Derryfield Park will once again be the center of the New Hampshire Cross Country universe when the NHIAA conducts the Division Championships this Saturday. NH has been conducting a cross country state championship for boys since 1930 and for girls since 1975, so the runners of NH Cross Country will be making history with their feet! For a complete history of the championships as well as Meet of Champions, check out “The History of New Hampshire Cross Country” courtesy of LancerTiming. As always they will be providing the professional timing!
We will be there in full force! We will be recording all races which will be posted on the NHIAA State Division Championships Meet Hub! 9 spots on the course! We will also be providing live instagram updates! Catch all the action! To wet your appetite, below are the previews!!! Good luck to all!
Check out the NHIAA XC State Championship Merchandise Store!
**IMPORTANT – Athletes who wear watches, please DO NOT STOP your watch right when you cross the finish line! With the new bib numbers, this may prevent your time from being recorded.
Division 2
Girls
By Tim Cox
At the start of this season, two Division 2 schools topped the state rankings and then at the conclusion of the regular season there they remained as Oyster River has been #1 and Hanover has been #2 all season. This is for good reason as both squads are two of the best in New England. Of course every season is filled with hills and valleys when it comes to sickness and injury and this season is no different. Both teams have had meets when they have not run their full squads, but they still remained strong due to their respective depth and development of newcomers.
Oyster River continues to be led by the two-headed monster in seniors Haley Kavanagh and Mackenzie Cook, which has been the story for the vast majority of their high school careers. How cool is it that they are supported by their 2 little sisters as Maddy Cook and Olivia Kavanagh. Matter of fact, the development of Olivia along with Jabrie Houle and Eleanora Gelsey Drees has been key as the Bobcats won with a similar lineup at Battle of the Border, but this time they add Mackenzie Cook back in the line-up.
At the same time, Hanover has been doing Hanover things as they continue to improve and impress as the season progresses. The latest is their defeating Champlain Valley Union VT this past weekend. Once again they are led by Megan Faris and Leah Perreard guaranteeing 2 low sticks. Considering these 2 could finish right with or right behind the older Cook and Kavanagh, it will depend on how each team’s 3-4-5 finish and Hanover’s Aria Deeb, Millie Larrick and Lila Muirhead match up quite well. As with previous years, this will be a great one!
Vying for the 3 remaining auto qualifying positions for the MOCs should be Plymouth, Souhegan, Hollis/Brookline and Coe-Brown. Plymouth has the most potent weapon as they are guaranteed by the low-stick courtesy of Elli Englund, but they also have one of the better packs as their remaining top 5 could all be under 23 minutes at the hilly Derryfield Park course. Right with them should be Souhegan as Samantha Swanbon provides their low stick and their history shows they always have a solid pack by state meet time.
At the recent Pelham Invitational, led by Paige Murdough and Annabelle Lovett, Coe-Brown finished 1 place ahead Hollis/Brookline, who was led by Mae Butler. This would seemingly give CBNA the edge for the 5th slot. Don’t overlook Merrimack Valley either as they are the sleeper with a solid top 5 led by Madison Geddes.
Individually it should be Oyster River seniors Kavanagh and Cook battling with Hanover juniors Faris and Perreard. Kavanagh seems to be the one with the greatest momentum at the moment. The chase pack should be led by Oyster River’s Maddy Cook and comprised with Olivia Kavanagh as well as Englund, Deeb, Swanbon, Englund, and Larrick. Good luck to all!
Boys
By Patrick O’Brien
Coming into the season, Hanover looked like a strong favorite. All they have done is solidify that prediction. I do not recall them losing to any other New Hampshire school, and they have competed well against out-of-state competition at Manchester and at Wickham Park Invitational in Connecticut as well. They are led by Seniors Andrew Valentino and Ryan Faris, and sophomore Ben Groves, who will all be in the top 10, and could all be top 5. Senior Nandeesh Jain is their #4 runner and is coming off a sub-16 at the CVC Championship. Junior Ben Hordequin or Freshman Alexander Collins will look to round out the scoring for Hanover. They will be very tough to beat.
