MANCHESTER – Kearsarge had top-10 finishes from Aidan Brooks (fifth, 16:59) and Andrew Shepherd (10th, 17:04) and six runners in the top 36, but Monadnock had three runners in the top 10, including individual champion James Elmour (16:36) as the Huskies dethroned the Cougars, who were unable to defend their Division III boys’ crown.

Monadnock (64), Kearsarge (94), Mascenic (136), Derryfield (147) and Campbell (151) qualified for next weekend’s Meet of Champions with top-five finishes.

“We knew it was going to be a battle between (Kearsarge), Monadnock and Mascenic and it was. We just happened to come up a little short at the end. They ran great, Monadnock, I take my hat off to them,” Kearsarge Coach Ernie Brake said.

Hopkinton junior Simon Doneski was the boys’ runner-up in 16:45.

On the D-III girls’ side, Belmont sophomore Alice Riley was crowed the individual champion with a winning time of 19:57. The Cougars (151) were the only local team to advance on the girls’ side, joining champions Campbell (100), runner-up White Mountains (121), Monadnock (138) and Moultonborough (168) in the top five. Bow (172) finished sixth, just missing the cut.

The Kearsarge have a deeper roster and more speed at the back half of their varsity lineup than Monadnock, but the Cougars didn’t have the legs up front to keep up with Monadnock’s Elmour, Braeden Huot (17:01) and Dawson Adams (17:03), who finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

“Monadnock is very strong up front. Their top-three runners hurt us,” Brake said.

Mason Benedict (23rd, 17:46), Tim Cunningham (25th, 17:49), John Cunningham (32nd, 18:01), Hunter Burns (36th, 18:13) and Carl Betz (70th, 19:18) also competed for Kearsarge.

“We had a strong season and everything was looking good leading up (until states),” Betz said. “I think today a couple kids had off races. But you win some, you lose some. Some kids were off, but some kids were better. It was just that roll of the dice for us. We’re excited for next weekend at Meet of Champions.”

Betz, Shepherd and Tim Cunningham are the only three seniors in the varsity lineup, which has plenty of young talent that weren’t in the top seven.

“We’re hoping to keep this roller coaster going,” Brake said. “We’ve built something here and we’d like to keep it going.”

The Kearsarge girls had two freshmen – Mya Dubie (16th, 21:15) and Jenna Bears (26th, 21:59) – in their top three with senior Maggie Lee (18th, 21:27) helping the Cougars improve over last year’s fifth-place finish. Kearsarge’s Maddie Cook (23:11) and Annie Carr (23:11) finished 46th and 47th, respectively.

Belmont’s Riley got off to a quick start, staying in a pack of runners just behind the leaders, Moultonborough’s Sare’ Campbell (second, 20:24) and Mascenic’s Samantha Bilodeau (third, 20:28).

“I’m really excited about it,” Riley said. “You go out on the field and you don’t know who is having a good day, who is having a bad day, who the freshman surprise is going to be. So I wanted to stick with the leading pack and make a move.”

Riley’s mark of 19:57 was the first time she has ever broken 20 minutes for a 5K and smashes the 20:30 she clocked in her fourth-place finish last season.

“We had a good game plan going into it,” Belmont Coach Aaron Hayward said. “Her strength is more on the hills than on the flats and downhills and we trained for that all season. Executed the game plan perfectly. She blew the race apart starting at the mile mark, that middle mile is where she earned it.”

Hopkinton’s Doneski also turned in a strong performance on the boys’ side, running his best of the season and a far cry from his 21st-place finish he ran at states last year.

Similar to Riley, Doneski stayed in a pack just behind the leaders – Elmour, Campbell’s Jeffrey Allen (third, 16:52) and Mascenic’s Jake Movessian (fourth, 16:54) and made a move in the final mile.

“This still feels kind of like a dream to me,” Doneski said. “It was the race of my life. I was just feeling it. I could see the second-place guy was so close. I was hurting, but I thought, ‘I need this’ and I caught him in the end.”

The top 23 individuals in D-III also qualified for next weekend’s Meet of Champions. Belmont’s Ian Remenar (11th, 17:14) and Nick Randons (20th, 17:42), Inter-Lakes’s Ian Daly (12th, 17:15), Winnisquam’s Kyle Mann (16th, 17:31) and Bow’s Robert Ciotti (22nd, 17:43) were the local boys who qualified. On the girls’ side, Hopkinton freshman Emma Rothe (fourth, 20:33) and Sydney Stockwell (seventh, 20:45), Inter-Lakes’s Maya Weil-Cooley (11th, 20:50), Bow’s Sarah Ciotti (17th, 21:22) and Sohani Demian (19th, 21:34) and Laconia’s Delia Cormier (23rd, 21:41) advanced.

Belmont (eighth), Bow (ninth), Hopkinton (10th), Inter-Lakes (11th), Gilford (12th), Laconia (15th) and Winnisquam (16th) rounded out the other area boys’ teams in the 23-team field. Bishop Brady competed, but did not score.

Hopkinton (eighth), Belmont (10th), Inter-Lakes (11th), Gilford (12th), Laconia (17th), Bishop Brady (18th) and Winnisquam (21st) rounded out the area girls’ teams.