Division: I
Coaches: Boys: Tristan Black-Ingersoll (4th year); Girls: Ally Davis (2nd year)
Last year: Boys: 5th; Girls: 4th
Returning athletes: Boys: Jamie Wilkes, sr.; Ollie Spencer, jr.; Forest Mackenzie, so.; Alex Duncan, jr.; Colin Conery, jr.; Matt O’Brien, jr.
Girls: Cassie Shea, sr.; Jennika Mannesto, sr.; Brinkley Brown, sr.; Sarah Zarakotas, so.; Gabrielle Czerula, so.; Maggie Whitcomb, so.
Top newcomers: Boys: Ryan Devine, fr.; David Cooke, fr.
Girls: Heather Deacon, so.; Serena Britos, fr.
Outlook: Boys: The Tide boys have made great strides over the past few season, finishing fifth and fourth over the past two seasons, improving on 16th and 13th place finishes in 2013 and 2012. Part of that improvement is due to this year’s junior class, which won the 2014 Freshman team and individual titles at the presitigious Manchester Invitational and made up five of the seven D-I State Meet runners that qualified for the Meet of Champions as a team and missed qualifying for New Englands by one spot. Wilkes, Spencer and Mackenzie are the top three Tide runners and could potentially finish in the top five in D-I with Duncan, Conery, O’Brien also returning from last year’s championships and Devine, Cooke, sophomores Shane Riley, Eli Boesch-Dining, Ethan DeAngelis and senior Brad Hicks vying for spots in the Tide’s varsity seven. With the abundance of talent, the Tide are hoping to win Concord’s first cross country title since 1980.
Girls: The Tide return a talented and deep squad to the trails this fall, including five of the seven runners from last year’s fourth-place team. Mannesto finished seventh in D-I and was just a few places shy of qualifying for New Englands. The Tide are also bolstered by the return of Shea, the team’s top runner and D-I fourth-place finisher in 2014, but missed last season with an injury. Concord’s roster has depth few teams in the state can match and have talented former JV runners like Deacon and talented newcomers like Britos (fifth at Middle School Small School Championships) that could make an immediate impact at the varsity level.
Teams to beat: Boys: Pinkerton, Keene, Nashua North, Londonderry, Alvirne
Girls: Pinkerton, Bishop Guertin, Alvirne, Bedford, Merrimack
Division: II
Coaches: Pat Scott (3rd year)
Last year: Boys: 20th; Girls: 12th
Returning athletes: Boys: Noah Payeur, sr.; Brandon Langdon, so.; Owen Payeur, so.; Erik Hilyard, so.; Zach Lanctot, sr.
Girls: Hailey Erskine, so.; Katie Brennan, so.; Allison Wright, so.; Erin Scott, sr.; Anna Ishak, so.
Top newcomers: Boys: Jack Hagan, fr.; Marcus McFall, fr.; Spencer Beahm, fr.
Girls: Anna Salisbury, fr.; Haleigh Bilodeau, so.
Outlook: Boys: This year the Generals field a talented but young group of athletes. The Generals will look to a core group of sophomores, including Langdon, the top runner at States, to build on last year’s progress. A couple of talented freshman have come forward to add a little more depth. “The Generals are not in the hunt yet with this group, but we’ll take the long view and strive to develop and strengthen this team in the coming years,” Coach Scott said.
Girls: The Generals lost several runners that contributed to finishes in the top half of D-II for a couple of seasons, but they return runners who all ran at States late year as freshman. This year’s roster has only one senior and one freshman, but five sophomores. This sophomore class will look to build on last year’s efforts and build for the future. Some talented newcomers
Teams to beat: Boys: Coe-Brown, Oyster River; Girls: Hanover, Souhegan
Division: II
Coaches: Dave Irving (14th year) and Sandu Rebenciuc (2nd year)
Last year: Boys: 21st; Girls: 9th
Returning athletes: Boys: David Reynolds, so.; Matt Reynolds, so.; Dylan Guinard, sr.; Raging River Lynch, sr.; Connor Butt, so.; Ryan Latorella, sr.
Girls: Kristie Schoffield, sr.; Willow Sockalexis, sr.; Miranda Crane, sr.; Lauren Rouse, jr.; Tristan Beyer, so.
Top newcomers: Boys: Taylor Burke, so.
Girls: Kaitlyn Covell, jr.; Emma York, fr.; Noelle Colarusso, fr.