Coe-Brown looks like the next best team on paper. They have not actually gone head-to-head with Hanover yet this year, but they were 24 points back in the Manchester Merge. They are led by the Freshman-Senior duo of Patrick Youngs and Luc Kerouac. They are a deep team, and the rest of their order moves around a lot, but look for freshman Ben Larson and sophomore Ben Jobin to likely score for the team.
Oyster River also has a pretty strong team this year, as they look to improve on a 4th place finish last year. Senior Mitchell Keesee has been running very strong for them and should be near the front of the race. Sophomores Oliver Lehman, Levi Clapp and Brendan Banafato. With a great day on Saturday, they could find themselves close to those Top 2 teams.
Only 6th in the Manchester Merge, Milford has been coming on strong lately. They just took down Souhegan rather comfortably at the Pelham Invite. They are led by one of the top runners in the division in Junior Logan Korthals. Behind him, Will Whitley, Grant Skorupan and Chase Paiva give them a formidable top 4. If their #5 runner can close the gap a little bit, they could find themselves even closer to the teams in front of them..
I would give Souhegan the edge to claim that last MOC qualifying spot this year. They always seem to step up when it matters, and have a potential top 10 finisher in Senior Dallen Noorda. Ryan Quinn, Jacob Spencer and Kasen Fox will look to show up strong and push the Sabers through to next weekend.
The teams looking to break up this group of 5 and secure one of those coveted qualifying spots are Bow, led by Wyatt Worcester and Merrimack Valley, led by Mychal Reynolds, both coming off solid showings at the Capital Area Championship.
Individually, it feels like 3 guys have a good shot to win. Andrew Valentino of Hanover has probably been the most consistent over the course of the season. He was the top D2 finisher at Manch, placed 3rd at Wickham, and is coming off a 15:27 at CVC. Con-Val’s William Simard has run strong all season, and has some standout XC and Track performances that show he is tough to beat when he is on. Logan Korthals of Milford is also in great form at the moment, having run 15:45 at his last 2 races, and most recently taking down Simard at Pelham. This should be fun, and will come down to who shows up most ready on Saturday. Other guys looking to make things interesting up front should be Hanover’s Ryan Faris, Ben Groves, and Nandeesh Jain, Oyster River’s Mitchell Keesee, Coe-Brown’s Patrick Youngs and Luc Kerouac, and Souhegan’s Dallen Noorda.
Division 1
By Amy Sanborn
Girls
With six Division One teams in the top ten it would seem there would be a battle of six for the throne. However, it appears that there will be two races going on: One for the title and one for the automatic Meet of Champions qualifying spots. Pinkerton and Exeter seem to be a notch above the rest of the D1 field and it could shake out to be a very tight finish for the champion and runner-up positions. In 2023 Pinkerton won the title by more than 80 points, it doesn’t appear to be the gap this year will be as significant
Exeter is stronger up front with the best 1-2 bunch in Division One with returning all-stater Eli Cross and Alexis Paterna both looking to be in the top five. However, even though Exeter may have Pinkerton beat up front, the entire scoring five for Pinkerton could then finish before Exeter’s third girl crosses the line. With Pinkerton looking at all five in the top 20 and potential for three in the top ten, that will be very difficult to beat. Pinkerton is led by returning all staters Sookie Folsom and Kalisan Marzolf. Following closely behind will be Gabrielle Bedard, Parker Knowlton and Althea LeBlanc will give The Astros a very low team score making it difficult for anyone to catch them.
After the top two the race is wide open. Bedford (#6), Londonderry (#7), Nashua North (#9) and Dover (#10) will all be vying for the remaining three automatic qualifying spots. Bedford has the individual favorite in Mikita Barry which will give them a low starting number. Raissa Caridade will be looking to break into the top 15 helping Bedford get two low numbers; however if the rest of the scoring five doesn’t close the gap, the score will add up fast. Similarly, Nashua North also has a strong 1-2 with Laura White hoping for a top five finish and Rosalie Neveu hoping to sneak into the top ten. However, after the Titans 1-2 they need to go back a bit for their remaining scorers. If they can close that gap they could be looking for an auto spot.
