The Andover Cross Country team started practicing everyday the week before school started. It started to feel like forever until our first meet but it finally arrived on September 19 at Merrimack Valley. The teams at the meet were Merrimack Valley, Andover, Bow, Henniker, Hopkinton, Winnisquam and Gilford. There was a lot of nervous excitement but the team did an excellent job!
The boys race was a perfect example of team running. The Andover boys top 5 all ran within 40 seconds of each other. They placed 37, 39, 40, 41, 42. Their average time of 15:34 was just 12 seconds off the best ever Andover team average for a meet. Andover was led by Elliot Norris with a time of 15:08, followed by Lagan Salathe in a personal best 15:30, Jason Koziol in 15:34, Camryn Perkins was next in 15:43 and Wyatt King was 5th in 15:44. The second pack of Andover runners was led by Drew Croteau (17:08) followed by Caleb Warzocha (17:41). Finishing things up for Andover were Colin Coolidge (19:47) and Dante Mori (20:11).
The girls race featured defending State Champions Hopkinton who return 3 of their top 5. The race got off to a fast start with Sophia Reynolds going to the lead and staying there to extend her winning streak in dual meets. Her winning time of 12:42 was a personal best by 11 seconds. Second for Andover was Arie Perry in 15:33, followed by Trinity Delaney in 16:22. Arie and Trinity ran amazing races, Arie running a faster second mile and Trinity starting off strong and still finishing fast. Delaney Young finished 4th for Andover in a time of 20:09 running smartly the whole way. Alexis Plante rounded out the top 5 in a personal best of 23:14. Running smoothly in 6th was Olivia Gline. The battle for 7th on the team was close but Emily Hackman won out over Grace Plante. Closing things down for the team was Chloe Colby who ran a consistent race all the way through. The meet was won by Hopkinton with 24 points, Andover finished 6 (of 7) with 142 points.
The Andover team is extremely young, mostly 5th and 6th graders this year. With that in mind we took just few runners to the Manchester Invitational three days later. Manchester is the biggest middle school race in the state and can be very intimidating for young runners so we left most of our team at home. The girls race was probably the largest girls race that will take place anywhere in the state for middle school cross country this year with 313 finishers. It featured most of the returning top 10 from last years Large and Small School State Championships. Andover had Sophia and Arie running. The course loops Derryfield Park two and half times.
Andover was on the extreme left end of the starting line. At the start Sophia and Arie did a great job of getting to the front of the field and settling. When the race came around the park and back down for lap 2, Sophia was in the second group in 6th place and Arie was solidly in the top 100. Lap 2 features a long climb to the highest point in the park followed by a long descent with a final hill to the finish. As the race came down for the final time the defending State Champ from Northwood had a solid lead followed by a group of 3 ,then another group of 3, that included Sophia. Sophia put the pressure on up the hill to the finish and got 5th place (second among runners in our States Division). A couple minutes later Arie rounded the finish tree and started the sprint up to the finish. She passed about 10 girls to finish 123rd but more importantly she was the 3rd fastest 5th grader in the race!
The boys race was also the largest that will happen this year with 443 finishers. The boys ran solidly. Elliot and Lagan lined up and stayed on the edge of the pack as they moved up the hill. They were comfortably in the main group of runners. The winner of the race came back down the hill by himself to win comfortably in a time just under 12 minutes. He happened to be the 6th grade younger brother of the the winner of the girls race. Elliot also passed several boys in the final straight to finish 204th. A couple minutes later Lagan rounded the tree and ran strongly to the finish despite a cold and not feeling his best.
Next up was a trip to Hopkinton. In previous trips it has been hot and humid or rainy, this year was a perfect day for running. In addition to the perfect weather Hopkinton has a new course created by Franklin Pierce College for an NCAA Divisional Championship in November. The middle schoolers got to run 3000 meters of the multi loop course that will be used for that meet. Normally we run 2 miles so 3 k is a little shorter than we’ve been running.
The girls were up first on the new course. Sophia led the way running strong but comfortably and winning in a time of 12:10. She was followed by Arie and Trinity running great together and finishing 15:24 and 15:25. They were followed by Braeden and Delaney also working together and only separating a little at the end to finish in 18:29 and 18:39. Everyone in the top 5 ran the second half of the race faster than the first and Sophia ran a Personal Best at Hopkinton (adjusted to 2 miles). Alex ran her best time by 8 minutes at Hopkinton. Grace was close behind Alex in her best effort of the year. Emily and Chloe ran together, encouraging each other and working together all the way through.
In the boys race the plan was to run as a group and they did a spectacular job. The gap from the first on the team to the last was 3:24. The gap from 1 to 5 was 1:30. That is fabulous team running. Combine that with 30 second improvements for almost everyone and the boys are coming together. The boys were led by Jason in 14:46, followed by Lagan and Elliot in 15:07 and 15:08. Right on their heels was Camryn in 15:22 and the breakout performance of the day from Dante in 16:15. Rounding out the team and keeping close to the pack was Wyatt in 16:30, Caleb in 16:59, Drew in 18:18 and Colin in 18:35.
Our last two meets were home with Newport and Mount Royal and at Kearsarge with Newport and Mount Royal. At our home meet the number of athletes was small enough that we ran a combined boys and girls race. Sophia led the way again winning in a course record time of 12:52. She was followed by personal bests on our home course by everyone who had run it before: Alexis, Elliott, Lagan, Caleb, and Colin. The Kearsarge meet went much the same way. The big thing we got to experience at Kearsarge was some single track which we’ll face again at the State meet in Northwood.
The last meet of the season will be held on October 22 in Northwood. It’s the Division III Middle School State Championship.
Andover has had great individuals on the teams now and in the past. This is the first year that we are starting to see the teamwork that makes Cross Country an amazing sport. The goal is to create a “Long Blue Line” of runners working together as a team. Once the team is working together they inevitably get faster and it will show in the team scoring.