While the Hopkinton Cross Country Festival is new to the NH high school cross country schedule, running at the Hopkinton fairgrounds is not. Last year, the fairgrounds hosted both the NCAA Division 3 Regionals as well as the NCAA Division 1 regionals, highlighted by wins from UConn’s Chloe Thomas and Harvard’s Graham Blanks, who repeated as champion at the National Championships. Franklin Pierce has used the fairgrounds for its home course for years, with Zach Emerson the linchpin in that as formerly the FPU coach and a long time Hopkinton resident. Emerson is the president of the Hopkinton Runner’s Society and a strong reason all the NCAA East Regional meets will be hosted at the fairgrounds this year along with the arrival of the Hopkinton Cross Country Festival.
I’d be remiss if I did also give a tip of the hat to the coaches and associated staff at Hopkinton High School and most likely the Middle School as well for their support of the Festival as well as helping create a culture of running in the hamlet of Contoocook that can get behind such an event. This culture was very evident to me and to everyone who participated at the Anna’s Run event in August.
Not only has the fairgrounds supported those collegiate events highlighted above but back in the early 2000’s, my teams ran at the fairgrounds, back before we went away from cluster meets. At that time we were in a constant battle for D3 supremacy with Hopkinton, our boys with a slight upper hand and their girls enjoying that same slight imbalance. We battled late season over the fairgrounds course, albeit a slightly different course for a couple of years before the cluster system finally faded away. With the “new” course not only instilled but codified and maintained, I can only imagine we are set to see numerous other great battles take place.
So onto the racing. For collegiate racing, these events will happen on Friday, October 10th, beginning at 2pm. For the MS and HS events, they begin at 10am with the girls HS varsity race.
Girls
Entries – Courtesy of Lancer Timing
Exeter (#2) tops our list for girls ranked teams; however we also have #7 Hopkinton as well as private school Phillips Exeter racing this Saturday as well. Exeter is coming off their best performance of the season up at Woods Trail Run in Thetford last weekend where they placed an impressive 3rd overall. PEA won a tight one over # 4 Oyster River at Black Bear, so this also could be a great battle at the fairgrounds. Hopkinton was fourth at Black Bear behind Bedford and will need Rose Afflerbach back in the lineup if they are going to keep things close on their proverbial home course. Fifth at Black Bear was Plymouth who will be competing here as well. And don’t count out Londonderry, formerly ranked this season from looking to round out the top five.
Individually, it should be a great battle between Exeter’s Alexis Paterna and Hopkinton’s Maddy Lane. Paterna was finally able to find a chink in Lane’s armor, finishing one spot in front of her at the Woods Trail run last weekend. Expect Lane to bounce back and look to show some dominance on the familiar trails of the fairgrounds. PEA’s Ava Bolduc will be looking to make inroads on those two up front, having finished behind Lane and Mikita Barry at Black Bear.
Behind this potential lead group I expect a contingent of Exeter’s Brianna Paterna and Molly Kells, PEA’s Harper Peters, Gilford’s Maria Tilley, Hopkinton’s Maisie Emerson and Rose Afflerbach, Mascenic’s Erin O’Shea, Plymouth’s Elli Englund, Londonderry’s Anna Laufweiler, North’s Rosalie Neveu, and Raymond’s Leah Unger. After that, I suspect a slew of Exeter and PEA girls mixed in with Newfound’s Ceili Irving and Emerald Briggs, Mascenic’s Kaitlin O’Shea, Moultonborough’s Hailey Watts, Fall Mountain’s Jenna Fillion, and Plymouth’s Abigail Furlan.
Boys
Entries – Courtesy of Lancer Timing
With three ranked teams, Coe Brown #3, Londonderry #4 and Exeter #9, we of course have Phillips Exeter as well who finished a close second behind CB at Black Bear. While Patrick Youngs fronts the Coe-Brown squad, the strength of the Bears is in their pack running, with the scoring five (and then some) usually prowling towards the front chase pack in every race, making them very dangerous. PEA has a strong pack as well, buoyed by the front running of Bocelli Howland Valhakis. The Bears will need to run tight to pull out the win here. Not to forget Londonderry, with a strong front three in Josh Twomey, Patrick Ramsey and Carson Fitzgerald, they will be looking to break up the PEA/CB party as well. They actually edged Coe-Brown at Battle of the Border, but CBNA was without their #3.
Exeter runs with a tight pack as well, led by Logan Poteet, but will have to have a great day to break into the top three. I will be keeping an eye on the home team Hopkinton as well, led by Max Goupil, as they have quietly worked their way to the top of the D3 ranks and will be looking to put the pieces in place for a run at that top spot. My other eye will be on Laconia, call it a pet project, as the Sachems have been long absent on the cross country scene but are in a bit of a revival that is interesting to me.
Individually, this should be a done deal, with BHV looking fantastic in NH throughout this season. However I’d be remiss not to think that Fall Mountain’s Elijah Bodanza, fresh off a 15:09 third place finish at Moonlight Madness wouldn’t want to flip the script and seek out a win here. Will Bodanza go bold and try to get into Bocelli’s back pocket or will he look to run away from the chase pack? Time will tell. Behind this I expect Patrick Youngs to lead the Coe Brown contingent (Ben Jobin, Ben Larson, Sam Youngs, Gus Glaser and company) along with PEA’s Owen Welch and William Miller, Plymouth’s Tate Hayman, Londonderry’s Twomey, Ramsey and Fitzgerald, Colin Foster and Brady Harker of Newfound, and hometown boy Goupil in a crowded chase pack.
How will this first rendition of the Hopkinton Cross Country Festival turn out and what will it lead to? We’ll find out after the dust settles.
