HERE WE GO!!! The 50th Manchester Invitational! You ready??? We are!!! Loaded races both with number of state ranked teams and some of the best individuals in the nation! Visit our MI50 Meet Hub as our center for everything Manchester Invitational over the past several years!!! We have race videos, interviews, articles, photos! It will also be THE place for this year’s NewHampshireCrossCountry’s coverage!
Use the link below as Millennium Running will have live results and splits!!! All event info including course maps, box info, etc can also be found on their website.
Millennium Running’s Live Results
As with every year, Manchester Invitational is a FESTIVAL of XC with teams coming from all over New England to not only race uniforms from other states but to also take on the challenge of Derryfield Park. This usually contributes to some incredible racing and great experiences. Each varsity race has its own story. MI has become very much a border clash if you will between NH and Vermont with top teams from all the other New England states sprinkled in. Even though the season is young, we will do our best to preview each race as accurately.
Girls Small School @ 12:00
Last year, CT’s Haddam Killingworth won the small school race by 35 points with 82 points. They return this year to defend their with most of their top 7 back and are led by Charlotte Behnke. They are ranked 5th in the Nutmeg State, and had a strong 55 second 1-5 scorer spread last year, so they may indeed be the favorites to repeat this year.
With 2024 runner up St. Pauls not returning this year, the next best returning team is NH#5 Hopkinton which finished 3rd last year. The NH D3 powerhouse is led by Maddy Lane, who is in even better early season form than last year, when she won the MI49 Small School race individually. This low stick coupled with a strong 2-3 in Maisie Emerson and Rose Afflerbach, the Hawks a better positioned for a win in a race like MI50. If their 4-5 can edge a little closer, they should be in great shape. Just 34 points behind Hopkinton last week was Maine’s top team, York. Led by Zoe Carroll, York will be looking to surprise teams on this hills of Derryfield. They do have a Derryfield expert if-you-will in coach Fergus Cullen.
Do not forget the large contingent crossing NH’s western border Connecticut River. Vermont sends #4 ranked team, BFA-St. Albans back to Derryfield in the small school race. St. Albans placed 4th at the ultra competitive Burlington Invitational earlier this season and will be led Kaitlyn Lumbra. VT#10 Montpelier will also be making the trip to NH. Montpelier recently placed 2nd in the Harwood Invitational and will be led by Thea Boyles.
NH#8 Hollis/Brookline is also entered in the small school race. 15th last year, the Cavaliers are coming off a strong showing in last week’s Nashua North Invitational which resulted in their first state ranking in many years. Led by Edith Butler, Hollis/Brookline will be looking to continue their climb up the NH rankings ladder. Other schools to watch include Plymouth and Souhegan. Plymouth is of course led by Elli Englund while Souhegan is led by Samantha Swanbon.
Individually, the aforementioned Hopkinton’s Lane has to be this year’s clear favorite but look for York’s Carroll to shadow her once again this week. The secondary pack should see names like Englund of Plymouth, Lumbra of BFA, Swanbon of Souhegan. Looking to challenge for a top ten spot would be Gilford’s Maria Tilley, Mascenic’s Kaitlin and Erin O’Shea, Sanborn’s Kaitlyn Stocker, Lebanon’s Annie and Olivia Hanna.
-Tim Cox
Boys Small School @ 12:30
With the defending small school champs not returning this year (Catholic Memorial), perhaps a NH school will take the title in 2025. We have two ranked teams looking to battle for that top spot and their schools are only separated by 20 minutes. Rt 4 Rivals Oyster River (NH#5) and Coe-Brown (NH #7) are the top 2 returning teams. Returning most of their squad from last year, and coming off a strong performance at their home invitational 2 weeks ago, the edge has to go to the Bobcats. Experience can be a very nice tool at Derryfield. Led by Levi Clapp and Oliver Lehman, the once super sophs are now experienced upperclassmen as Brendan Banafato, Siddharth Sanjay, as well as senior Garrett Sellers poised to truly compete for the win on Saturday. Coe-Brown may have a new look but are still led by their current super sophs in Patrick Youngs and Ben Larson as well as junior Ben Jobin. If the experience of these three guide the newcomers on varsity then the Bears should be in business.
