Amazing! Championship Saturday was filled with exciting races full of surprises and fulfilled predictions!Congratulations to all! Race Results Links to LancerTiming, and Recaps are below! Dave Scannell’s Photos, and Race Videos soon! See you all next Saturday in Nashua for Meet of Champions!
Girls Division 2 Race
Results – LancerTiming
Wow! This was a fast race! Souhegan’s Madeline Hunt took the lead at the mile and never looked back to win in a seemingly comfortable 18:15. She led a contingent of a total of 6 D2 girls to run in the 18’s as compared to only three last year. Oyster River’s Danielle Slavin ran a very fast 18:23 as the runner-up followed by West’s Julia Robitaille (18:35). Windham’s Susie Poore rolled to 4th in 18:43. MV’s Kristie Schoffield placed 5th in 18:51 and was followed by Milford’s Rebecca Durham who placed 6th in 18:59.
For the first time in 14 years, a team other than Hanover or Coe-Brown hoisted the Championship plaque. And for the first time in school history, Souhegan was that team to do it. Definitely the more experienced team, the Lady Sabers pried the Division 2 title from Coe-Brown’s valiant grasp as the two teams waged battle over Derryfield’s hills. In the end it was the 
more experienced Souhegan squad which won the battles as they placed 2 ahead of Coe-Brown’s first and three ahead of their second. Supporting Madeline Hunt’s individual victory were Ariell Zlotnick (7th, 19:07), Jane Leighton (9th, 19:18), Marissa Romano (16th, 19:57) and Shannon Earley (23rd, 20:22).
Hats off to a game, Coe-Brown squad which saw five of their squad competing in their first ever Division Championship. Alli Pratt placed 8th to lead the Bears to the runner-up position. Sarah Dupuis (10th, 19:23), Eleanor McDonough (15th, 19:51), Hannah Daly (18th, 20:00) and Abigail O’Connor (22nd, 20:07) were the other scorers for the Lady Bears.
Despite of having to sit their 3rd scorer, Hanover placed 3rd with 115 points. They were followed by Slavin-led Oyster River with 138 points. Displaying a fantastic top 4 pack, Con-Val placed 5th with 171. However, in one of the closest team races of the day with 6th through 8th place separated by only 6 points, it was Merrimack Valley nabbing the final Meet of Champions position with 181 points.
Boys Division 2
Results – LancerTiming
Compared to last year, this race was a stark contrast. 2015 saw Oyster River’s Patrick O’Brien slow the pace deliberately to give his team the best chance to upset favored Coe-Brown. This year, there was none of that as O’Brien led from gun to tape to capture the repeat as D2 State Champion in a Division record time of 15:24, cementing himself as one of the fastest runners in Granite State history. Not only did he have the fastest time of the day, but it was by 49 seconds over the vast improving Cameron Starr (16:17) of Pelham. The Meet of Champions course record is 15:07 by Jeff LaCoste. Enough said.
Teamwise, heavily favored Coe-Brown did not disappoint as they placed 4 in the top 7 places to fend off a spirited Oyster River team 35-61 to complete their second 3-peat in school history. Coe-Brown also won 3 consecutive from 2003 to 
2005. The Bears total of 35 points was the lowest since Con-Val scored a 29 in 2007. Zach Richards led the Bears placing 3rd in 16:22. He was followed by River Groves who broke through to place 4th in 16:38, Evan Tanguay (6th, 16:46) and the always hard charging Tanner Richards (7th, 16:50). Rounding out the scoring for CBNA was 15th place finisher Davio DeLuca in 17:07.
For the runner-up Bobcats, Henry Keegan placed 8th in 16:51, Parker Spinney 10th in 16:55, Myle Carrico 19th in 17:12 and Max Stenslie 23rd in 17:25.
Placing 3rd was Starr-led Pelham with 102 points. Also qualifying for Meet of Champions were Hollis/Brookline with 160, Souhegan with 169 and Kennett with 182 points.
