The best high school distance runners in New Hampshire converged on the Hopkinton Fairgrounds Saturday afternoon for the 2026 NHIAA Cross Country Meet of Champions, with individual titles, team championships, and coveted berths to the New England Championships (top 6 teams, top 25 individuals) on the line. As always, racing was at a pinnacle and history made! Hats off to Hopkinton Runners Society, Lancer Timing and the NHIAA for putting on a first class event once again! The energy among athletes, spectators and coaches was palpable!
The championship races featured outstanding individual performances, impressive team depth, and some exciting battles for the six team qualifying positions in each race.
Girls Championship
The girls championship featured yet another round of Maddy Lane v. Lexi Paterna and they wasted no time getting after it passing through the first mile in a blazing 5:18! They kept rolling side by side through the first half of the race until Lane began to open up some daylight heading towards the 2 mile mark. Over the final mile the daylight only grew as Lane eventually crossed in a remarkable 16:48.2 breaking the course and MOC’s meet record in the process! Wow!
While Lane grabbed the individual honors, led by Paterna’s strong runner up finish in 17:15, the team championship belonged to Exeter. Paterna was certainly not alone in this effort as her sister Brianna was battling D2 Champ Leb’s Jill Campbell the entire race. Brianna Paterna ended up claiming an important 3rd place crossing in 17:47 to Campbell’s 17:54 in a great duel. This gave Exeter 2 in the top 3, pretty tough to overcome. In addition to the Paterna sisters, Izzie Bremer bounced back in a strong way to take 13th in 18:59, Molly Kells placed 20th in 19:26.6, and Lena McRae finished 26th in 19:41.4. With five runners among the first 26 finishers, Exeter accumulated just 56 points to win by 25 points.
Behind Campbell, who continued her impressive debut high school season with a fourth-place finish in 17:54.2, Hanover senior Aria Deeb rounded out the top five in an impressive 18:25.4, helping position the Hanover for a strong team finish.
Oyster River junior Olivia Kavanagh claimed sixth in 18:28.9, followed by Concord senior Mahalie Burdette, who placed seventh in 18:37.3. Hopkinton junior Maisie Emerson gave the hometown crowd another reason to celebrate, finishing eighth in 18:45.3. Lebanon freshman Brooke Nelson took ninth in 18:47.5, while Hanover senior Alice Bell completed the top ten in 18:53.2.
Pinkerton’s Sookie Folsom finished 11th in 18:54.7, followed by Bishop Guertin’s Jaylyn Paul in 18:55.4 in 12th. Right behind Bremer in 13th, Profile’s eighth-grader Sylvie Brown who turned in one of the most impressive underclassman performances of the afternoon, finishing 14th in 19:00.8.
Hanover relied on a strong front three of Deeb, Bell, and Mia Sverrild, who finished 19th in 19:25.8. Ari Hirschler added a 24th-place finish in 19:35.3, while freshman Olive Hanissian completed the scoring in 37th. Hanover’s balanced effort secured second place and another trip to New Englands.
Lebanon finished third with 107 points, led by the freshman duo of Campbell and Nelson. The Raiders also received important contributions from freshmen Carolyn Campbell (29th, 19:47.4) and Victoria Pomeroy (33rd, 20:01.1), along with senior Ollie Hanna (50th, 20:33.4). With four freshmen among their five scorers, Lebanon demonstrated that its future is exceptionally promising. Oyster River secured fourth place with 129 points behind Kavanagh, Haley Bezanson (15th), and Madelyn Cook (28th).
The final two New England qualifying positions went to Concord and Bishop Guertin. Concord finished fifth with 199 points, powered by Burdette’s seventh-place performance, while Bishop Guertin claimed sixth with 206 points behind Paul and Zoe Coler, who finished 25th.
Also qualifying for New Englands as individuals were MV’s Isabel Geddes (16th), Inter-Lakes Elsa Bartlett (17th), Sanborn’s Sophie Thurlow (18th), North’s Rosalie Neveu (21st), Alvirne’s Saleena Ramboer and Olivia Cartegena who finished 22nd and 23rd respectively.
