Cross country: Hopkinton, Lane cruise to titles; H-D’s Bodanza wins XC first crown in school history
Published: 10-27-2024 8:15 AM |
MANCHESTER – Last year, the Hopkinton girls’ cross country team was undefeated, but fell just shy of its ultimate goal. This year, the Hawks finished the job.
Sophomore Maddy Lane easily defended her title, senior Shaylee Murdough (third) and freshman Maisie Emerson (sixth) stayed with the lead group, and the Hawks placed five runners in the top 19 to emphatically reclaim the team title after finishing runner-up last year.
Hillsboro-Deering sophomore Elijah Bodanza won the boys’ race, making it a Capital Area sweep of the individual crowns, and bringing home the first ever cross country title in H-D history.
Hopkinton had won three straight titles heading into last year’s championship, but fell to Mascenic by 13 points. This year’s wasn’t a shocking victory, the Hawks were ranked No. 5 in a New Hampshire Cross Country preseason poll out of the entire state, let alone D-III, and held that position the entire season, but last year’s underperformance was top of mind.
“Falling short (last year) was hard on (the team) and they remembered it,” Hopkinton head coach Rob Rothe said. “They watched the replay last night during our pre-race feast. It’s their pre-championship (tradition) that they do. They came today to bring it on and left it all out there. I couldn’t be any prouder. They were exactly where they needed to be going into this. They had a good mindset about it.”
Lane, the overwhelming favorite, took a big lead from the starting gun and was never challenged, finishing the 5K Derryfield Park course in 19 minutes, 39.6 seconds.
Mascenic junior Erin O’Shea was 54 seconds behind and Murdough took the bronze with a time of 20:59.
“It sets (Lane) up well for next week (at Meet of Champions) that she didn’t have to put the hammer down the entire time,” Rothe said. “But whether she’s running alone or fighting, she’s still going to leave it all out there.”
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Lane confirmed that “a lot of planning” went into her strategy for her pacing on Saturday, with New Englands looming in two weeks.
Murdough continued her breakout season, following up her Capital Area runner-up performance with a Derryfield Park season-best time.
“She’s team captain this year, she’s taken on a lot of responsibility, pushing the girls and helping them along, keeping that culture alive,” Rothe said. “She’s driven herself. We’ve got four seniors in this group of girls. Super happy for them to end their high school career this way.”
Murdough added, “(Winning the championship) was the main goal starting the season and it’s nice to know we accomplished it. We came together to perform the way we knew we could.”
Emerson, daughter of Franklin Pierce University cross country and track and field director Zach Merson, sat out the middle of the season due to an injury, but has returned with a vengeance over the last three weeks, sticking with a pack of elite runners to grab sixth.
Seniors Reese Bove (14th, 22:38) and Amelia Walsh (19th, 23:00) cracked the top 20, and senior Evelyn Hopper (51st, 25:09) and sophomore Lucy Beardmore (61st, 26:30) ran well for the champion Hawks.
The top five teams and 25 athletes from all NHIAA divisions will compete at the MOC on Saturday at Alvirne High School. From there, the top six teams and 25 runners from each race will earn a spot at this year’s New England championship a week later at Wickham Park in Manchester, Conn.
“It’s really nice to see how we’ve all grown,” Murdough said. “Our goal is to run at New Englands. We ran there our freshman year and we’re looking to make it a full circle.”
Hopkinton (30 points) easily topped the standings with Gilford (71), Newfound (109), Newmarket (129) and Sanborn (186) also qualifying.
Belmont (sixth, 218), Kearsarge (13th, 285), Winnisquam (16th, 430), and Bishop Brady (no team score) were the other area teams that competed.
Jenna Laramie (33rd, 24:26), Clemence Lhermitte (65th, 26:52), Lyla McSheffrey (67th, 26:55), Hailey Clermont (68th, 27:00) and Riley Degange (80th, 28:06) scored for Belmont.
Anna Lizotte (58th, 26:07), Daphne Henrichsen (63rd, 26:35), Riley Raynes (83rd, 28:35), Ainsley Frenkiewich (94th, 29:32) and Chester Holl (106th, 30:16) led Kearsarge.
Bishop Brady’s Aleah Ryan (99th, 29:55), and Winnisquam’s Natalie Wolfe (113th, 30:51), Bella Dalzell (118th, 31:03), Penelope Sprague (133rd, 33:34), Elise Langevin (135th, 35:06) and Ariana Maxwell (143rd, 39:25) also competed.
Bodanza was in the lead pack with Mascoma’s Gunner Currier and Kearsarge’s Daniel Dalbec at the start of the race and through the first mile. He fell back during the second mile and had a bit of a gap to make up over the third.
But Bodanza executed his game plan perfectly, using his blazing kick down the stretch to break the tape and claim Hillsboro-Deering’s first ever cross country title.
Bodanza clocked a 16:41.8, with seniors Currier (16:52) and Dalbec (16:58) claiming silver and bronze.
“He has a gear that no one else on this course has,” H-D coach James McCabe said. “He can just turn it up that last half mile, he goes at a speed that you don’t usually see in these races. We just made sure he stayed in the top pack until that last half mile and then he turned on the jets and started flying. … He’s an incredible runner and incredible athlete all together.”
“I came into the race (coming off) a little bit of an injury I was working through,” Bodanza said. “I was trying to forget about that and focus on, hopefully, winning the state championship. … I wanted to bring one home for my coach and athletic director who have supported me.”
Mascoma (74 points) won its first ever team championship, with Mascenic (111), Newmarket (139), Portsmouth Christian (139) and St. Thomas (145) rounding out the top five boys’ teams.
Hopkinton freshman Max Goupil (ninth, 18:19) is the only other area athlete to qualify for MOC on the boys’ side.
Hopkinton (sixth, 194), Belmont (13th, 355), Bishop Brady (15th, 379), Kearsarge (19th, 22:17), Winnisquam (20th, 463) and H-D (22nd, 536) were the other local team scores.
Andrew Clarner (42nd, 20:08), Finnegan Kover (47th, 20:23), William Shepard (52nd, 20:35) and Michael Crosby (61st, 20:53) joined Goupil as Hopkinton’s other scoring runners.
Wyatt Divers (40th, 20:03), Brayden Townsend (66th, 21:07), Sean Andrews (82nd, 21:52), Jack Crockford (84th, 21:54), and David Tripp (113th, 23:01) led Belmont.
Jorge Guerra (57th, 20:46), Earl Mitchell (58th, 20:48), Lee Putman (62nd, 20:57), James Horangic (100th, 22:37) and Calen Chaudhair (131st, 23:55) were Bishop Brady’s top five.
Dalbec, Zach Hattan (73rd, 21:14), Clay Perrault (111th, 23:00), Austyn Hoegler (114th, 23:06) and Cooper Hedderig (169th, 27:09) were Kearsarge’s top five runners, while Winnisquam’s David Swain (39th, 20:00), Owen Bakis (96th, 22:31), Cullen Desrochers (98th, 22:36), Lazar Arbutina (128th, 23:45) and Lucas Durphey (140th, 24:31) led the Bears.
Bodanza, Brennan Klumb (90th, 22:10), Keegan Poland (132nd, 23:58), Louis Neal (173rd, 27:41) and Logan Willett (186th, 30:30) were the scoring runners for H-D.