Goffstown’s Jackson Brannen (5th, 16:43) and Kennett’s Nicholas Whitley (9th, 16:54) also placed in the all important top 10.
Girls Division 1
Results – LancerTiming
In one of the more intriguing races of the day, it was the Pinkerton Trail Blazers pulling off a very satisfying win by placing 4 in the top 8 to upend pre-race favorite Bishop Guertin 67-85. Pinkerton was led by freshman Meghan Cross who placed 4th in 18:52. She was closely followed by Maison D’Amelio (5th, 19:03), Ciara April (6th, 19:11) and Jordan Vaillancourt (8th, 19:20). This fantastic four totaled only 23 points. Fifth girl, Isabela Fast, ran strong to place 44th to round out their scoring.
Just as interesting was the historical battle for the individual title as pre-race favorite Exeter’s Jackie Gaughan was facing freshman upstart Caroline Fischer of Bishop Guertin. Throw in Bedford’s Leya Salis and one might think a state record 
might fall. Well, it certainly did, as Gaughan gradually pulled away to smash Danyelle Wood’s (Spaulding) 1992 record of 17:57 by blazing a 17:35. Not to be overshadowed was Fischer’s 17:59 andhttps://nhcc.smugmug.com/2016/NHIAA-Div-Championship/ Salis’s 18:10. With Gaughan having one more year and Fischer 3 more, just how far will this record be dropped in the next several years???
Runner-up Bishop Guertin totaled 85 points to comfortably outdistance 3rd place Alvirne. Scoring for the Cardinals were Fischer, Haley Schmitt (10th, 19:25), Caroline Towle (11th, 19:39), Jessica Ewing (30th, 20:25), and Gabrielle Dionne (32nd, 20:27).
Alvirne scored 115 points and were followed by a pack of three: Merrimack (129), Bedford (134) and Exeter (146). Rounding out the final 2 MOC qualifying slots were Manchester Central and Concord.
Also placing in the top 10 individually were Exeter’s Violet Sullivan (7th, 19:14) and South’s Lauren Robinson (9th, 19:22).
Boys Division 1 
Results – LancerTiming
In the tightest team battle of the day, it was the Long Red Line reclaiming their throne as tops in Division 1 over the Crimson Tide of Concord 60-64. In a seesaw battle which saw Concord place 4 in front of Pinkerton’s 4th, the preseason #1, Pinkerton won the battles over the final mile to defend their title. The Astros were led by Calvin Graves and Jonathan L’Abbe, who placed 3rd and 4th respectively in 16:21 and 16:25. Kyle Hajj (14th, 16:50), Pat Bastek (17th, 16:57) and Josh Noe (22nd, 17:01) rounded out the scoring.
For Concord, it was sophomore Forest 
Mackenzie (5th, 16:25) and senior Jamie Wilkes (7th, 16:29) leading the way. Oliver Spencer placed 11th in 16:38, Eli Boesch-Dining 16th in 16:54 and Ryan Devine placed 25th in 17:06.
Individually, it was Keene’s Jonathan Allard pulling away and then holding off the hard charging Noah Bellomo to win in 16:13 to 16:16. Keene’s Andrew Derry (6th, 16:28) and Jake Velazquez (8th, 16:30), Timberlane’s Jacob Huberdeau (9th, 16:34) and North’s Connor Muise (10th, 16:36) rounded the top 10.
At one point, Keene challenged for the title and ended up a strong 3rd with 85 points. They were followed by Nashua North with 93 points. Rounding out the teams qualifying for MOCs were Alvirne, Nashua South, Londonderry, and Bishop Guertin.
Girls Division 3 
Results – LancerTiming
The Division 3 race looked to be a crap shoot where no one individual appeared to be dominant, but rather there were some strong contenders for the top 5-10 positions. The order was the mystery. Belmont’s Alice Riley looked to be the most likely favorite, with Sydney Lorenz of Monadnock making a strong case for a dark horse pick. Opportunity abounded in this one.
