By Ryan Moyer
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
The championship season continues, and we got a heck of a showing from more of our JV athletes at the Division I JV State Championships yesterday at the Hill House at Alvirne. These athletes always showcase why we have these championships, and they did not disappoint. Also, just a nice add on is seeing many varsity teams supporting their team contributing to the message of how much this sport is a team sport.
Now going into the outcome, taking look at the boys race first.
Pinkerton were the stars of the show with Leighton Klug as the individual champion pacing the field in 17:17.43. Behind him were the rest of his teammates, Demitri Rufo (17:26.17), Parker Brown (17:27.96), Siddharth Krishna (17:37.27), and Marcus Sowa (17:49.51) as they combined for a perfect score. It’s even more impressive with the fact that all five runners went under 17:50! The true race came between Nashua South and Exeter. Exeter’s Noah Melendy crossed the line first for the Blue Hawks in 18:07.28 while Nashua South’s Mason Ferrante (18:19.52) led with a tenth-place finish. Exeter was able to get their top four in the top 20 but the duo of South’s Ulises Navarrete (19:25.65) and Jacob Beauregard (19:30.40) closed out their five to edge out the Blue Hawks by a narrow two points with 83 to 85 points. Londonderry placed fourth (103) followed by Bedford (121).
On the girls’ side there was an intensity in the race with Exeter having good chances to follow in the Pinkerton boys’ footsteps with a perfect score. Aubrey Zaimes was your individual champion in a time of 20:42.76 followed by her teammate Claire Wilhelm in 21:13.74, but Nora Buxton of Bedford spoiled the flawless finish for the Blue Hawks as she came third in 21:14.19. She hung on with Exeter the entire time to throw a wrench into their depth. Exeter highlighted the size of their team, anyway, sweeping fourth through eighth and having their top nine finish in the top-12. They were crowned the state champions with 18 points ahead of Bedford’s 52. Pinkerton’s Abigail Stienecker (21:55.21) paced her team in a time of 21:55.21 to boost them to 88 points for third overall. Gemma Doty (22:32.97) of Keene was the top finisher for them as they finished fourth. Audrey Pyles (22:56.87) led Bishop Guertin to 5th with 161 points.
Congrats to all our JV teams and a huge shout out to seniors who ran their last XC race in their high school career! Make sure to check us out on Youtube and Instagram for all the meet coverage we have going on!
