MANCHESTER – Aidan Cox’s plan was to see how he felt and help his team. He ended up winning two state championships.
Despite spending the majority of the season healing and recovering from an injury, the Coe-Brown junior and state record holder defended his title – clocking a 15:54 5K time – and led the Bear boys to their fourth consecutive D-II team title and their seventh in the last eight years.
The soggy trails and damp conditions at Derryfield Park didn’t hamper the performances of the area runners, as the Hopkinton girls also continued their dynasty, placing five runners in the top 15 for the most decisive team performance of the day. The Hawks tallied the lowest score of the day with 40 points – 61 better than runner-up Monadnock – to defend their D-III title and win their third in the last four years.
Facing a much more parity in D-I than in past years, both Concord teams – led by D-I boys’ runner-up Zach Hooper – finished second, while Bishop Brady senior Katie Palmateer was the runner-up individual in the D-III girls’ race.
The Coe-Brown girls’ (third) and both Bow Falcon teams (boys and girls both finished sixth) all extended their seasons and qualified for next weekend’s Meet of Champions at Nashua’s Mines Falls Park, along with several area runners.
It might look like it was easy on paper, but the journey for the Coe-Brown boys to repeat was anything but.
Senior Lars Hogne (fourth, 16:31), junior Tyler Tkaczyk (sixth, 16:42), sophomore Jamie Lano (10th, 16:59), junior Gavin Demas (22nd, 17:40), and sophomores Liam McLean (27th, 17:49) and Maxwell Lemay (46th, 18:29) turned in solid performances to complement Cox’s victory, leading the Bears to a low score of 43 points.
Windham (84), Hanover (99), Oyster River (121), Sanborn (153) and Bow (158) rounded out the top six teams that advanced to MOC.
“This was a really difficult win,” said Coe-Brown co-head coach Brent Tkaczyk. “There were a lot of things we had to work through.”
“Aidan and Lars are the only holdovers and then you have five other brand new kids,” said co-head coach Tim Cox, Aidan’s father. “This is their team and they made their mark and they did a phenomenal job.”
Last year, Aidan had his cousin Luke Tkaczyk to go out aggressively with, but this year required a different approach. Unsure of how he would hold up physically in competitive racing conditions, Cox stayed in the back of the lead pack of five runners and pulled ahead in the second mile, eventually finishing with a 11-second victory over runner-up Harriman Birhanu of Lebanon (16:10).
“It was definitely an adjustment,” Aidan said. “I’ve had Luke all my life, I trained with him in every workout last year and this year we had a completely different team. That just made today more special that we were able to come together at the right time and perform.”
Tyler Tkaczyk – coach Brent Tkaczyk’s son – stepped up to fill in his older brother Luke’s shoes and No. 5 Demas played a huge role, closing the gap on No. 4 Lano.
“Hats off to (Demas),” Cox said. “He’s our fifth guy and there’s a lot of pressure there. We told him he just needed to finish 30th and he finished 22nd.”
Oyster River placed four in the top 10 to win the girls’ team championship with 47 points.
Souhegan (72) – led by two-time individual champion Chloe Trudel in 19:06 (she was also the 2019 champion) – the Sabres finished second, followed by the Bears (97), Kennett (127), Windham (182) and Bow (183) in the top six.
Junior Sheldyn Fisher (fifth, 20:09), sophomore Bella Lemay (10th, 20:40), junior Natalie Sicard (21st, 21:25), sophomore Kassidy Taylor (29th, 21:45) and junior Mallory Taylor (35th, 22:08) – who spent the season recovering from a broken ankle sustained in the spring – were the Bears’ scoring runners.
“Good golly. The girls ran out of their minds,” coach Cox said. “Sheldyn and Bella set the tone and were right up there. We just wanted them to run as a team and they executed beautifully today. Hats off to Sheldyn, her goal was top five and she got top five. Bella’s goal was to run with Sheldyn.”
Elsewhere in D-II, the Bow girls qualified for MOC for the first time since 2015 and both Bow squads qualified in the same season for the first time since 2013.
The girls’ race for the final team spot came right down the wire, with fifth-place Windham (182), Bow (183) and seventh-place Lebanon (184) separated by just two points.
Junior Maya Brochu (seventh, 20:19) was the top finisher for the Falcons, with fellow junior Susanna Zahn (24th, 21:28) and freshman Lena Thompson (53rd, 23:04) picking off enough runners to give Bow the edge for the final spot.
Juniors Leigh Rudduck (31st, 21:57) and Delia Brochu (76th, 21:14) were the other scoring runners for the Falcons.
Seniors Adem Aricanli (19th, 17:36), Michael Pelletier (32nd, 18:00), Connor Bernard (34th, 18:11) and Lincoln Routhier (34th, 18:11), and sophomore Owen Miller (38th, 18:14) ran well as a pack for the Falcon boys.
