PENACOOK – The Capital Area Cross Country Championship annually serves as a final gauge for local teams before the division championships. If Thursday’s results are any indication, area runners should do very well.

Concord junior Josiah Conley won the boys’ 5K race in 15 minutes, 48.22 seconds, Hopkinton sophomore Maddy Lane defended her title in 18:37.82, and St. Paul’s School swept the team titles at the 47th annual Capital Area Championships hosted by Merrimack Valley High School.

Conley and Kearsarge senior Daniel Dalbec led the boys’ race from the start, with Conley overtaking Dalbec just before the mile marker and laying the hammer down in the second mile to pull away. Conley ended up winning by a comfortable margin of 37 seconds over runner-up Owen Gorenc (16:25) of St. Paul’s.

“It’s always a fun race before states,” Conley said, referring to the division championships which will be held for all three divisions on Saturday at Derryfield Park in Manchester. “It’s good to get my confidence up. I’ve been sick the last couple of weeks, so it’s good to test where I am now and to see where I am compared to last year.”

Conley finally claimed a crown after finishing as runner-up as both a freshman and sophomore. He ran a 16:43 last year, narrowly trailing last year’s champion Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis (16:39), who ran for Gilford but now attends Phillips Exeter.

Concord freshman Spencer Clemans finished third in 16:32 and Dalbec came in fourth in 16:40, but St. Paul’s placed six runners in the top 10 to easily take the team title.

Gorenc, Linus Krenkel (fifth, 16:47), Andrew Carroll (sixth, 16:53), Ian Chang (eighth, 17:26), Chappy Carroll (ninth, 17:30), Langston Williams (10th, 17:31) and Daniel Hong (16th, 18:06) formed the winning squad, successfully defending its title with 30 points.

Concord (70), Bow (93), Hopkinton (135) and Merrimack Valley (158) rounded out the top five of the boys’ team standings, with John Stark (178), Newfound (222), Pembroke (225), Kearsarge (227), Belmont (236), Inter-Lakes (242) and Bishop Brady (254) also competing.

Ethan Harmon (20th, 18:26), Maximiliano Jimenez-Calderon (21st, 18:27) and Colby O’Brien (26th, 19:15) were the other scoring runners for Concord.

“We’re a really young team,” Clemans said. “Three of (our top seven), including me, are freshmen. We’ll develop as we get older. I think we’re strong and have a chance (individually) at making (Meet of Champions).

Wyatt Worcester (11th, 17:31), Thomas Sargent (14th, 17:50), Sam Kohl (19th, 18:21), George Kohl (22nd, 18:39), Jack Noce (28th, 19:16) and Zachery Ingram (29th, 19:16) led Bow in its third place effort.

Newfound’s Colin Foster (seventh, 17:06) and Wyatt Towne (24th, 19:09), Inter-Lakes’ Isaac Nudd-Homeyer (12th, 17:35); Hopkinton’s Max Goupil (13th, 17:48), Finnegan Kovar (27th, 19:15) and Andrew Clarner (31st, 19:27); John Stark’s Austin Patenaude (15th, 17:52), MV’s Ben Geoffroy (17th, 18:07) and Tony Wang (23rd, 18:47), Pembroke’s Caleb Saturley (18th, 18:21), Gilford’s Gunnar Marvel (25th, 19:10), Belmont’s Wyatt Divers (30th, 19:22) and Bishop Brady’s Jorge Guerra (32nd, 19:31) were the other top runners.

Girls

For the first time since 2011, Concord was finally dethroned. 

Lane led the race from gun to tape, taking her usual approach of going out fast and holding the lead. Senior teammate Shaylee Murdough was second in 19:39, but St. Paul’s Aedyn Kourakos (19:48) and Brooks Boyd (20:00) came in third and fourth, and the Big Red’s other scoring runners all finished in the top 17 as St. Paul’s edged Hopkinton for the team title, 43-46.

Concord (79) finished third, ending a streak of 11 consecutive Capital Area titles. Gilford (103), Newfound (142), MV (155), John Stark (184), Bow (201), Belmont (249) and Kearsarge (273) completed the girls’ team standings.

Mackenzie Barrette (ninth, 20:43), Olivia Blanchard (11th, 20:50), Bela Friedman (17th, 21:23), Alexandra Cabot (26th, 22:14) and Patalie Viprakasit (30th, 22:42) were the other runners for St. Paul’s.

“I wanted to get out and win, and run under 19 minutes,” Lane said, whose time of 18:37.82 is closing in on the meet record time of 18:22 and is significantly faster than her winning time last year, 19:16. “We’re in a really good spot. We’re looking to win (Division III) for sure. We wanted to win this race, but our team is in a good spot. We have a lot of solid runners.”

In addition to Lane and Murdough, Hopkinton had strong races from Maisie Emerson (10th, 20:49), Reese Bove (14th, 21:06), Amelia Walsh (21st, 21:29), Evelyn Hopper (39th, 24:00) and Lucy Beardmore (41st, 24:13).

“The girls are exactly where they need to be as we wrap up our regular season,” Hopkinton coach Rob Rothe said. “They have peaked at the right time and are going into the championships in really good form. We had some really good times today and even a (personal record), which is great for this course given the ravine which breaks up their momentum on an otherwise flat course.”

It’s been an impressive regular season, for sure. Lane won all but two races. Neither of the two runners who have beaten her (Bedford’s Mikita Barry and Oyster River’s Mackenzie Cook) compete in D-III. Hopkinton is also undefeated as a team against all other D-III opponents.

Quinn Doherty (sixth, 20:18), Shelly Smith (seventh, 20:22), Bella Komorek (20th, 21:27), Phoebe Dater-Roberts (25th, 21:57), Clover Doperalski (27th, 22:21), Gianna Gualtieri (29th, 22:27) and Madeleine Short (31st, 22:42) ran well for third-place Concord.

Gilford’s Maria Tilley (fifth, 20:02), Georgia Eckhardt (12th, 21:02) and Alana Sawyer (18th, 21:24); Bow’s Hannah Pawlowski (eighth, 20:26) and Lena Thompson (28th, 22:24), John Stark’s Anna Chasse (13th, 21:03), Proctor Academy’s Catherine Vierzen (15th, 21:09), MV’s Madison Geddes (16th, 21:10) and Lily Moser (24th, 21:54), Pembroke’s Caitrin Bergeron (19th, 21:25), Newfound’s Ceili Irving (22nd, 21:48) and Emerald Briggs (23rd, 21:51), Kearsarge’s Anna Lizotte (42nd, 24:15) and Belmont’s Jenna Laramie (46th, 24:35) were the other top runners.