Several ranked teams from other states will be making their trek to Manch on Saturday. CT’s Haddam Killingworth (CT #7), BFA’s St. Albans (VT #4), BFA Fairfax (VT #9), Brattleboro (VT#10) are all on the entries list. Haddam Killingworth was the highest finisher of these teams but lost their top runners to matriculation. They should be led this year by Daniel McCourt and Alex Fredrickson. BFA St Albans is the highest ranked small school from Vermont. They had a strong performance at the Burlington Invite earlier season and are led by Garrett Soter who posted a 16:25. BFA Fairfax has tremendous potential as well. Not sure if they have run their entire squad together yet. They are led by 2024 VT D3 State Champ Gage Magnuson who has already dropped a 16:06 this season and the team recently won the Harwood Invite without Magnuson in the lineup. Don’t over look Brattleboro either.
Perhaps 2 teams to watch outside of NH’s top 10 should be Hopkinton and Hollis/Brookline. Hopkinton, led by Max Goupil, looked strong at Nashua North Invite and perhaps are favored to take the d3 crown this year. Hollis/Brookline led by William Scott was ranked earlier this season and will be looking to return to the top 10. Saturday is a great opportunity for these 2 squads.
Individually, state champions would have to be among the favorites right, so we look to Magnuson of course and also to Fall Mountain’s Elijah Bodanza as he has been the NH D3 State Champ in the past on this very course. Joining them in the front pack would have to be names like Youngs, Clapp, Lehman, Jobin, Larson, and Goupil. Also look for PCA’s Christian Barnes, BFA Sta Albans Soter, Plymouth’s Tate Hayman, Milford’s Grant Skorupan, and Newfound’s Colin Foster.
–Tim Cox
Girls Large School @ 1:00pm
We thought we were spoiled last year when we had 13 ranked schools from several New England states clashing in the Large School race. Well add a few more for this year to make it 16. Among these ranked schools, 1 is ranked #2 in the Northeast Region while 2 more have received honorable mention. With plenty more of the other ranked schools nipping at their heels, Saturday will be incredibly exciting!! The race is loaded and as we seem to say each year for MI, get you popcorn ready!
VT #1 Champlain Valley Union (CVU) is currently ranked #2 in the Northeast Region and is considered the team to beat for New Englands. They are coming off a big win at the Queensbury Invitational in NY and are led by Charlotte Crum, Lydia Donahue, Zoey McNabb and Audrey Neilson. CVU always brings it and runs well at Derryfield Park. They are the favorite. RI #3 Cumberland is another team to watch from out of state as they are on the honorable mention list for the Northeast and will be led by Ceceilia Ludwig.
NH #1 Hanover is also on the honorable mention list for the Northeast. Led by Megan Faris, Aria Deeb and Millie Larrick, Hanover won the D4 race at last week’s Queensbury Invitational showing they are poised for quite the strong season. They love the hills of Derryfield and will be looking to give CVU a run for their money.
Nashua North Invite winners, and track studs NH#2 Exeter will be looking to continue to make a case that they are one of the best cross country teams in New England. Look for them to make a splash and at least crack the top 3 Saturday. They looked rather unbeatable at Mines Falls this past weekend. Alexi Paterna will provide a low stick and look for Brianna Paterna to perhaps finish a tad closer as she rolled solo for much of the race last week. That will not happen again, especially at MI50. They were pushed at the outset by NH #4 Pinkerton who always races well at Mines Falls. They have a superb top 4 with Sookie Folsom, Kalisan Marzolf, Gabrielle Bedard and Naomi Ebhaleme. However, per their tradition, they will run the freshman Ebhaleme in the freshman race. The Trail Blazers certainly have enough depth to still be contending for a top 5 slot. Never sleep on Pinkerton.
