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What a day!!! Meet of Champions 2025! All athletes and teams vying for New England qualifying slots (top 6 teams, top 25 individuals) and NH bragging rights yielded incredible competition. Fourth year for the MOCs at the Hill House course where Temps were cooler than recent days with a bit of a wind in the fields. Once again, kudos to the Alvirne High School cross country community and NHIAA for organizing and pulling off a top level event. Now lets get to the racing!
Girls Race
Lancer Timing Results
This opened as expected with Exeter’s D1 Champ Alexis Paterna, Hopkinton’s D3 Champ Maddy Lane, and Bedford’s Mikita Barry streaking right to the front and the race was on immediately. Because of the hot start, those 3 were free and clear by ~1k and the field was strung out. Behind Barry, Exeter’s Brianna Paterna and Hanover’s D2 Champ Megan Faris were rolling together. Faris’s teammates already had control of the team battle, as Millie Larrick and Aria Deeb were breaking away from the field with Plymouth’s Elli Englund, Souhegan’s Samantha Swanbon, and Gilford’s Maria Tilley, stretching out at the front of the field. By the mile, Paterna was clearly pressing the pace with Lane a step behind while the string of contenders continued to get strung out. And this was nature of this particular race, but although places did not change much over the middle mile, the race’s intensity was high.
At the 2 mile mark, Paterna was still pressing as she and Lane hit the split around 11:31. This was significant because their lead over the field was already 40 seconds by this point. They were absolutely flying! Faris had taken over 3rd and Brianna Paterna had caught Barry. Deeb and Larrick had switched places with Tilley leading 2 new contenders as Oyster River’s Olivia Kavanagh and Hanover’s Lila Muirhead had moved through the field fast! Kavanagh’s teammate Neely Roy had caught Swanbon as did Pinkerton’s top 2 of Kalisan Marzolf and Sookie Folsom were close behind.
Paterna and Lane seemed inseparable, but Lexi gradually broadened the daylight between her and Lane over the final 600 meters crossing the line in 17:05, smashing the course record to become the NH State Champ. To her credit, Lane also blasted the course record crossing in 17:13. This stamped both as not just the best in New Hampshire, but as legitimate contenders to challenge the region’s best at New Englands next week in Vermont.
Faris of Hanover held strong for 3rd in 18:08, a performance that set the tone for her team’s dominant display. Exeter’s scoring strength continued with Brianna Paterna finishing 4th in 18:21 while Kavanagh had one heckuva final mile to finish 5th in 18:29, leading the Bobcats’ charge among the contenders. Barry would wind up 6th in 18:31 holding off a Hanover trio of Deeb, Larrick and Muirhead who placed 7th-9th in 18:33, 18:35 and 18:46 respectively. Yep Hanover amazingly placed their top 4 in the top 9 at the MOCs!!! Swanbon would hold on strong for 10th with Tilley 11th, Marzolf 12th and Roy 13th.
With four runners finishing inside the top ten, Hanover left no doubt about who owns the top spot in New Hampshire this fall. After Faris in 3rd, Hanover rolled through the chute with Aria Deeb (7th), Millie Larrick (8th), and Lila Muirhead (9th), all within 28 seconds of each other. Their fifth, Alice Bell, crossed in 14th, sealing an astonishingly low 40-point total. This was the lowest total since 2014 when Coe-Brown scored 36 points. There is no mistaking the message here: Hanover enters New Englands as a real contender.
The next 3 teams were separated by only 2 points! Yes 2 whole points and three teams! Oyster River employed a strong second half as they have done all year to nab runner-up honors with 100 points. Kavanagh (5th) and Roy (13th) provided strong front-end scoring, but Oyster River’s key was also their 3–5 scorers. They held together when it mattered, packing just enough inside the top 60 with Maddy Cook, Haley Bezanson and Jahrie Houle all scoring for the Bobcats. Their ceiling for New Englands will depend on tightening their gap — which sits around 1:50, a margin they’ll look to reduce next week.
Exeter rode the star power of the Paterna sisters to a third-place finish, finishing just one point behind Oyster River and one up on D1 Champs Pinkerton. Their punch up front — 1st and 4th overall — gives them one of the best 1-2 duos in the region heading into New Englands. The question for Exeter will be how far up their supporting scorers Molly Kells, Izzie Bremer and Ashleigh MacEachern can climb in a deeper, denser New England field.
Pinkerton placed just another point behind demonstrating their grit. Led by Marzolf (11th) and Folsom (15th), the Trailblazers packed extremely well through their fifth scorer. Gabrielle Bedard, Naomi Ebhaleme, and Parker Knowlton finished within 1:14 of Marzolf. This also bodes well for success at New Englands where pack integrity often matters.