Merrimack Valley senior Sophia Reynolds (fourth, 19:58) and Kearsarge sophomore Molly Ellison (13th, 20:44) qualified for MOC individually leading Kearsarge (249) and MV (256) to ninth and 10th in the team standings.
John Stark’s Brianna Langdon (45th, 22:42) and Pembroke’s Abigail Duchesne (52nd, 23:03) led their teams to 14th and 15th, respectively.
For the boys, John Stark sophomore Eli Lemire (14th, 17:28) and Kearsarge junior Matt Berns (16th, 17:30) both qualified for MOC, with Kearsarge senior Gavin Garzia (28th, 17:50) just missing the top-25 cut.
Kearsarge (11th), Pembroke (12th), John Stark (14th) and Merrimack Valley (18th) rounded out the other capital area D-II teams.
Colby Despres (43rd, 18:21) led Pembroke and Mark Mercier (76th, 19:54) led MV.
The Hopkinton girls (40 points) were even more dominant this year, besting last year’s score of 67.
Junior Hannah Bennett (third, 20:01) improved significantly upon last year’s 22nd-place finish, while seniors Cailey Stockwell (fifth, 20:31) and Anna O’Reilly (seventh, 20:39), freshman Shaylee Murdough (10th, 21:06) and junior Clara Locke (15th, 22:03) scoring for the Hawks, with freshman Amelia Walsh (21st, 22:29) and junior Ava Rothe (32nd, 23:13) displacing opposing runners further down the lineup.
“We came in ranked as the favorite, but you can never take anything for granted,” Hopkinton head coach Rob Rothe said. “In 2019 we came in strong, but lost by four points.”
The 2019 race, more so than 2020, was what the Hawk girls focused on.
“We’re so excited,” said Stockwell. “Especially after we got beat sophomore year, we wanted redemption. We’ve liked working together this year, training and trying to stay together (in races). Clara is our fifth runner and she really stepped up and stayed with us.”
Portsmouth Christian’s Brianna Malone won the individual title in 19:23, with Palmateer finishing second in 19:50 for 11th-place Bishop Brady, running neck-and-neck with Bennett most of the way.
“That was my Derryfield Park personal best,” Palmateer said. “(Brianna) took the lead right from the start, so my plan was to stick with her and see what I could do off of that.”
Monadnock (101), Conant (127), Campbell (157) and Newmarket (162) rounded out the top five girls teams, while Mascenic (94), Newfound (115), Monadnock (135), Fall Mountain (146) and Conant (153) were the top five for the boys.
Gilford’s Patrick Gandini (16:35) cruised to the boys’ title, with Hopkinton sophomores Ben Daniels (fourth, 17:44) and Matt Clarner (10th, 17:53) qualified for MOC.
The Hawk boys (218) finished eighth, with John Horangic (60th, 20:11) leading Bishop Brady (16th) and Baidyn Lewis (67th, 20:25) leading Belmont (19th).
Michael Denslow (44th, 19:35) led Hillsboro-Deering and David Swain (72nd, 20:21) led Winnisquam, which didn’t have enough runners to score.
The Belmont girls (ninth) were led by Alyssa Edgren (29th, 22:49) and Brianna Harlow (48th, 24:20) led non-scoring Winnisquam.
Seniors Zach Hooper (16:14.5) and Sam Hilts (16:14.8) finished second and third overall for the Crimson Tide boys, and sophomore Alina Pincoske (fourth, 19:51), junior Molly Nyhan (10th, 20:04) and freshman Shelly Smith (11th, 20:07) led the Concord girls, but the Bishop Guertin boys (58) and Keene girls (75) ran even better, snapping a streak of Tide championships.
Keene’s Torin Kindopp (16:04) won the boys’ race, while Hooper led the field at the 1,000-meter mark and edged Hilts in a sprint to the finish.
“You can’t win them every day,” Concord boys’ coach Zach Procek said. “The guys, they put in some work today. A lot of progression, a lot of personal bests and course bests, so I’m happy with how they ran. (Bishop Guertin) worked for it today. We tried our hardest to make them work for it, but (BG) made it happen.”
Senior John Murphy (13th, 17:12), sophomore Tyler Watt (30th, 17:44) and senior Jon McDonald (33rd, 17:51) also scored for the boys, while senior Abby Goulas (26th, 21:00) and freshman Phoebe Dater-Roberts (37th, 21:28, a 51-second personal record) scored the girls.
“I’m super proud of them. I couldn’t have asked them to race any harder or any better,” Tide girls’ coach Ally Davis said.
Concord (81), Pinkerton (104), Londonderry (139), Exeter (164), Keene (173) and Nashua South rounded out the top seven boys teams, while Concord (88), Dover (106), Bedford (133), Winnacunnet (143), Exeter (149) and Bishop Guertin (150) are the top seven girls’ teams going to MOC.