Full Results – Courtesy of Millennium Running
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MI50!!! The festival had everything from individual battles to team battles to surprises and confirmations. Manchester Invitational is still the granddaddy of them all! Once again thanks to Millennium Running for putting on a first class event which truly celebrates and showcases athletes from all over New England. Great job NH on being gracious hosts and even better competitors! Congrats to all! With cool September air hovering in the mid-60s and a dry course underfoot, conditions were near perfect at the start of the day, but the real feel progressed to sneaky warm day by the time the varsity races rolled.
Girls Small School
The girls’ small school race had a very singular feel as Hopkinton’s Madeleine Lane ran with fearless front-running tactics, pushing from the gun and daring the field to keep up. Zoe Carroll of York, Maine was her only pursuer as she ran free and clear of the field as well. From the 2 mile mark, at the course’s high point, both Lane and Carroll flew downhill to the finish finish with poise. Lane crossed with an again impressive time of 18:54 notching her 3rd consecutive win, looking quite comfortable to the end.
Over the last mile, Aedyn Kourakos (St. Paul’s, 20:06) fought off Stella Curwin-Amfithe (Middlesex, 20:09). Esme Campbell (Milton Academy, 20:16), Elli Englund (Plymouth Regional, 20:17), and Kaitlyn Lumbra (BFA-St. Albans, 20:17) had one of the better battles of the meet all finishing within 1 second of the other taking 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Souhegan’s Samantha Swanbon (8th-20:39), Pelham’s Addison Martin (9th-20:42) and Gilford’s Maria Tilley (10th-20:47). The competitive diversity of this race was on display over these top 10, with athletes from 10 different schools represented.
In the team standings, it was all about Haddam-Killingworth. Led by Charlotte Behnke who crossed in 20:58, H-K sported a pack time of 1:19 and scored 117 points. Middlesex School used Stella Curwin-Amfithe’s fourth-place finish to anchor their score of 148 points to claim runner up, while York leaned heavily on Carroll’s runner-up performance to claim 3rd with 171 points.
NH#5 Hopkinton placed 6th as a team and was NH’s top school. Behind Lane, Maisie Emerson (21:31) and Rose Afflerbach (21:44), the Hawks scored 217 points to nip St. Paul’s of Concord, NH by 6 points. With a 98 second pack time, Coe-Brown in a bit of a surprise was 2nd NH team placing 9th overall, but Plymouth (10th) and Souhegan (11th) were all within 25 points of each other.
Boys Small School
From the start, the small school boys’ race showcased tactical variety. Elijah Bodanza (Fall Mountain) and Gage Magnuson (BFA-Fairfax) broke away from the field. Bodanza then attacked the hills with authority, creating separation from Magnuson by the 2 mile. His willingness to surge early paid off as he rolled the downhill 3rd mile to win in 16:25. Magnuson held off a strong charge from James Kerr (Roxbury Latin, 16:34) for 2nd.
Alex Cheng (Noble & Greenough, 16:42) and Nico Jonathan-Leach (Brattleboro, 16:59) showed patience, moving up steadily after conservative starts placing 4th and 5th respectively. Jason Minicozzi (Rivers School, 17:16) held off Oyster River’s dynamic duo of Levi Clapp (17:16) and Oliver Lehman (17:19) for 6th. St. Paul’s Owen Gorenc crossed in 17:19 for 9th with BFA-St. Albans Jacoby Soter completing the top 10 in 17:21.
The team battle was certainly close! At the finish line, Oyster River jumped to the early lead as Clapp and Lehman worked side by side giving the Bobcats critical low sticks. However, Coe-Brown’s top five finished within 19 seconds of one another beginning with Patrick Youngs’s 16th place finish in 17:32. He was followed closely by Ben Jobin (18th-17:38), Gus Glaser (22nd-17:39), Ben Larson (29th-17:45) and Samuel Youngs (32nd-17:51). Just as impressive, throw in their 6 (Mateo Ferguson) and 7 (Broden Cox), and we notice the young Bears had a 1-7 spread of 40 seconds.
Cementing the Rt 4 friendly rivalry, Oyster River kept it quite close finishing within 18 points of CBNA with 122 points. Also scoring for the Bobcats were Brendan Benafato, Garrett Sellers and Jace Dinnan. This was great team racing as well and to their credit, OR also had an impressive 1-5 pack time of 55 seconds. Incredibly, Haddam-Killingworth also impressed and had a better 1-5 spread than CBNA by 1 second (17 seconds) to place 3rd overall with 177 points. They were led by Daniel McCourt‘s 31st place finish.