Unlike Bedford and North, Londonderry won’t have the really low number up front but could have their top five in before most other schools. The Lancers are led by Sayde White hoping for a top 15 finish and if their group can close the gap a bit and finish in the top 30, they could be looking at an automatic spot as well. Dover (#10) has had a strong second half of the season with some injured athletes racing again and gaining a lot of traction. Led by all-stater Anique Poulin, Dover could surprise some people and end up in the top five.
Bishop Guertin and Concord are not currently ranked but have been looking stronger over the second half of the season, similar to Dover. Bishop Guertin’s Anna Fondakowski gives them a possible top five finish hoping to lead her team to the Meet of Champions as well. Concord is coming off a good team effort at Capital Area and hopes to gain an at large bid to Meet of Champions.
Individually it appears to be that Mikita Barry will be alone at the top in her very first cross country Divisional Championships. However, after that there will be a battle for the runner-up position and rounding out the top five. Senior Fondakowski looks to be the favorite, but Pinkerton’s Folsom won’t make it easy for her. Nashua North’s White, Dover’s Poulin and the Exeter duo of Cross and Paterna shouldn’t be far behind. Alvirne’s Anna Simpson is having a great senior season and should be in the top ten group. Pinkerton’s Marzolf and Bedard, along with Winnacunnet’s Carson Mariotti will be fighting for the final top ten positions. The top ten in D1 definitely isn’t set in stone and if anybody will shake things up it could come from North’s Neveu, Pinkerton’s Knowlton or Merrimack’s senior Melanie Bedard.
Boys
By Ian French
My favorite seasons are the ones where I write the preview in August but then come the end of October it’s basically just garbage. The 2024 cross country season absolutely met that standard. The rankings shook and the season was full of surprises so let’s take a look at where our teams stand.
1. Pinkerton Academy
Coming into the season the Astros had a problem. They looked ready to have a really solid pack that was going to start right around 15th place. Not having any single digit placers was going to cause their points to stack up way too fast. Come October and they now have three guys who will be vying to be in the top ten overall and might even have someone sneak into the top five. Trainor Mailloux, Sean Hayes and Oscar D’Amelio have spent the season in an absolute battle to be the top man and none of them have had the honor two races in a row. Additionally, their entire top five was under 17:00 this past weekend at Catholic Memorial which really shows how complete a squad they have. They’re going to be really tough for anyone to get.
2. Bishop Guertin
Coming into this season BG looked ready to make a big jump. They had four solid returners including the reigning state champion in Matt Giardina and they were getting an eighth grader who had dominated the middle school meet the year before. Now in October, we can say assuredly that BG is legit. Behind a dominant Giardina, Carson and Ethan Fischer have finished in the top ten of every race they attended outside of Manchester. Sam Prescott has never been far behind so they’re probably the team to beat through four. Can their fifth keep it close enough to give the Cardinals the win?
3. Nashua South
Our preseason leaders may not have been quite as high up as they hoped this season but you’re crazy if you count them out. South took the win on the sixth man against a tough Salem squad at Merrimack a few weeks back and looks like a group coming around in the late season. Daniel Byrne took a decisive win at that race to continue his solid season and Camdon Brien was not far behind taking third. If South’s three, four, and five can find a way to stick a little closer to Brien, which they’ve all successfully done in the past, South’s fate could change pretty quickly on Saturday.
