And there you have it, with a blink of an eye, the cross country regular season begins to draw to a close. For us at Mascenic this is our last regular season contest. Generally we go support our JV runners the next Wednesday at Coe-Brown for the JV championships, but with only eight girls and five boys we’ll hold everyone for Varsity and be skipping the mid week trip. That will leave us two weeks to train and prepare for October 28th, and gives us the course along the Merrimack as our last tune up race before the big day.
Our team has mixed feelings about the course, but have come to love competing for the prized cucurbit. Maybe the giant medals at Manchester are nice, but there is nothing better than hoisting the giant orange orb over your head in victory. There have been traditions created around winning, and disposing of the prize that has a shelf life. Pies have been made, as well as offerings to the pumpkin king.
Girls Race
Mascenic is the #9 ranked team in New Hampshire and has been methodically working their way through the season. Starting off with three “contests” rather than races, the Vikings have been working to build momentum for the end of the season. Fronted by super sophs Erin and Kaitlin O’Shea, the Norse have some firepower as well behind these frontrunners in Emma Schaumloffel, Skye Lambert, Amelia Smith and Gracie German. They should be the team to beat here.
Looking through results for some of the schools at the meet can be tough with many results not listed on DA or reported to NHCC but to the best of my capacity, it looks like Belmont might be the next best team at the Cougar Classic. The Red Raiders run as a pack led by Adeline Takantjas and Rebekkah Edren which should help in this race against the smaller schools.
Newmarket is potentially a dark horse, not running five at the Manchester Invite might mean they don’t have the numbers to contest. But with Alana Hagen out in the front (of D3!) and Eilis McKenna right there in support, if the Mules can string five races together, they should be looking at one of the top two spots.
Late entries into the meet, Gilford, would be the most likely to challenge Mascenic. While a bit further back at Moonlight Madness, the Golden Eagles were not firing on all cylinders having had some of the team leaders give blood earlier in the week. While it can take six weeks to bring the red blood cells levels all the way back up, I expect Gilford to be sharper than last Friday.
Individually, expect Hagen to run away with this unless the O’Shea twins decide to go for broke and try to hang on for the ride. Behind them expect the Mascenic contingent to up near the front, with Hagen’s teammate McKenna. Sprinkle in Takantjas and Edren and the girls from Gilford and you probably have your top ten.
Boys Race
Scouring the results, my best guess is that the Mascenic boys would be the top rated squad coming into the meet, with Newmarket and InterLakes right behind. While definitively in the shadow of the girls team, the Viking men have been slowly improving as the season has gone on. Led by Junior Derek Somero and sophomore Dylan Callahan, the improving Vikes have won more than they’ve lost this season, much to the surprise of their coach and likely themselves.
InterLakes finished behind Mascenic at the Newfound Invite and Belmont Invite and would like to rectify that at Derryfield. Led by Ronan Hird and Isaak Hudd-Homeyer the Lakers will be looking to sink the Viking’s ship.
Newmarket is a team on the verge, and Coach Neri has a way of getting great performances out of his kids towards the end of the season. Jaron Lebranche leads the Mules and they have a solid squad behind him that groups up pretty nicely. They will be looking to begin the sharpening process going into the end of the month.
Late entry Gilford might be the top seed and certainly have the top individual entry in Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis, third at Moonlight Madness. Toss in the rest of a solid pack and the Golden Eagles should rise to the top of the podium.
Individually I would expect H-V to lead this one out, shadowed by Labranche, with Hird and Nudd-Homeyer and Somero and Callahan and the Gilford crew in pursuit.
