For the fourth straight year, both of Coe-Brown’s cross country teams will be competing at the New England Championships. Both squads, along with the Concord boys’ team, qualified for New Englands by placing in the top six at Saturday’s Meet of Champions at Mines Falls in Nashua..
The Coe-Brown girls saw their five-year MOC title streak snap at the hands of Souhegan, but the Bears largely inexperienced squad still surpassed expectations by qualifying for New Englands for the ninth straight season.
The Concord boys finished second to earn a berth to New Englands after missing the cut by one spot last year, while the Coe-Brown boys finished fifth for the second year in a row.
“This group of girls overachieved and ran phenomenally. We felt they actually ran an improved performance over last week, especially given their experience,” Coe-Brown Coach Tim Cox said. “They’re definitely not overwhelmed. They’re very excited about competing against the best in New England.”
The Bears were led by senior Alli Pratt who finished ninth in 18:29, holding the same place as last season, but ran 15 seconds faster than she did at MOC last year. Fellow veteran runner Sarah Dupuis (22nd, 18:55) and last year’s JV champion Elly McDonough (33rd, 19:28) also ran well. A pair of rookies, freshman Abby O’Connor (44th, 19:47) and soccer player turned distance runner Hannah Daly (47th, 19:47) rounded out the scoring. Raven Barnes (75th, 20:42) and Autumn Graham (88th, 21:05) rounded out the Bears’ varsity seven.
The Bear boys didn’t run exactly the race they wanted and were hoping to finish a couple of places higher in the team standings, but led by senior River Groves (15th, 16:14), Coe-Brown still had all five scorers run under 17 minutes.
“River once again was locked in the whole week,” said Cox. “He kind of flies in the face of our training program. He didn’t run much over the summer because he completed basic military training.”
Tanner Richards (23rd, 16:24), Evan Tanguay (28th, 16:31), Zach Richards (44th, 16:43), Davio Deluca (54th, 16:49), Gabe Deely (87th, 17:16) and Trista Jardon (105th, 17:38) also competed for the Bears.
“They’re a little disappointed,” Coach Cox said. “A couple of guys struggled in the second half of the race. They’ll be pretty hungry next week to do well.”
The Concord boys, on the other hand, did the opposite. After finishing the regular season undefeated against Granite State teams, the Tide lost the D-I title last weekend to Pinkerton by a paltry four points. The Tide finished second to Nashua North by seven points Saturday, but every Concord runner ran a personal best and the entire team ran under 17 minutes for the first time this season.
“It was a pretty good rebound from last weekend,” Concord Coach Tristan Black-Ingersoll said. “Losing caused them to reflect a little more on what parts of the process they gotten away from. Being willing to steer away from conventional wisdom and focusing on what works well for us helped them improve this week. We were able to recalibrate the training process. When everybody runs a personal best, you can’t say that they could’ve done any better. Everybody ran faster than they ever ran.”
The Tide were led by their usual top three, sophomore Mackenzie Forest (10th, 16:06), senior Jamie Wilkes (11th, 16:07) and junior Ollie Spencer (21st, 16:18). Sophomore Eli Boesch-Dining (26th, 16:28) and freshman Ryan Devine (39th, 16:42) rounded out the scorers with juniors Alex Duncan (48th, 16:46) and Matthew O’Brien (65th, 16:57) also running well.
Nashua North (84), Concord (91), Keene (115) Pinkerton (124), Coe-Brown (139) and Oyster River (135) were the top six boys’ teams while Souhegan (89), Pinkerton (119), Coe-Brown (127), Bishop Guertin (137), Alvirne (144) and Merrimack (172) were the six girls’ teams to advance.
New Englands will be next Saturday in Ponaganset, R.I., on a course with rolling hills that, “fits us well,” Cox said. “It’s a great course for New Hampshire teams.”
The Kearsarge boys finished 11th overall and were the second-best D-III team (D-III champion Monadnock finished seventh), while the Merrimack Valley (12th), Kearsarge (15th) and Concord (16th) girls were the other local teams to compete.
The top 25 individuals in each race also qualified. Both races saw MOC records fall with Oyster River’s Patrick O’Brien’s time of 15:03.4 breaking the old mark of 15:07.8 and Exeter’s Jackie Gaughan’s time of 17:14.6 smashing the previous record of 17:28.
Hopkinton’s Simon Doneski (12th, 16:10) was the top D-III runner in the boys’ race, while MV’s David Reynolds (33rd, 16:39) missed qualifying by 12 seconds.
MV’s Kristie Schoffield (13th, 18:44) also qualified on the girls’ side, while Belmont’s Alice Riley, the D-III individual champion once again was the fastest D-III girl in the race, finishing 36th in 19:31.