Divisional State Championships Meet Hub
Division 2 was slated 2nd at the NH Divisional State Championships and featured 2 different races. The girls race had one of the more dominant team performances in state history while the other was too close to call, not decided until the last 50 meters or so. Regardless, one of the other competitions was against the monster of the course that is Derryfield! Hats off to organizers, xc committee, City of Manchester Parks and Rec and the NHIAA for the work they put in to once again stage a first rate championship.
D2 Girls
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
From the gun, a triumverate of Hanover took harriers charge as Millie Larrick, Megan Faris, and Aria Deeb set a blistering pace with their 4-5-6, Lila Muirhead, Lila Marchetti and Alice Bell entrenched in the chase pack along with Plymouth’s Elli Englund and Souhegan’s Samantha Swanbon. Oyster River’s top 3 of Maddy Cook, Neely Roy and Olivia Kavanagh characteristically hung back over the first mile waiting to pounce on the climbs up to McIntyre. Souhegan freshman Brynn Siska was right with OR’s top three as well.
By the 2 mile mark, Faris had separated from the field with Larrick and Muirhead giving chase; however, courtesy of a monster 2nd mile, OR’s Kavanagh and Roy were hunting and close. Deeb, Englund and Swanbon were next with Bell hanging on to them as well.
By the end, Faris would extend her lead slightly crossing to win the D2 title in 19:20. As Tyler Sheedy, our commentator forecast at the 2 mile mark, Kavanagh would take 2nd in 19:36 with Roy in 3rd holding off Larrick 19:40 to 19:42. Hanover’s Muirhead would claim 5th (19:51) with her teammate Deeb (20:04) in 6th. Swanbon (20:07) and Englund (20:15) would be the only non Hanover/Oyster River runners in the top 10 crossing in 7th and 8th respectively. Bell (20:22) and Marchetti (20:29) would take 9th and 10th giving Hanover 6 in the top 10 and scoring only 25 points. This is the lowest point total in D2 history since Coe-Brown scored 22 points in 2014 where they took 5 of the top 7 places. Not only this, but Hanover’s 7th, Grace Stewart took 13th! That’s right they had 7 in the top 13. OR’s Cook (20:43) and Souhegan’s Siska (20:48) were 11th and 12th.
To their credit the Bobcats would be a strong runner-up scoring 52 points. Also scoring for Oyster River was Haley Bezanson (17th-21:16), and Jahrie Houle (19th – 21:29). The real team competition was for 3rd between Hollis/Brookline led by Mae Butler who placed 14th in 21:09 and Coe-Brown led by Hilary Wennberg who placed 16th in 21:13 just a few seconds behind Leb’s Annie Hanna. HB’s Hannah LaPointe would be 18th, but CBNA would counter with Annabelle Lovett, Eloise Hill and Lily Travis taking 20th, 21st and 23rd respectively. When their 5th scorer Olivia Zadakis crossed in 39th, the Black Bears would edge the Cavaliers by 6 points for 3rd.
Led by Swanbon and Siska, Souhegan would score 177 points to claim the final Meet of Champions qualifying slot placing 5th 12 points in front of Elli Englund-led Plymouth.
Boys
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
As much as the girls race showcased a dominant team, the boys race was a seesaw battle not decided until the final moments. NH#2 defending champs Hanover were the slim favorites over last year’s runner ups, a new young NH#3 Coe-Brown team. Hanover had the potential to have two low sticks as Ben Groves was favored to win while his teammate Isaac McNaughton could be his largest competition. The Black Bears have been running as a pack the entire season featured by a 19 second 5 man gap at MI50 earlier in the season. So yes, this had the makings of a classic, and it did not disappoint.
At the gun, Groves set the tone for the defending champs as he ripped out and took a commanding lead by 1k. The chase pack was formed and was comprised of CBNA’s Patrick Youngs, Oyster River’s Levi Clapp, Hanover’s McNaughton & Alexander Collins, Plymouth’s Tate Hayman, Hollis Brookline’s William Scott & Jacob Hoesch, Milford’s Grant Skorupan, and CBNA’s Broden Cox. There was a bit of a gap to the 2nd pack fronted by the remainder of the Coe-Brown squad Samuel Youngs, Ben LArson, Mateo Ferguson, Gus Glaser, and Ben Jobin with Oyster River’s Garrett Sellers and Souhegan’s Jacob Spencer and the rest of the Hanover crew.
At the top of the hill Groves maintained his lead with the chase packs essentially merging. OR’s Clapp was driving over the top in second, but a surprising Broden Cox was right behind in 3rd followed by McNaughton, Collins, Hayman, and Patrick Youngs. Scott was the bridge to the CBNA pack and Sellers, Skorupan and Spencer.
Groves extended his lead slightly by the 2 mile, but Clapp was still in striking distance and McNaughton had taken over 3rd with Cox hanging on to 4th. Hanging on was the key word because Collins seemed to be hunting in 5th. Hayman was battling Patrick Youngs, with Sellers holding off his brother Sam Youngs, Scott, and the remainder of the CBNA crew. Of note, Spencer and now Hanover’s #4 Dylan Faris were just 10 seconds back, with their 5th Oliver Collins only 5 seconds behind him.
In the end, Groves would manhandle the course to victory crossing in 16:39, while his teammate McNaughton had a monster descent to cross in second clocking 16:48 giving the defending champs exactly what they wanted. Clapp would hang on for 3rd in 16:54 with Cox successfully holding off Collins placing 4th in 17:06 to 17:10, but this gave Hanover 3 in the top 5…tough to beat. CBNA would counter though with another freshman Samuel Youngs having a great second half and final 800 to place 6th. Yet another CBNA freshman Ferguson would unleash a vicious kick for 7th. Hayman would be 8th with a strong performance, but the meet was decided with the next group. Patrick Youngs, Jobin, Scott were battling, but then Faris came through clipping Scott and Jobin. Youngs would take 9th with Faris 10th, Scott 11th and Jobin 12th, all within 1 second of each other!
And with that outcome, Hanover would successfully defend their title, winning D2 for the 3rd consecutive year by 1 point over CBNA, 37-38. Amazingly both teams had what they wanted in the end. Hanover had the low sticks while Coe-Brown had an amazing 17 second pack time and 4 in the top 9. Each were winning recipes, but a tip of the cap to Hanover as they were slightly better yesterday. Oyster River would claim third behind Clapp with Sellers finishing 14th and teammate Brendan Banafato 15th totaling 83 points. Led by Spencer and Ryan Quinn, Souhegan would claim with 114 points while Hollis/Brookline led by Scott would grab the final MOC qualifying slot with 152 points.
Congrats to all!
