MANCHESTER – If you were just looking at the results, it would appear it was business as usual. But the Hopkinton girls’ cross country team’s journey to its third straight Division III title was anything but.
In the end, the results of Saturday’s championship worked out as expected. Senior Hannah Bennett finished second, clocking a 20 minute, 9 second 5K on the Derryfield Park course, sophomore teammate Shaylee Murdough finished fourth in 20:26 and five Hawk runners placed in the top 25.
While the Hawks are undefeated against D-III opponents in the past two years; injuries, fallen runners and a visit to Urgent Care all preceded Hopkinton’s acceptance of its championship plaque on Saturday.
“Bit of a crazy day for us actually,” Hopkinton head coach Rob Rothe said. “Obviously we’re all happy we came away with the win. A little bit of drama towards the end of the season for us.”
The Hawks were already without one of their scoring runners – senior Clara Locke – due to shin injuries, when Rothe received word on Friday morning that Bennett had woken up at 1 a.m. on Friday morning and gone to Urgent Care, less than 36 hours before the championship
She received the medical care she needed, but was still waking up in pain on Friday night, now just hours away from the race.
“I have an ear infection. Everything ended up working out fine and I’m feeling a lot better, but it was very painful and I was worried about how that might affect the race,” Bennett said. “I ended up feeling a lot better than I was expecting to. My race strategy went to plan.”
Two-time defending champion Brianna Malone of Portsmouth Christian defended her title in 19:16, while Bennett settled in behind her, holding off third-place finisher Molly Ellison (20:20), a junior at Kearsarge Regional.
Junior Elizabeth Trafton (15th, 21:24), seniors Elizabeth Clarner (22nd, 22:16) and Audrey Davies (29th, 22:30), and sophomores Amelia Walsh (39th, 23:05) and Reese Bove (74th, 25:22 despite taking a fall on the course) comprise the rest of the champion squad.
“There was a lot going on, but it just shows you they’re fighters,” Rothe said. “They really are, especially this year. That team dynamic that they’ve always had and been able to maintain over the years has been tremendous in keeping them going.”
Hopkinton won with 66 points, less than the incredibly low score of 40 the Hawks posted to win in 2021.
Mascenic (82), Conant (85), Monadnock (95) and Kearsarge (132) rounded out the top five girls’ teams to qualify for next Saturday’s Meet of Champions at Alvirne High School.
It was the closest margin of victory Hopkinton has had during this championship streak, but that speaks to the depth of the Hawks’ roster.
Trafton, Davies and Walsh were all runners typically on the bottom half of Hopkinton’s varsity ladder that stepped up on Saturday, as they have all season.
Trafton especially, “really moved up this year,” according to Rothe. “She really scored some major points for us and helped pull the team along. It’s nice to have that depth. We had it, and we needed it this year. … We had some pleasant surprises. Strong dynamics keeps that team always moving along. Incredible synergy always helps. Overall, I’m super proud of their effort.”
This championship is particularly special to the seven senior Hawks, who make up half of the entire roster.
“Next year will be an entirely different year, so this was a big year for us,” Rothe said. “Nice to get that win, really big win for (the seniors).”
Kearsarge will also be joining Hopkinton at MOC. Amelia Lefebvre (23rd, 22:16), Kylin Frenkiewich (24th, 22:18), Ellie Wimer (43rd, 23:25) and Laela Moran (54th, 24:07) joined Ellison as the scoring runners.
Alyssa Edgren (41st, 23:07), Rebekah Edgren (46th, 23:28) and Adeline Takantjas (73rd, 25:17) were the top runners for 12th-place Belmont (303).
Bishop Brady’s Alyssa LaValley (45th, 23:27) and Ellizabeth McKinney (53rd, 24:03), Hillsboro-Deering’s Kylie Crowe (27:28) and Winnisquam’s Abigail Osmer (114th, 30:02) were all the top runners for their non-scoring teams.
On the boys’ side, Gilford senior Patrick Gandini cruised to his third consecutive state title, winning in 15:28.5, setting a new Division III record. He finished 1:18 ahead of the runner-up, Portsmouth Christian’s Jonas Teeter.
Trinity (61) won the team title, followed by Gilford (149), St. Thomas (158), Fall Mountain (164) and Mascenic (192) in the top five.
Despite struggling to field the required five runners to earn a team score on a regular basis, the Hopkinton boys (seventh, 253) weren’t that far from MOC qualification thanks to outstanding races from juniors Ben Daniels (fifth, 17:29) and Matt Clarner (sixth, 17:33), who qualified individually.
Liam O’Rourke (49th, 19:12), Ben Normand (103rd, 21:06) and Anthony Cauley (108th, 21:16) also scored the for the Hawks, who Rothe expects will be very strong next year thanks to a talented and large incoming freshman class of runners, whereas he expects the girls’ team may struggle for numbers.
Kearsarge (eighth, 254) was led by senior Matt Berns (11th, 17:45) and sophomore Daniel Dalbec (16th, 17:58), who qualified for MOC thanks to top 20 finishes, while Quinton Cloutier (70th, 19:54), Eli McCarthy (74th, 19:59) and Gareth Richer (101st, 21:04) were the other scoring runners.
Belmont (13th, 309) was led by Wyatt Divers (29th, 18:36), Baidyn Lewis (58th, 19:29), Brayden Townsend (61st, 19:39) and Tanner McKim (67th, 19:49); and Bishop Brady (20th, 503) was led by Jorge Guerra (94th, 20:59) and Paul Badau (99th, 21:03).
Greg Leblanc (134th, 23:01) and Dylan Allard (144th, 24:01) ran for non-scoring Hillsboro-Deering and Winnisquam, respectively.