Last week, Maddy Lane finished second at the Meet of Champions to Alexis Paterna. At New England’s, Lane returned the favor.
The two runners were shoulder-to-shoulder heading into the final straightaway to the finish line and Hopkinton’s Lane outkicked Exeter’s Paterna to claim the New England Interscholastic girls’ cross country championship on Saturday at Thetford Academy in Thetford, Vt.
Lane clocked an 18-minute, 29.29-second 5K race, 0.11 seconds ahead of Paterna.
Lane led the Hawks to 18th as a team, the fifth-best program from the Granite State.
Sophomore Maisie Emerson (64th, 20:47), junior Rose Afflerbach (195th, 23:01), and freshmen Elli Gregory (198th, 23:05) and Hannah Clarner (213th, 23:27) also scored for Hopkinton.
Concord junior Mahalie Burdette (124th, 21:35) was the only other local competitor in the girls’ race.
Champlain Valley, Vt. (89 points), Cumberland, R.I. (121) and Hanover (179) were the top three teams, with the Hawks scoring 505 points.
On the boys’ side, the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy Bears finished fourth in New England with 269 points, trailing champions Bishop Hendricken, R.I. (58), Pinkerton (87) and Greenwich, Conn. (214).
Portsmouth, R.I. senior Sean Gray won the individual title in 15:53.13.
Concord senior Josiah Conley (17th, 16:52) was the top local finisher in the boys’ race, followed by several Bear runners.
Sophomore Patrick Youngs (50th, 17:27), junior Ben Jobin (78th, 17:46), freshman Broden Cox (89th, 17:53), sophomore Ben Larson (90th, 17:53) and freshman Mateo Ferguson (111th, 18:03) scored for Coe-Brown.
Hopkinton sophomore Max Goupil (17:59) and Concord sophomore Spencer Clemans (18:00) finished 107th and 108th, respectively.