Bedford finished seventh with 221 points, followed by Hopkinton (231), Pinkerton (240), and Windham (244), completing the top ten teams.
Boys Championship
The boys championship provided an exciting battle at the front, as Hanover senior Ben Groves battled Bishop Guertin junior Ethan Fischer with Pinkerton’s Jason Robie in tow. Remaining pretty even the entire course, essentially on low 15 pace, it was Groves who emerged victorious with a vicious kick crossing in 15:05.2, just two seconds ahead of Fischer, who finished runner-up in 15:07.2.To his credit, Robie never quite gave in claiming third in 15:20.2, completing a proverbial podium featuring three of the state’s premier distance runners.
Behind the top three, Coe-Brown’s brother tandem Patrick Youngs and Samuel Youngs delivered impressive fourth- and fifth-place combination, finishing in 15:41.0 and 15:41.4 to complete the top 5. This became important as the Youngs held off a slew of athletes in hunting.
Groves’ victory was especially significant because it helped propel Hanover to the team championship scoring just 47 points, Hanover answered Coe-Brown with two outstanding performances from sophomore Dylan Faris and freshman Teddy White, who placed sixth and seventh in 15:42.2 and 15:43.1, respectively. With three runners among the top seven, Hanover established the foundation for its team victory.
Fall Mountain senior Elijah Bodanza finished eighth in 15:46.3, followed by Newfound Regional senior Colin Foster in ninth at 15:49.4. Oyster River senior Oliver Lehman completed the top ten in 15:49.7.
Hanover’s fourth runner, junior Isaac McNaughton, placed 11th in 15:53.2, giving Hanover an extraordinary four finishers among the first 11 runners. Junior Alexander Collins completed Hanover’s scoring with a 26th-place finish in 16:19.3. So a similar formula to Divisions as Hanover secured a 14-point victory over runner up CBNA.
Coe-Brown, meanwhile, put together an outstanding runner-up performance scoring 61 points. In addition to the Youngs duo, senior Gus Glaser finished 16th in 16:05.4, sophomore Broden Cox placed 17th in 16:10.5, and sophomore Mateo Ferguson completed the scoring in 25th at 16:18.4. The Bears placed all five scorers within just 38 seconds of one another, the tightest scoring pack among the top three teams.
Pinkerton secured third with 88 points, led by Robie’s third-place performance. Senior Oscar D’Amelio placed 12th in 15:59.1, while senior Joseph Gustavson finished 18th in 16:10.7. Sophomore Demitri Rufo (31st) and senior Leighton Klug (32nd) completed the Astros’ scoring lineup.
Oyster River finished fourth with 157 points, led by Lehman’s top-ten performance. Seniors Levi Clapp and Brendan Banafato finished 22nd and 23rd in 16:15.2 and 16:15.6, giving the Bobcats three runners among the top 23.
Keene claimed fifth with 169 points behind junior Sawyer Kress, who placed 21st in 16:14.1. The Blackbirds received additional contributions from Tristan Woodbury (34th), Cooper Tiani (36th), Gus Cusimano (45th), and Aiden O’Donnell (53rd).
The final New England qualifying position went to the hometown Hopkinton Hawks, who finished sixth with 183 points. Senior James Lavers led the way with a 20th-place finish in 16:12.6, followed by junior Max Goupil in 27th at 16:19.7 and sophomore Liam Tripod in 33rd at 16:38.9. Finnegan Kovar and Jax Marshall completed the scoring as Hopkinton secured its FIRST EVER trip to New Englands in school history!
Exeter finished seventh with 201 points, followed by Bishop Guertin (236), Souhegan (283), and Dover (300).
Beyond the team championship battle, qualifiying as individuals were Souhegan junior Jacob Spencer (13th), Bishop Guertin sophomore Michael Struder (14th), Londonderry junior Patrick Ramsey (15th), Exeter junior Logen Poteet (19th) and Nashua North junior Tom White (24th).
Congrats to all and Let’s go 603 at New Englands!