4. Salem
Salem also had a great meet at Merrimack only lost to South by the sixth man tie breaker. Brody Chisholm continued to lead the team with a sub 17:00 performance on a tough course. Salem took fourth, fifth and sixth in this race with Evan Spence, Brock James and Lucas Gomez all running well. Both teams came away with a very low invitational score of 28 but there was a notable person missing from Salem’s squad which was their number two, Elliot Chisholm. It seems likely that had the younger Chisholm been in the race that the outcome might have been different. He’s currently listed in the entries on Saturday and if he’s in, that definitely helps Salem to potentially move up the rankings.
5. Londonderry
The Lancers look primed to take the final guaranteed spot at the Meet of Champions from Division I. Their top two of Carson Fitzgerald and Josh Twomey have both had excellent seasons in what has turned out to be one of the most competitive Division I years I’ve seen in a long time. Third man, Jack Dibuono, shook what appeared to be a bit of an early season funk with an awesome race at the Manhattan Invite. They’ve been missing stellar freshman Patrick Ramsey the last few weeks with an injury, but if he can run like he did at Nashua North, Londonderry might be primed to sneak up our list.
Also watch? Alvirne! The Broncos have had an awesome season with Brent Dunning at the lead. They look very likely to claim one of the three “at large” Meet of Champions spots along with another excellent squad, Bedford.
On the individual side, it should be an exciting race between returning state champion Matt Giardina and the number one returner in New England, Sully Sturtz. They’ve both had some impressive races this season with Giardina taking fourth against some of the best runners in the northeast at the Manchester Invite while Sturtz managed to break 15:00 multiple times this season including most recently at CVC where he ran a blazing 14:46. Picking the winner is probably a coin flip, but I think you have to give it to the guy who won last year in what will hopefully be a battle to the final stretch.
The rest of the top five is fun because there’s a whole slew of guys who could absolutely be in the mix. Hayes, Mailloux and D’Amelio from Pinkerton… Byrne from South… Fischers from BG… Chisholm from Salem…have all been mentioned but number three seems mostly likely to be Concord’s Josiah Conley. Conley has easily been the best guy outside our top two and had some excellent races including a win at the Battle of the Border. Portsmouth’s Nolan Peters rode an impressive final 800m to a win at Kennett running away from Pinkerton’s solid three. I’d also keep an eye on Londonderry’s Fitzgerald who ran a real solid race at Manhattan last weekend.
Good luck to everyone this weekend!
Division 3
By Mike Smith
Girls
As predicted, the Hopkinton Hawks have caught the thermal and not only have ascended to the top of the division, but ride high in the rankings across the state. In a year that we see two of the best teams NH has ever produced in Oyster River and Hanover, the ladies from Hopkinton have been in the #5 spot most of the season. Led by Maddy Lane, who just won the Capitol Area meet for the second year in a row, going 1-2 with teammate Shaylee Murdough, the supporting cast of Maisie Emerson, Amelia Walsh, Reese Bove and Evelyn Hopper, on paper have more than enough to soar above the competition. But one never knows what the day will bring which is why we run the race.
Behind Hopkinton I anticipate there will be three teams battling for the runner up spot, Gilford, Newmarket and Newfound. Gilford who finished second in D3 coming out of the merge from Manchester is fronted by Maria Tilley, Alana Sawyer and Georgia Eckhardt. At Capitol Area, with Tilley back in the lineup, they put three in front of Newfound’s #1 on the day, and if they can keep the momentum and close up the gap between their #3 and their #4 and #5, they will be tough to handle. I do see them circling an MOC berth.
Newmarket, third in the merge, is led by Eilis McKenna and also boasts some solid running behind McKenna in Rhainnon Lewis, Magnolia and Sahalie Redmond, but their lack of depth in the fifth position could spell trouble for the Mules. This is a problem throughout Division 3 on a regular basis, but if Newmarket can find a fifth on the day, they have a shot.