Bedford punched the 5th qualifying ticket to next week with 190 points. Barry (6th) once again provided a much-needed low stick up front, and the Bulldogs’ depth led by Raissa Caridade propelled them to a trip to NE’s. The D3 champs Hopkinton once again punched their ticket to the big dance as lone Division III team in the top six. After Lane’s incredible effort, sophomore Maisie Emerson (18th) gave Hopkinton another strong scoring position. Their top 5 finished strong as champions do.
Boys Race
You thought the girls race was close?? The boys’ race took it a few steps further as 4 contenders were in it till the end. Four contenders who are or had been state champions battling for the 2025 crown. The race went out controlled but assertive through a feeling out or perhaps a weeding out process. As the leaders reached the mile marker, a clear front pack had emerged, led by 2024 D1 State Champ Sullivan Sturtz of Keene, 2025 D3 State Champ Peyton Joslyn of Monadnock, 2025 D1 Champ Ethan Fischer of Bishop Guertin, 2024 D3 State Champ Elijah Bodanza of Fall Mountain, and 2025 D2 State Champ Ben Groves of Hanover. While Concord’s Josiah Conley was mixing it up, Pinkerton’s top runners of Trainor Mailloux and Jason Robie, as well as PCA’s Christian Barnes and Keene’s Tristan Woodbury were chasing as well. The top guys’ tempo was strong but patient, with the decisive racing saved for the latter half of the race.
Once the race tipped into the final mile though, Sturtz and Fischer began to apply pressure with only Bodanza and Joslyn able to respond. Sturtz’s move strung out the lead pack and was so strong, it also strung out the top 4, with only Bodanza hanging off his shoulder. Then with about 800 to go, Bodanza made a monster move of his own opening up a 15-20 meter gap on Sturtz. What a move! This was his bid to steal the state title! Fearless! Sturtz hung close and when it appeared Bodanza went a tad early, he capitalized to power his way by and claim the title, which eluded him last year, crossing in 15:18. Just one second back, Joslyn, who may have run one of the gutsiest races under impossible circumstances, claimed 2nd in 15:19. Fischer (15:24) was impressive in third of course. After the gutsy play for the win, Bodanza was able to finish a second later for 4th! Incredible!
Groves of Hanover crossed in 5th (15:35), a couple ticks in front of Conley. Then Mailloux and Robie to begin the Long Red Line’s march to a dominant win. Barnes placed 9th with one of his best races ever and Hanover’s Isaac McNaughton would come on strong to place 10th in 15:50.
As forecast by, well, their season of NH dominance, Pinkerton wrote another chapter of the Long Red Line as Joseph Gustavson, Austin Cipriano, and Sean Hayes combined with Mailloux and Robie in 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, producing an insurmountable 49-point total to take the team title with room to spare. Not only the point total but their 25 second pack time also demonstrated the best in NH. This is New England podium-level depth, which makes them one of the primary contenders to take it all in Thetford next week.
NH#2 Hanover, led by Groves (5th) and McNaughton (10th) giving them two crucial low sticks up front had another phenomenal team effort as the supporting trio of Alexander Collins (27th), Dylan Faris (28th), and Oliver Collins (51st) did exactly what they needed to nab runner up honors in preparation for next week. After somewhat of a slow start, Coe-Brown came back strong to place to their seed of 3rd overall with 129 points. The Black Bears once again displayed their identity of pack running with purpose. Patrick Youngs (18th) and Samuel Youngs (26th) set the tone, and then the scoring wave came — Benjamin Jobin (34th), Broden Cox (35th), and Benjamin Larson (37th) closed it out. Coe-Brown’s top five finished within 30 seconds of one another. This was the second-best compression in the meet behind Pinkerton.
Keene showed there were not just a 1, well 2-mad show as they placed 4th with 161 points. Behind Sturtz’s title, Woodbury placed (11th) and Gavin Morton (46th) giving the Blackbirds the depth needed to hold strong.
Oyster River claimed the fifth qualifying position for New Englands. The Bobcats once again showed they are a team of resilience as Levi Clapp and Garrett Sellers led them to a 1:00 spread which was the third-best in the meet. NH#6 Londonderry punched the final ticket to New Englands. Sophomore Patrick Ramsey (19th) gave the Lancers a front-end scorer, while Josh Twomey (30th) and Jack DiBuono (50th) provided critical mid-pack stability.
Congrats to all, off to Thetford Vt and New Englands! New Hampshire will be ready.