Outlook: Boys: Half of the Pride roster is made up of athletes who are new to the sport, but the Pride also return all six finishers from last year’s D-II State Meet team, so the expectation is still for the team to improve on last year’s 21st place finish. The Reynolds brothers had impressive freshman seasons and both return in top form with David eyeing individual qualification for MOC. The Pride looks to develop into a cohesive and competitive unit.
Girls: With a preseason goal of reaching the Meet of Champions as a team for the first time since 2011, coaches Irving and Rebenciuc are cautiously optimistic after the first couple weeks of practice. The Pride has one of the state’s top runners in Schoffield (fourth D-II, fifth, MOC, two-time Capital Area champion) and have a healthy influx of new talent including freshman York, a top middle school runner, and junior soccer transfer and talented track athlete Covell. First time runner and freshman Colarusso has been a pleasant surprise and has already made an impact at the team level. Rouse and Schoffield both enter the season in great form with very strong summer sessions under their belts. Depth is still an issue, so maintaining health and developing new runners will be very important.
Teams to beat: Boys: Oyster River, Coe-Brown; Girls: Souhegan, Coe-Brown, Hanover, Oyster River, Kennett, Windham, Portsmouth, Con-Val
Division: II
Coaches: Mike Slavin (10th year)
Last year: Boys: 16th; Girls: 21st
Returning athletes: Boys: Ryan Burns, jr.; Josh Crandall, jr.; Sam Duhaime, sr.; Mihir Khadka, jr.; Ben Prescott, jr.; Erik Rasmussen, jr.; Jason Schoeller, sr.; Steven Schoeller, sr.; Markos Starz, jr.; Wyatt Yeaton, jr.
Girls: Stephanie Berube, jr.; Jonatha Decker, jr.; Avery Gamache, so.; Natasha Jordan jr.; Sierra Perkins, so.; Haley Royce, so.
Top newcomers: Boys: Jack Thomas, jr.; Shawn Tremblay, fr.
Girls: Amanda Montminy, fr.; Julia Valotto, jr.
Outlook: The Spartan boys are a strong, fast-improving group led by the Schoellers, Yeaton, Crandall, Prescott, Burns and Rasmussen (six of those seven ran at States last year) and, barring injuries, Coach Slavin expects them to improve several places over last year’s 16th position. The Spartan girls are very young and led by Berube and Gamache (the top two runners for the team at States last year). Slavin hopes the fresh led, led by Montminy, can help the moves up from 21st to 16th in D-II.
Teams to beat: Souhegan, Coe-Brown, Oyster River, Hollis-Brookline, Kennett
Division: III
Coaches: Aaron Hayward (10th year)
Last year: Boys: 9th; Girls: DNS
Returning athletes: Boys: Isaiah Knowlton, sr.; Ian Remenar, jr.; Nick Randos, jr.; Aidan Rupp, so.; Kaleb Brown, jr.
Girls: Alice Riley, so.; Alexus Day, jr.
Top newcomers: Boys: Adam Sojka, jr.; Connor Jackson, jr.
Girls: Makayla Palmer, so.
Outlook: Both the boys’ and girls’ squads have limited depth, but have talented runners and if the runners stay healthy, both teams could be towards the top of the D-III standings. The boys’ team should be a top five contender with the top four runners returning from last year, including Remenar (14th D-III) who qualified for the Meet of Champions. Remenar and Randos are both in contention for a top 10 finish at states and captain Knowlton and Rupp are also returning top four runners. Newcomers Jackson and Sojka could be the fifth scoring runners. The girls will be able to field a scoring team for the first time in a few seasons, but with only six runners on the roster, staying healthy will be critical. The girls’ squad is led by Riley, who burst onto the scene as a freshman last season, finishing fourth in D-III. The Raiders also return their No. 2 runner Day, who finished 27th in D-III, just missing qualifying for MOC.
Teams to beat: Kearsarge, Hopkinton, Mascenic, Derryfield, Monadnock
Division: III
Coaches: Boys: Bill Heath (15th year); Girls: Nancy Stehno (5th year)
Last year: Boys: 21st; Girls: 12th
Returning athletes: Girls: Anastasia Carroll, sr.; Kamryn Compton, jr.; Kiley Sullivan, jr.; Molly Dexter, so.; Kayla Laurent, sr.; Madison Laurent, sr.; Brenda Duan, jr.; Holly Farrell, so.; Mikaela Newman, sr.
Top newcomers: Girls: Anna Grafton, jr.