As the race topped the first starting hill, a strong group of girls were led out by Lorenz. However, Lorenz was being tracked by a large group of runners including teammate Joelle Lafreniere, Riley of Belmont, Madison Labrie and Samantha Bilodeau of Mascenic, the duo of Emma Rothe and Sydney Stockwell of Hopkinton and Caitlyn Callinan and Sammy Molinari of Campbell, Sare Campbell of Moultonborugh, Isabella Mormando of Conant and Leah Dutkewyth of White Mountains. Things really got going when Riley began to push going into the hill after the mile. Riley gapped the group by the top of the hill and seemed on her way to the win. But soon after the chase pack began to break up, with Campbell and Bilodeau pursuing Riley. However, while pulling away from the rest of the pack they didn’t seem to be gaining ground on Riley.
In the end, Riley would end up extending her lead, finishing in 19 minutes, 57 seconds, 28 seconds up on second. Campbell and Bilodeau would battle back and forth over the final mile with Campbell finishing 4 seconds up on Bilodeau. They were followed by Rothe and then Dutkewyth. The final five of the top ten were Lafreniere, Stockwell, Labrie, Callinan and Mormando.
Coming into this race based on results from last year, it looked like the battle of the top of Division 3 was going to come down to a battle between the Monadnock Huskies, the Falcons of Bow and the Cougars of Campbell. In the end, two of those three teams were in it, one wasn’t at all, and a surprise player was thrown into the mix. The Cougars of Campbell won the championship, scoring 100 points to beat the surprise Spartans of White Mountains. Campbell had only one in the top ten, two in the top twenty, but when the dust settled their scoring five finished in the top 32 and got the job done.
White Mountains surprised the D3 rankings, sneaking into second, led by Leah Dutkewych, and putting five in the top 40. The always dangerous Spartans seem to put it together at the right time some years and when they are on, their performance can sneak up on you. Monadnock relied on their two front runners Lafreniere (6th) and Lorenz (12th) to pace the Huskies to a third place spot, 17 points behind White Mountain. Kearsarge used some strong pack running to take 4th while Moultonborough finished 5th taking the last MOC qualifier.
Boys Division 3
Results – LancerTiming
It was anticipated to be a clash of the titans, both on the team front and the individual front, with Monadnock, Kearsarge and Mascenic battling it out for D3 supremacy, along with James Elmour and Jake Movsessian of Mascenic looking for top individual honors. The race took little time to see these teams and the individuals get rolling. Rumor has it, the lead pack rolled through the half mile in 2:11 and the race was on. Movsessian was the first to move, looking to get some breathing room by running hard up the hill after the mile. The chase pack that included Elmour, Jeffrey Allen of Campbell, Ian Daly of InterLakes, Simon Doneski of Hopkinton, the MacLaughlin brothers of Moultonborough and Dawson Adams and Braeden Huot of Monadnock were in hot pusuit.
As the runners came back towards the finish area and across the tennis parking lot, Movsessian had a 20 meter lead on 
Elmour who was closing fast, along with Doneski and Allen. Tapped out by his attempt to steal the race, Movsessian faded over the last 400 meters and was caught by Elmour, Doneski and Allen to finish fourth. Elmour would win in 16 minutes, 36 seconds. Fifth finisher though was Aidan Brooks of Keasarge. Rounding out the top ten were Tyler MacLaughlin, Huot, Adams, Zach Hartman of Portsmouth Christian and Andrew Sheperd of Kearsarge.
Monadnock would win the team battle in this one quite handily. The Husky boys ran out of their minds, with 3 in the top 15, winning by thirty with 64 points. Kearsarge would finish with 94 and Mascenic in third with 136. Derryfield would finish with 147 for 4th and the last MOC qualifier would go to Campbell with 161.
