Larson. But watch out for Monadnock, who returns senior Peyton Joslyn, and adds the third, seventh and ninth placers from last year’s D3 MS championship in Jackson Ellis, Jason Lewis, and Dominic DiLoreto. If the Huskies find one more they might be able to mush their way into the top five.
As far as individuals go, Fall Mountain’s Elijah Bodanza is the returning champion and should get the nod here. However last year’s #4 and #5, the aforementioned Christian Barnes and Peyton Joslyn will be looking to change that outcome. Also looking to break into the top five will be Colin Foster, Max Goupil, Max Williams of Holy Family, and Carl Russell. Looking for top ten spots will be St. Thomas’s Oliver Schartner, Newfound’s Brady Harker, Mascenic’s Reino Crawford and Dylan Callahan, Karson Rogers, Fall Mountain’s Matthew Northcott, Gilford’s Gunner Marvel and Jacob Larson, along with new freshmen Liam Tripod, Kinley McKenna and Jackson Ellis.
–Mike Smith
Division 2
While we have a strong 2-time defending champion in Hanover, D2 may very well be determined by the fresh new faces each of the contenders will have this season. Collectively, the 3 top contenders will have 2 MS state champs and 2 runner-ups among other additions.
Last year Hanover comfortably repeated as champs. They had the best team in 2024 headlined by Andrew Valentino and Ryan Faris. And while the Valentino brothers and Ryan Faris graduated, another Faris enters as a freshman this year as 2025 D2 Middle School Champ Dylan Faris begins high school. He of course joins quite the established championship caliber squad. Junior Ben Groves is D2’s top returner and will certainly contend for the individual title. He is joined by the #6 and #7 returners Ben Hourdequin and Alexander Collins respectively. Sophomore Isaac McNaughton, who had a terrific track season (4:32 mile) did not compete at D2 XC Champs last year. And once you throw in another incoming freshman in Miles Molina, Hanover has a ton of depth and firepower. They will be tough to beat.
Similar to last year, Oyster River and Coe-Brown seem to be Hanover’s chief challengers and both benefit from a youth movement, including incoming freshmen.
After another year of development and a key addition, Oyster River finds themselves in prime position as well. They only graduated 2 out of their top 7 and return a strong stable of competitors who are coming off successful track seasons. Get used to these names as they have either run in the 4:30s for the 1600 or sub 10 for 3200. The Bobcats will be led by their cast of juniors, Oliver Lehman, Levi Clapp, Siddharth Sinjay, and Brendan Banafato. Add in senior Garrett Sellers, who perhaps made the largest leap last spring, and Oyster River has a super solid group of now seasoned returners. Incoming freshman, Jace Dinnan, 2nd last year to Faris in the MS D2 State Championships, is the ideal icing on the cake. Dinnan had quite the breakthrough of a spring track season and seems primed and ready to take on NHCC.
Coe-Brown repeated as runner ups in 2024 and return 3 out of that 7. Their varsity top 7 could be 2 juniors, 2 sophomores and 3 freshmen. They will be led by D2 #2 returner Patrick Youngs (sophomore), #4 returner Ben Jobin (junior), and #11 returner Ben Larson (sophomore). All three made great progress last spring. The Bears also add 3 of the best freshmen from the middle school ranks last year with D3 Middle School Champ Mateo Ferguson, D4 MS Champ Broden Cox and D4 Runner-up Samuel Youngs. Throw in cross country newcomer Gus Glaser, a junior, and the Bears may be going to battle nary a senior.
There are quite a handful of teams which could take those last 2 auto-qualifying spots including Souhegan and Plymouth.
It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on Souhegan. They lose a lot from last year’s 4th place squad, but have 3 returners in the top 15 who seemingly work well together. Juniors Thomas Arnoldy and Ryan Quinn along with sophomore Jacob Spencer should lead a strong Saber attack. If names like Logan St. Dennis and Drew Rigaut can bridge the gap resulting in a short pack time, Souhegan assuredly will make MOCs and could surprise one of the top 3 aforementioned teams.