Girls Large School
The large school girls’ race was a showcase of both individual dominance and team precision. After rolling the first mile with Alexis Paterna (Exeter) and Mikita Barry (Bedford), Greta Hammer (Needham) simply dropped the hammer over the 2nd mile to open up an insurmountable lead. She went on to cruise the final mile to post the fastest time of the day crossing in 18:29 far and away from the field.
Behind Paterna and Barry, the race pack was strung out, but the chase pack included Cecelia Ludwig (Cumberland RI), Acadia Enman (Mt. Mansfield), Megan Faris (Hanover, PEA’s Ava Bullock and Harper Peters, and Champlain Valley Union VT’s top 4 of Lydia Donahue, Zoey McNabb, Charlotte Crum and Audrey Neilson. Coming off the hills, Paterna held her form brilliantly to claim second in 19:04. Enman continued her ascension with a courageous third-place finish in 19:14. Yet the race belonged to Champlain Valley, which executed a perfect team strategy placing 4 in the top 10 with Donahue (4th-19:22), McNabb (5th-19:33), Crum (7th-19:36), and Neilson (10th-19:41). Ludwig would place 6th in 19:34, Faris raced to a strong 8th in 19:37 with PEA’s Peters completing the top 10, placing 9th in 19:41.
Nationally ranked (13th) Champlain Valley ran away with the win, scoring just 59 points and this was reportedly without their usual 5th scorer! Could the Vermont powerhouse be making another trip to Oregon in December? Hanover and Cumberland incredibly ended up in a tie at 100 points for the runner-up plaque. Both also had a total time of 1:41:21. But it was Hanover winning the tiebreaker thanks to their 6th runner, Grace Stewart crossing before Cumberland’s. Also scoring for Hanover was Aria Deeb (13th), Millie Larrick (18th), Lila Muirhead (27th) and Alice Bell (34th). Cumberland, boosted by Ludwig and Charli McCue’s 14th place finish actually had the better pack time of 1:11.
Led by Peters and Bullock (11th), PEA placed 4th with 175 points, Needham, MA was 5th with 178 and Exeter was 6th just 2 points behind.
Boys Large School
We have to hand this to him. Perhaps the most impressive performance on the day was constructed by Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis (Phillips Exeter, 15:44) went out hard, pushing the opening mile in sub-5 pace, and never looked back. That first mile was impressive but check out his split up the mountain and around the reservoir…5:35! That is pure power. His aggressive approach widened the gap so much, no one was in site once he reached the bottom loop. He would cross in 15:44.
Similar to the girls large school race, a chase pack formed and showcased the real competitive racing. The large pack was comprised of Josiah Conley (Concord), Ben Groves (Hanover), Ethan Fischer and Michael Studer (Bishop Guertin), Lucas Gomez (Salem), St. Johnsbury’s Bryan Stocker and Joel Thornton-Sherman (St. Johnsbury), Benjamin Holoch (Champlain Valley), Ben Warfield (U-32), and Pinkerton’s Oscar D’Amelio. By the 2 mile, at the high point of Derryfield, the pack had whittled down and was now comprised of Conley, Holoch, and Warfield with Groves, D’Amelio and Fischer a few strides back. In the end, Conley made a decisive surge to claim second in 16:25. Groves outleaned Holoch as they both were credited with 16:37. Warfield was right behind those 2 in 5th and D’Amelio claimed 6th in 16:50. Fischer glided into 7th in 16:56 holding off a hard charging Alejandro Juro of Manchester CT. Hanover’s Isaac McNaughton had one of the best final miles as he placed 9th in 17:00 and North Andover’s Nicolas Floresquero-Llamas rounded out the top 10 in 17:04.
As previewed, NH#1, Pinkerton won comfortably. Even without one of their top 5 (Jason Robbie sick), their win was textbook — place one athlete inside the top 10 (D’Amelio), then follow it up with a tightly bunched core of scorers between 11th and 39th. Their top 5 had a 52 second pack time and is incredibly interchangeable. This week, Sean Hayes (11th) was 2nd man then it was Joseph Gustavson in 12th followed by Trainor Mailloux (16th) and Austin Cipriano (39th). That low compression score of 85 points secured the team title. Led by Holoch, they placed four runners inside the top 30, Champlain Valley claimed second. North Andover, MA emerged as the surprise podium team placing 3rd with 193 points. Hanover was right there in 4th behind Groves and McNaughton with 205 points.
Great day by all!