Outlook: Girls: The Giants fields its strongest team in recent years this fall with strong runners in the top seven and depth as well. Dexter (top returning runner) and newcomer Grafton are running well in the top two spots with Carroll and Compton training with them. Sullivan is returning from an injury and also looks to rejoin that top group and the Laurents rounding out the projected varsity runners. Coach Stehno believes this mentality will lead to better scoring and improvement over last year’s 12th-place finish. “My focus this year is to have them running as a team instead of as individuals,” Coach Stehno said.
Division: III
Coaches: Boys: Katie McDonald (1st year); Girls: Barb Higgins (3rd year)
Last year: Boys: 7th; Girls: D-III runner-up
Returning athletes: Boys: Sam Berube, so.; Calvin Carey, so.; Robbie Ciotti, sr.; Luca Demian, so.; Kirpal Demian, so.; Collin Devaney, sr.; Brian Hassett, jr.; Zachary Jukoski, sr.; Samuel Neff, sr.; Caleb Olson, so.; Ricky Pinney, so.; Jack Rich, sr.; Henry Tanner, sr.; Jake Valpey, so.; Riley Whelan, sr.; Garrison White, so.
Top newcomers: Boys: Austin Beaudette, sr.; Danny Silva, so.; Gabe Neff, fr.
Outlook: Boys: The Falcons return a deep team from last season, including six of the seven that ran at States, losing only its top runner to graduation. Bow also has a promising crop of freshmen coming from a strong middle school program among a talented group of newcomers.
Girls: The Falcons lost only one of their seven D-III State Meet runners to graduation and have consistently been towards the top of the D-III standings. Bow finished runner-up to powerhouse Monadnock last year and runner-up in 2013, while finishing third in 2014 and 2012.
Teams to beat: Boys: Kearsarge, Mascenic, Prospect Mtn; Girls: Monadnock
Division: III
Coach: Jaclyn King (2nd year)
Last year: Boys: 24th; Girls: 20th
Returning athletes: Boys: Zach Camp, so.
Girls: Shannon Thomes, sr.; Ruth Robinson, jr.; Adanja Minard, so.
Top newcomers: Girls: Elizabeth LaBier, 8th grade
Outlook: With only five girls and seven boys on the roster, each squad will barely be able to field a scoring team, the teams will focus on individual goals, mainly getting as many runners under 25 minutes for 5k as possible. Both the boys and girls have individuals who competed at D-III States last year.
Division: III
Coach: Rob Rothe (1st year)
Last year: Boys: 6th; Girls: 7th
Returning athletes: Boys: Simon Doneski, jr.; Aidan Molnar, sr.
Girls: Catie McGlashan, jr.; Bin-Bin Schell, sr.
Top newcomers: Boys: Shepyrd Murdough, fr.
Girls: Sydney Stockwell, fr.; Lily Sabol, fr.; Emma Rothe, fr.
Outlook: The Hawks look to a year of rebuilding after losing the top performers on both the girls’ and boys’ teams and getting a new coach. The boys’ lost two-time defending D-III runner-up Dom Repucci and the girls’ lost the defending D-III individual champion Sarah Nadeau to graduation. The girls look to strengthen their roster with three members coming up from the middle school team that won the Middle School Small School title last year and Coach Rothe is eager to see how they will develop at the varsity level. On the boys’ side, Murdough rises from the top of the middle school ranks to help bolster the varsity squad. The Hawk boys also return Doneski, who qualified individually for the Meet of Champions last season.
Division: III
Coaches: Peter Angus and Ernie Brake (14th year)
Last year: Boys: D-III champion; Girls: 5th
Returning athletes: Boys: Tim Cunningham, sr.; Mason Benedict, jr.; Aidan Brooks, jr.; Andrew Shepard; Carl Betz, sr.; Eric Scheuch, sr.; Grant Croft
Girls: Cerys Wheatley, jr.; Maddie Cook, sr.; Annie Carr, jr.
Top newcomers: Boys: Hunter Burns, jr.; Hayden Christensen, fr.
Girls: Maggie Lee, sr.; Jenna Bears, fr.; Mya Dube, fr.
Outlook: Boys: The Cougars return their entire varsity lineup that won Kearsarge’s first ever cross country title by a single point last season. Cunningham, Brooks and Shepard all finished in the top 20 last year in D-III The distance runners were a key part of the Cougars’ D-III outdoor track title this past spring and also have seen strong improvement from the younger runners.
Girls: With their entire top three returning, the Cougars are hoping to match or better their fifth-place finish from last season in order to qualify for the Meet of Champions.
Teams to beat: Boys: Mascenic, Monadnock; Girls: Bow, Campbell, Monadnock