That leaves 1 more automatic spot. Don’t look now but Plymouth continues to climb the ranks in D2. Led by senior Tate Hayman, who is the #3 returner, Plymouth benefits from a pretty low stick. Yes they have to replace a couple seniors in the top 5, but look for names like Abraham Hankens and Graeme Burtis to do so.
Best of the rest? Lebanon, Hollis-Brookline and Merrimack Valley. Lebanon will be led by Ian Kiefer but also should benefit from the addition of Curran Pool as he was 3rd in MS D2 last year. HB will be led by Arjun Inakollu while MV should be led by Tony Wang.
Individuals
Individually, this race looks even more wide open than last year. There should be a large lead pack unless someone makes a big jump this fall. Hanover’s Groves seems to be the heir apparent as the top returner from last year’s D2 State Championships. He is a 4:27 miler who seems to enjoy the hills and trails over the oval. He should be considered a slight favorite. Oyster River’s Lehman had quite the spring track season and although he is the #5 returner, he now boasts PR’s of 4:30 and 9:37 from last spring. The rising junior certainly has enough to give Groves some trouble. #2 returner from last year is CBNA’s Patrick Youngs. As a freshman, he had a great XC Divisionals and then proceeded to post PRs of 2:06, 4:39 and 9:47 displaying nice range. Expect him to be in the mix. Another name to watch has to be Groves’s teammate, McNaughton. While he may not be one of the top returners, he is a 4:32 miler. The other names in this lead pack should also include Plymouth’s Hayman, CBNA’s Jobin and Larson, Hanover’s Hourdequin, and OR’s Clapp. And do not sleep on this year’s freshmen. Expect to see more than one making their presence known and taking their shot come the last Saturday of October.
–Tim Cox
Division 1
In 2024, the Division I meet was a battle with four teams coming in under 100 points and the winner and runner up only separated by eight points. The question coming into the new season is whether or not we can expect the same kind of battle at the top! Let’s dive into the data and see how things look on the team side.
#1 Pinkerton Academy
Last year’s runner up, Pinkerton looks likely to have one of the strongest teams in New Hampshire history and may even find their way under 30 points at the Division I championship. Graduating only one member of a runner up varsity group is a great way to start the season. They have three returning guys in Sean Hayes, Trainor Mailloux, and Oscar D’Amelio who treated the top spot on the team like a rotating door last year and will all look to be top five in the division this fall. Additionally, the rich got richer this off-season as they picked up track standout Jason Robie who adds another 9:30 two miler into their already crowded varsity. Throw Austin Cipriano in the mix and they could very well have a scoring varsity where every member has broken 16:00 by the end of this fall. The Astros are looking like potential New England Champions and could even be eying a nationals bid if all goes well.
#2 Londonderry
Londonderry is another team who returns all but one of their 2024 varsity group. Carson Fitzgerald is a strong contender for a top 10 finish in the division and I’m especially interested to see how he looks after taking on running for the whole year for the first time as a junior. Josh Twomey had a tough D1 meet last year but I think we’ll see him bounce back and probably finish near Fitzgerald especially after a really strong spring. Jack DiBuono will be looking to place in the top 25 and will likely have fourth man Patrick Ramsay right on his heels if he does. As is often the case in cross country, their fifth man is probably going to decide their fate and whether they can hold onto the runner up spot. They’ll have their work cut out for them for sure as these next few teams look likely to be right on top of them.
#3 Keene
I almost feel like I could do this as team 3A and 3B because it really looks close between Keene and Bishop Guertin. Keene is getting the edge here partially because they have the #1 returner in potential state champion, Sully Sturtz. There’s a decent sized gap between Sturtz and the rest of the returners and it always helps to start your team scoring with a one. From there, Tristan Woodbury and Gavin Morton look like potential top 20 finishers. If their four and five guys can find their way into the top 40 they could give Londonderry some tough competition.
#4 Bishop Guertin
Bishop Guertin is a bit of a wild card in this spot. Through three, the only team that’s ahead of them is Pinkerton but things get a little tricky after that. Ethan Fischer is the #2 returner in the Division and Sam Prescott was lights out at the D1 championship and is a strong top 10 returner. William Moores looks to be a solid bet for top thirty but Bishop Guertin falls off a bit after that. The good news for them is they’re picking up a runner from Massachusetts in Michael Studer who looks like a definite difference maker for the team but the question with freshmen is always, “how much of a difference?” Could that catapult them into the runner up spot?
