Divisional State Championships Meet Hub
The 2026 NHIAA Division 2 Cross Country State Championships took center stage Saturday, October 31st, at Manchester’s historic Derryfield Park. Division 2 was the anchor leg for the day which aside from a pesty wind at times, presented good conditions for some great championship racing. Many may say the most competitive races were saved for last. 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.
Girls Race
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
The girls race certainly went according to the forecast regarding the team and individual champions, but after that, the real competitive aspect of the meet kicked in and it was exciting! From the gun, Lebanon freshman Jill Campbell assumed the lead with Hanover senior Aria Deeb giving chase. They pretty much gained separation from the field right away, but then it was basically packs of Hanover, Lebanon, Oyster River with little bit of Souhegan and Coe-Brown sprinkled in there. And this stayed similar up the major hill into the 2nd mile with MV’s Isabelle Geddes also joining the party.
Over the upper loop was when Campbell and Hanover took major control of the race. Campbell strode away to become the individual D2 Champ covering the challenging Derryfield Park 5K course in an impressive 18:28.9, winning by nearly 49 seconds. This was the third fastest time of the day establishing herself as one of New Hampshire’s most exciting young distance talents.
Deeb ran strong to place 2nd crossing in 19:17.5. She led Hanover’s championship effort as they placed all five scoring runners among the top ten finishers to capture the Division II State Championship with just 32 points. Senior Alice Bell finished fourth in 19:54.0, giving the Hanover two of the first four finishers. Freshman Edie Rojansky followed in seventh at 20:27.1, junior Mia Sverrild placed ninth in 20:27.5, and senior Ari Hirschler completed the scoring in tenth at 20:40.5. With all five scorers crossing the finish line within 83 seconds of one another, Hanover also demonstrated remarkable depth, with Grace Stewart finishing 13th and Olive Hanissian 14th, giving Hanover seven runners among the first 14 finishers.
In a slight surprise, (but really, should we be?) Oyster River once again went home with hardware placing 2nd with 59 points by placing 3 in the top 8. The Bobcats were led by junior Olivia Kavanagh’s third place finish at 19:47.6, senior Haley Bezanson‘s fifth in 20:08.6 and senior Madelyn Cook’s eighth-place finish in 20:27.5. Corina Sietz (18th, 21:22.0) and Jillian Williams (26th, 22:06.7) completed the scoring five.
Lebanon’s placed third with 76 points and was highlighted by Campbell’s individual championship as well as another impressive freshman performance from Carolyn Campbell, who finished 11th in 20:41.1. Senior Ollie Hanna placed 17th in 21:22.0, followed closely by freshman Victoria Pomeroy in 19th at 21:23.5. Senior Maeve Finnegan rounded out Lebanon’s scoring in 30th.
D2 had 5 state ranked teams in this one and both ran strong with Souhegan edging Coe-Brown for the 4th by just 6 points. Souhegan was led by Samantha Swanbon’s 12th place finish in 20:46 and Brynn Siska (16th in 21:09). Also scoring for the Sabers were Caroline Ridings (24th – 21:57), Madelyn Mooney (36th-22:41) and Emery Trudel (37th-22:52). Coe-Brown was led by junior Eloise Hill as she finished 15th in 21:08.9. Also scoring for the Black Bears were Lily Travis (23rd – 21:52), Enah Curry (27th – 22:09), Annabelle Lovett (32nd – 22:27) and Riley Trested (35th – 22:37).
Individual shout out to MV freshman Geddes who ran an excellent race to finish 6th in 20:20.5.
Boys Race
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
This final race of the day did not disappoint as many thought it would provide the closest team finish and it did. The race simply went out hard as the field, towed by Hanover senior Ben Groves, went through the mile at around 4:50 while Groves was already away splitting approximately 4:44 or so. This lead would only grow as Groves repeated as the individual champion rather comfortably, breaking the 16-minute barrier with a winning time of 15:58.5. Groves joined BG’s Ethan Fischer as the only runners on the day to go under 16. Behind Groves, the race for the remaining podium positions was exceptionally competitive.
Hanover sophomore Dylan Faris secured second place in 16:25.1, narrowly holding off Coe-Brown sophomore Samuel Youngs, who finished third in 16:26.9. Hanover junior Isaac McNaughton followed in fourth at 16:31.9, giving Hanover three of the top four finishers to lay early claim to the team title.
Oyster River senior Levi Clapp placed fifth in 16:35.1, while Coe-Brown junior Patrick Youngs finished sixth in 16:36.8 a step ahead of Hanover freshman Teddy White who crossed right behind in seventh at 16:36.9, just one-tenth of a second behind Youngs. Oyster River senior Brendan Banafato finished eighth in 16:40.6, followed by Coe-Brown sophomore Broden Cox in ninth at 16:55.2. Souhegan senior Aaron Coleman completed the top ten in 16:58.3, just ahead of teammate Jacob Spencer, who finished 11th in 16:58.4.
When a team snags 4 of the top 7 positions, they make a strong claim for the team title; especially when they go 1-2 courtesy of Groves and Faris. Throw in McNaughton and White (4th and 7th) this certainly proved true as Hanover extended their D2 win streak to 4. Junior Alexander Collins sealed the victory with a 15th-place finish in 17:20.0, giving Hanover its winning total of 29 points. They also received strong performances from Oliver Collins (23rd, 18:08.0) and Rohan Novosad (24th, 18:13.7). With a team average time of 16:35, Hanover lived up to its current #1 ranking in the state.
Coe-Brown made a strong bid for the championship with an impressive 45-point performance. To their credit the Black Bears placed three runners in the top nine and five in the top 14, which is good enough to win in most years. The Youngs brothers led the charge, with Samuel taking third and Patrick sixth. Cox’s ninth-place finish provided another valuable low score, while sophomore Mateo Ferguson placed 13th in 17:06.4 and senior Gus Glaser finished 14th in 17:14.6. Coe-Brown’s five scoring runners were separated by just 48 seconds.
Also ranked high in the state, Oyster River delivered an impressive team performance of their own to secure third place with 64 points. Behind Clapp and Banafato, senior Oliver Lehman placed 12th in 17:03.5. Junior Ryker Andersen finished 19th in 17:46.7, and senior Siddharth Sanjay completed the scoring in 20th at 17:51.5.
Souhegan finished fourth with 123 points. They were led by the aforementioned Coleman and Spencer. Also scoring for the Sabers were Thomas Arnoldy, Joel Habert and Ryan Quinn. Lebanon used a tightly packed group to capture fifth. Lebanon’s five scorers were separated by just 30 seconds, led by Brent Paige in 27th at 18:23.7.
Congrats to all! See you in Hopkinton at the MOCs!