NH#4 Oyster River are the defending champs. Obviously they graduated their top two from last year, but don’t overlook the Bobcats of 2025. They won their home invitational comfortably as Neely Roy, Olivia Kavanagh, Maddy Cook and company looked strong as always on the hills. Expect them to certainly make their presence known, especially on an ‘easier’ hilly course as Derryfield compares to DeMeritt Hill Farm. NH#5 Bishop Guertin also has a new look and they performed strongly at Nashua North last week finishing 3rd. They were led by freshman Zoe Coler and sophomore Jaylyn Paul. Expect them to have another strong day on Saturday.
Back to the Green Mountain State. Vermont is sending their 5 of their top 7 ranked schools for the Large School. #2 Essex took a comfortable second at the Burlington Invitational behind CVU. Led by freshman Adrianna Bibeau and Ruth Knox, Essex will be a contender for the podium. VT#3 U-32 finished in 3rd at the same invite and are led by Isobel Koger and Claire Serrano. U-32 always runs well at Derryfield. Looks like VT#5 South Burlington is a nice pack running team and are led by Sydney Rumsey and Elizabeth Clark. VT#7 Mt Mansfield is led Acadia Enman.
Back to NH, other ranked teams competing and hoping to move up the proverbial rankings ladder include #7 Bedford, #9 Londonderry, and #10 Windham. Bedford is led by Mikita Barry who will be among the leaders of the entire race. Londonderry and Windham are good pack running teams. Looks like Windham is running their freshman triumverate in the freshman race, so if Londonderry’s top pack led by Anna Laufersweiler can move up in the field they will be in business.
Finally watch out for Phillips Exeter Academy. Led by Ava Bullock and Harper Peters, their girls team is simply good this year and will certainly mix it up with the top teams.
We are in for a treat individually! Wow, is all we can say when looking at the sure battle which will ensue for top honors. Top returner Needham’s Greta Hammer has done nothing more than improve since being runner up last year to Brooke Strauss. She should be considered the favorite. She will have competition from Exeter’s Alexis Paterna, Bedford’s Barry, Hanover’s Faris, Mt. Mansfield’s Enman, as well as CVU’s Crum, Donahue, and Audrey Neilson. A chase pack will form here as well and you should see names like Hanover’s Deeb and Larrick, Exeter’s Brianna Paterna, Pinkerton’s Folsom, Oyster River’s Roy, Kavanagh, Cook, PEA’s Bullock & Peters, Essex’s Bibeau, Phillips Academy’s Amelia Alvazzi, and BG’s Coler.
-Tim Cox
Boys Large School @ 1:30
The boys large school race at the Manchester Invitational is often the most competitive meet of the year held in New Hampshire. With some of the best schools from all over New England making the trip, taking the win at Manchester is often a sign that a team has aspirations of being not just a state champion but could even make some noise at the New England Championships in November. Let’s dive into the teams from each state and see who we should keep an eye on.
Massachusetts is sending two solid teams from the middle of their rankings with North Andover coming in at #10 and Lowell coming in at #12. North Andover is coming off of a win in at the Marshvegas Classic last weekend, which saw them take down teams like the perennially strong Brookline, so their season is off to a great start. Lowell appears to be kicking off their racing season this weekend, so we’ll have to see what they have on Saturday.
Rhode Island is sending two of their top ten teams in #4 Cumberland and #6 Barrington. Both teams attended the RITCA Injury Fund Carnival on August 30th which might make you think they’ve raced each other… except they haven’t. The race breaks the varsity up into three sections and they were in different sections. Cumberland ran well and won their section with their top three runners placing second through fourth. Barrington was in a section with the always strong team from La Salle and they ended up taking second with their top four all in the top ten of the section.
Connecticut is sending their #8 team in William Hall. Hall is a little tough to get a bead on as this looks like their first 5K invitational of the season. They did take the team victory at a 3K invitational at the University of Connecticut with their top runners taking the top two spots in the race, so it looks like they’re bringing in a strong squad.
