Results Courtesy of Speed Sport Timing
By Dyrace Maxfield
The Capital Area Cross Country Championships took place at Merrimack Valley High School on a newly redesigned, spectator friendly course, and fans were rewarded several great performances.
In the girls individual race Maddy Lane of Hopkinton continued her Capital Area dominance with a 17:50 victory and closing out an unprecedented four consecutive Capital Area Championship wins. Hopkinton teammate Maisie Emerson and Concord’s Mahalie Burdette ran shoulder to shoulder as the two and three runners for most of the race with Emerson outkicking Burdette in the last 120 meters to secure second place. The next group of runners ran strong races as well, separating only in the last mile. Knowles Johnson of St. Paul’s pulled ahead in 19:41 for fourth, followed by Elsa Bartlett of DIII Interlakes (19:56), freshman Isabel Geddes of MV was 6th (20:06), and C.C. Goss of St. Paul’s rounded out the top seven in 20:08.
The team battle was as close as anticipated with the Hopkinton Hawks securing the win with 48 points having all their top-5 girls under 22 minutes. St. Paul’s and Concord were separated by just 2 points, 56 to 58 with St. Paul’s taking the edge for runner-up honors. The next four teams were all from Division II. Merrimack Valley took the DII bragging rights in fourth, getting strong performances Geddes and Emily Baca (12th, 21:16) who ran a lifetime best. Laconia (5th overall) broke a tie with Plymouth, 139-139, on the strength of Laconia’s 6th runner, Remy Bassett (26:10).
On the boys side Colin Foster became the first ever Capital Area Championship individual from Newfound Regional. Foster (16:10) ran with St. Paul’s Owen Gorenc (2nd, 16:14) through the final mile before unleashing a kick on the final turn onto the MV track. Max Goupil of Hopkinton held on to third in 16:27, follow closely by a trio of St. Paul’s runners. Langston Williams (16:31), Linus Krenkel (16:54), and Charlie Harvey (17:08) took 4th, 5th and 6th respectively for the Big Red.
Putting five runners in the top-10 secured the boys team title for St. Paul’s for the 4th consecutive year. The Pelican’s team average time of 16:50 was too much for 2nd place Hopkinton to overcome. With the Hawk’s taking runner-up honors, the next two places fell to a couple of DII teams. Bow (3rd, 112) outlasted MV’s (4th, 131) charge in what will likely be a great rematch at the DII State Meet.
In the mixed girls and boys JV race, Allison Min of St. Paul’s was the first girl across the line in 21:45. Alique Valeras of Concord took top honors for the boys in 18:34. Concord took top team honors in the JV race with 29 points while Hopkinton was runner up with 44.