Newfound is the most intriguing to me at this point. While the Bears from Bristol didn’t run Manchester, they’ve been on fire this season, potentially sparked by their near miss one year ago where they missed out on a MOC berth having finished 6th in a tie. Led by Emerald Briggs and Ceili Irving, the Bears might boast the deepest supporting crew in Addie Alpers, Charlotte Kaempfer, Josie Halle, Sophie Garlick-Drake and Reese Cutting. The squad beat out D1 Merrimack at Moonlight Madness, with their top three in the top 15. They’ve been a little nicked up as of late but I’m willing to wager the Bears find their way to Hudson this year.
Other teams looking for a spot at MOCs would be Fall Mountain, Trinity and Conant. Fall Mountain finished third at Moonlight Madness (behind Newfound and Merrimack) and have arguably one of D3s best in Jenna Fillion, however the Wildcats ran a full squad (5) for the first time in Swanzey so they will need all five to finish the course in October if they want a team berth at MOCs.
Trinity is led by Hannah Boucher but will need to bring down their pack time if they are going to figure into the top five scoring.
Conant, behind some strong running in Amelia Hill and Lily Mormando will need good races out of their #3, #4 and #5 if the Orioles are going to factor into the equation.
Individually, like in the team race, expect Hopkinton’s Lane to be out front early, followed by Mascenic’s O’Shea sisters, Erin and Kaitlin, Fall Mountain’s Fillion, Hopkinton’s Murdough, Gilford’s Tilley, Briggs and Irving of Newfound, McKenna of Newmarket, Leah Unger of Raymond, Kaitlin Stocker of Sanborn and Hailey Watts of Moultonborough.
Boys
After placing fourth last year in D3, the Royals of Mascoma Valley have improved over the ensuing year. Anyone paying attention last spring would recognize their distance squad made a turn in training and leveled up. The Royals will be well seasoned as they’ve completed a rigorous race schedule this season looking to be prepared for the championships. With Gunner Currier at the fore, and a solid supporting cortege of Carl Russell, Trevor Maheu, Brody Albanese and Karson Rogers, the Royals should be able to crusade their way to the top.
Behind them, the door appears wide open with a number of schools looking to put the puzzle together just at the right time for the championships. Hopkinton came out #2 out of the merge from Manchester and is very young, led by freshman Max Goupil. With a kettle of familiar names behind him like Clarner and Shepard, the retooled Hawks might just have what it takes to get the job done. With a fairly low pack time, if the young guns keep improving, I expect them to ride the thermal to Hudson once again.
Saint Thomas Aquinas has become a fixture in the top-five talk since they moved down to Division 3 a few years ago. I left them out of that year’s preview and they made me regret that as they’ve been top five since. Led this year by Mason Ruger and Oliver Schartner, the Saints had the lowest pack time coming out of the merge and that can help at Divisionals. They could slide into that second spot if their prayers are answered.
Newmarket is the next best team coming out of the merge. Led by beast of burden Jaron Labranche, the Mules have a solid little team that might be in a position to sneak into a top five spot. While they don’t enjoy the firepower of other teams, they have a good pack presence behind Labranche and if they continue to improve they could do quite well.
Portsmouth Christian Academy and Mascenic emerged from the merge in #5 and #6, but stand to be better come October. PCA behind the aptly named Christian Barnes recently won their home invitational over Newmarket, 29 to 39. Without the firepower of a Mascoma, the Eagles do counter with a great grouping in the #5, #6 and #7 spot, which can be really handy in a big race like Divisionals.
Mascenic was 6th, but they were without their #1 in Derek Somero. Along with the two Dylans, Callahan and Buttrick, the Vikings might be able to get things back on track and snag a MOC berth. Behind these three, their top five consists of two freshman so it can be hard to tell what things might look like race day but they have a shot if they go berserk.
Individually, I expect a battle between Mascoma’s Currier, Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn, Hillsboro Deering’s Elijah Bodanza, and Kearsarge’s Daniel Dalbec, with Sanborn’s Jake Pitre, Newfound’s Colin Foster, Conant’s Nathan Alajajian and Newmarket’s Labranche, Profile’s Isaac Reeder, InterLakes Isaac Nudd Homeyer making up the chase pack.