Maine is sending their #8 team in Sanford. Their top runner Isaac Pelletier has had a great start to his season and his team should find themselves battling for one of the middle spots in the overall race.
Vermont is the state outside of New Hampshire that’s most represented with SEVEN of their top ten teams returning. Champlain Valley looks like the team to watch most closely at the moment with an outstanding top two including Benjamin Holoch who is someone to watch for the individual championship having already dropped a 15:42 this season. They took fifth in a field packed with excellent New York teams at the Queensbury Pre-States Invitational and they handily won the Burlington Invitational with most of the Vermont teams in attendance. U-32 is another team to watch for with their top two runners of Cody Young and Ben Warfield going two-three at Burlington only behind the previously mentioned Holoch. I also wouldn’t count out St. Johnsbury who is the top returning team from 2024.
It looks likely that our top team this year is coming out of New Hampshire. NH #1 Pinkerton has started the season in dominating fashion with big wins at both the Bobcat Invitational and Nashua North last weekend. Their entire top five was 16:20 or faster at Nashua which is absolutely flying for this part of the season and they had individual race winner Trainor Mailloux, who looked dialed in. #2 Hanover made the leap up to the large school race last year and with their strong squad the move makes sense again this year. Ben Groves is one of the best runners in the state and should compete for the top overall spot. They traveled out to Queensbury and took fourth against some strong NY competition without Groves in the mix. Some quick math has them as the easy winner if he had raced. They also dominated the field at the Souhegan Relays showing their incredible depth in a race that requires nine runners to succeed. #3 Londonderry has had a strong start to their season behind an excellent Carson Fitzgerald who has led the team to second place finishes behind Pinkerton at both Bobcat and Nashua.
It looks likely that Pinkerton is going to give New Hampshire the win but I think Hanover will keep it closer than Pinkerton has experienced so far this season. I’m looking at Champlain Valley to likely take the third spot, but I think they will have an exciting battle with Londonderry where I’m betting it won’t be obvious who’s getting the spot. Don’t count out U32 who should have two low scores to really help them stay competitive in a large field where scores can get high fast.
The individual race should be really exciting and I’ve honestly struggled a bit with who to pick! Josiah Conley from Concord is probably the biggest name and the most likely to win of the runners not mentioned yet. He has had a great start to the season taking Keene’s Sully Sturtz to the line at the Cofrin Classic running a blazing 15:38 and is well known as one of the top runners in New Hampshire. Ethan Fischer from BG is another guy who has had a solid start to his season taking third last weekend at Nashua after battling for the top spot most of the way. Pinkerton has two other runners who have started the season out well in Oscar D’Amelio and Jason Robie. While neither has won a race, they’ve both been hanging out in that top group through the first few invites and you never know when someone is going to break through. Also in that group is Salem’s Lucas Gomez who was in a FAST top ten at Nashua last weekend. Finally, Phillips Exeter’s Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis also put in a sub 16:00 race this fall running a 15:39 at the Choate Invitational last weekend.
Often I write these and there’s a sort of obvious choice for who’s going to win but I think this year is the exception. Josiah Conley is probably the guy on paper with the best chance to win but Ethan Fischer absolutely tore this course up at the end of last fall. Mailloux is coming off a dominating finish at North last weekend and looked ready to take on anyone. Fitzgerald coming in second two weeks in a row makes me wonder if Saturday is the day he puts it altogether. It looks like Hanover’s Groves is making his season 5K debut Saturday but the guy ran a 15:36 as a sophomore so we will see where his conditioning is currently at. I’m definitely not counting out CVU’s Holoch who already has some absolutely blistering races under his belt this fall. Howland-Vlahakis isn’t a guy we see a lot, but whenever I see him he just seems to be flying. I’ll pick Conley for the win but if there’s a race he’s going to have to earn it, it’s Manchester this year.
Good luck to everyone racing!
–Ian French
