On Saturday, the area high school cross country teams will compete for their respective division titles and chances are very good there will be at least one local champion. Chances are also good there will be more than one.
The two-time defending champion Concord boys, the undefeated Coe-Brown boys, the perennial powerhouse Coe-Brown girls and the undefeated Hopkinton girls are all looking to defend their titles at Derryfield Park in Manchester on Saturday.
There’s plenty of local contenders for individual titles as well, with Merrimack Valley’s Sophia Reynolds and Kearsarge’s Mya Dube back to defend their D-II and D-III girls’ titles, respectively. MV freshman phenom Sophia Rebenciuc has already won multiple invitationals (including last week’s Capital Area Championship) and the Concord and Coe-Brown boys’ teams have a slew of runners challenging for the top prize.
Regardless of how it all plays out, there is no shortage of local intrigue in Saturday’s cross country division championships. Here are some of the most compelling local storylines, sorted by division in the order they will compete on Saturday.
The Coe-Brown boys are the undisputed best cross country team in New Hampshire. The Bears earned New Hampshire Cross Country’s top spot in the preseason rankings (compiled weekly by coaches across all three divisions to determine rankings of top 10 boys’ and girls’ teams in New Hampshire) and have held No. 1 all fall. The Bears are undefeated against all teams they have faced, including some of the best in New England and in the country, beating nationally-ranked Bishop Hendricken from Rhode Island at the Manchester Invitational at Derryfield Park on Sept. 21.
The Bears have set some high goals for themselves, such as winning the New England title and advancing to the Nike Nationals, but have to get through Division II first and have respect for their divisional opponents.
Coe-Brown has used a fluid and balanced team to dominate its opponents this season. Senior Dawson Dubious, junior Luke Tkaczyk and freshman Aidan Cox have all crossed the line first for the Bears at some point this year, while juniors Wyatt Mackey and Carter Sylvester have also had strong seasons and provided a huge advantage for the Bears in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in the lineup. It isn’t out of the question that any of the five could win the individual title, either.
The greatest challenge to Coe-Brown, the defending champions and winners of four of the last five D-II team titles, is Oyster River, which won in 2017. The Bobcats are led by Andy O’Brien, Myles Carrico and Owen Fleischer, who are also the Bears’ biggest competition for individual titles.
Also in the hunt for qualification to the Meet of Champions (the top six teams and 25 individuals in D-II advance) is the dark horse team from Bow. Led by the strong trio of Colin Lessard, Ben Neff and Gabe Neff, the Falcons finished sixth at the Manchester Invitational, second (behind Oyster River) at the Plymouth Invitational and third at the Capital Area Championship (behind Concord and St. Paul’s). Expect Bow to challenge some of the top teams in the division.
As if having one freshman phenom last year wasn’t enough, the Merrimack Valley girls’ team has another one this year in Rebenciuc, joining Reynolds, now a sophomore. Between the two Sophia Rs, the Pride have two serious D-II title contenders and senior Emma York gives MV as strong a top three as any team in the division.
With Coe-Brown’s top runner, junior Addison Cox not at 100 percent recovery from an injury, the Bear girls don’t have the same strong front runners as MV does. However, Coe-Brown senior Abby O’Connor won the Battle of the Border Invitational on Oct. 5 and has emerged as another elite runner on the Bears’ deep and talented roster that also includes freshmen standouts Sheldyn Fisher and Mallory Taylor, and juniors Tessa Millette, Miranda Compton and Samantha Lemay.
Both programs also have incredible coaching staffs (Dave Irving and Sandu Rebenciuc at MV and Brent Tkaczyk and Tim Cox at Coe-Brown) that have cultivated multiple team and individual champions over the last several years.
However, the battle between elite runners versus depth might be a moot point since the Souhegan girls, led by title contender Chloe Trudel, have been ranked No. 1 by New Hampshire Cross Country since halfway through the season.
Other top area runners in D-II who could crack the top 25 are Bow’s Maya Brochu and Delia Brochu, and John Stark’s Brianna Langdon.
Both Concord cross country teams entered the season with question marks.
For the boys’ team, the question was how the Tide would respond to new coach Zach Procek and the loss of Forest MacKenzie (two-time D-I champion) and Eli Boesch-Dining, Concord’s leaders over the last two championship seasons.
For the girls’ team, there were a lot of unknowns with several freshman joining the varsity ranks.
Both teams had some disappointing results earlier in the season, but have come on strong at the end, highlighted by sweeping the Capital Area titles last week.
Capital Area champion, junior Eben Bragg, classmate Brayden Kearns and seniors Ryan Devine and David Cook are threats for the D-I individual crown.
Senior Vose O’Sullivan, junior Ryan Ciesluk and sophomore Sam Hilts round out Concord’s varsity runners, giving Procek a deep roster to choose from.
With the Tide sweeping the top 14 spots in the Capital Area JV race and three of those runners finishing in under 17 minutes, Concord is possibly even deeper than the past two years.
For the Tide girls, freshmen Alexis Christie, Sophie Hopkins and Molly Nyhan fit right in to the varsity lineup, joining juniors Morgane Orcutt and Katie Watt, sophomores Katherine Kennedy and Abby Goulas, and senior Katy McCoy in a formidable team that finished second at the Black Bear Invitational and Wickham Park Invite to out-of-state teams.
Despite boasting a strong program, neither team is the favorite to win the D-I title.
Bishop Guertin (led by last year’s champion and runner-up, Caroline Rischer and Carolien Towle) is still ranked above the Concord girls, while the Tide boys trail Keene, Londonderry and Pinkerton in the rankings, but don’t be surprised if either Tide team outperforms its ranking.
The Hopkinton girls’ team is undefeated against D-III opponents and has defeated all but the most elite New Hampshire programs in D-I and D-II.
Senior Emma Rothe leads a group with a tight pack time that includes fellow seniors Sydney Stockwell and Lily Sabol, junior Cate Westbrook, sophomores Anna O’Reilly and Cailey Stockwell, and freshman Hannah Bennett.
The greatest challenge to the Hawks will be Kearsarge, led by defending champ Dube, Jenna Bears and Lili Baer.
In their previous meeting at the Jeri Blair Invitational, Kearsarge finished 1-2-4, yet Hopkinton still claimed the team title by 23 points.
Speaking of depth, the Hopkinton boys’ team, led by Shepyrd Murdough, Michael Eggers-Emerson and Theodore Mollano, don’t have a clear No. 1 runner, but the Hawks do have five who can finish in the 18-minute range – and could challenge defending champion Mascenic.
Other area runners in contention for MOC qualificatioN (top 20 individuals and top five teams in D-III) are Winnisquam’s Faith Gosselin and Bishop Brady’s Abby Shagena on the girls’ side, and Kearsarge’s Ed Stowell and Winnisquam’s Riley Mann and Dylan Robert for the boys.