#5 Salem
Another team with an incredible top three is Salem. Brody and Elliot Chisholm are contenders to finish in the top 10 and if you watched Lucas Gomez this past spring I don’t think you can take him out of that conversation either. They might very well take that second spot in the best top three battle from BG. If they place like that, the teams ahead of them are going to have a hard time holding off the Blue Devils. Their biggest challenge is it looks like they drop back to approximately 50th for the fourth man, so it’s going to be a challenge to stay in the conversation if they don’t get a little help in the four and five spots.
#6 Exeter
The final team I’ll mention is Exeter. While they lost their top guy, they have a strong group of returners who all look primed to be in the top 50 of the division. Logan Poteet had an outstanding freshman year and looks ready to help lead the team to a Meet of Champions birth at worst. Keep an eye on Exeter to be a fun dark horse team this season.
The Individual Race
It would be tough to pick against Sturtz to win and I’m definitely picking him. He’s been excellent the last two years and with Matt Giardina gone, it’s Sully’s year to get an individual championship. He’s going to have to bring his “A” game if he wants it though, as there are several guys out there worth keeping an eye on. Fischer had an incredible freshman year that has him slated at the #2 returner in the division and after going under 9:30 in the two mile in the spring, he looks like a guy who’s faster than he was last fall. Josiah Conley has run a 15:11 and Strava had him throwing down 80 miles last week so he’s clearly coming into this season ready to roll. The four headed Pinkerton beast has Mailloux, D’Amelio, Hayes and XC newcomer Robie all as guys that should have a shot to win on any given day. Spencer Clemens of Concord also had an outstanding end to his freshman year and if he makes a jump could absolutely be in the conversation. The Chisholm brothers should also be considered in any conversation about top guys and Fitzgerald’s low 4:20s mile last spring has me wondering if he’s going to flash a new gear this fall.
Good luck to everyone!
–Ian French
MOCs
Disclaimer (once again) as to how difficult it is to preview a Meet of Champions in August, but we love prognosticating, so here we go. As Ian just described above, Pinkerton is the heavy favorites…hands down. The Long Red Line will be in full effect as they have the depth with potential low sticks. The only thing they could do is view this as a qualifying meet and perhaps rest one or two individuals in preparation for New Englands. Teams have done this in the past. Ask Larry Martin, and oh yeah, Mike Clark (current legendary head coach of the Long Red Line!).
There seems to be a pack of teams battling for 2nd-6th qualifying spots. Look for Division 2 two-time defending champs Hanover, to crash a potential D1 party of Keene, Londonderry and Bishop Guertin. Notice all three of these teams benefit from a low stick. Keene has the top returner in the state in Sturtz while Londonderry has a potential 2-headed monster in Fitzgerald and Twomey and BG has Ethan Fischer. If their respective teams can avoid the large numbers on the back end of the scoring 5, they should be okay.
Every year it seems there are 1-2 teams which qualify for New Englands, not as a surprise, but as part of the ascending process. D2’s Oyster River and Coe-Brown were on the outside looking in last year. Expect the Rt 4 rivals to make amends and battle for a qualifying slot. They both will have the packs, but will need at least 1 of their scoring five to provide a low stick to be able to accomplish this goal and make it to Thetford. After graduation, Salem seems to be in an inverse situation. They may very well have a few low sticks, but will need their 3-4-5 scorers to move up.
Individually the favorite has to be Sturtz. He is unparalleled on the cross country course among returners. X-factor certainly is Concord’s Conley. If the training, mileage monster gets the timing down, he could challenge Sturtz. The next gen should be comprised of Hanover’s Groves and BG’s Fischer. Both were the youngest of the top 10 last year and if they continue to progress at the same rate, they can scare the top of the podium. Then you may have a line of red with Pinkerton’s Hayes, Mailloux, Robie and company. The front pack should also see names like Joslyn, Bodanza, Prescott, Fitzgerald, Lehman, Youngs, Clemans, and Barnes.
Good luck to all!
