Manchester
The Marauder boys and girls both advanced to next weekend’s Meet of Champions after finishing third and sixth, respectively, at Saturday’s NHIAA Division II state meet in Manchester.
Three Hanover runners — Leila Trummel (eighth among the girls), Elsa Nordstrom (16th) and Morgan Baughman (14th among the boys) — qualified by virtue of top-25 finishes even before team results were announced at Derryfield Park.
Baughman (17 minutes, 5 seconds) was thrilled with a group effort that paved the way for the Marauders to compete en masse on Saturday at Mines Falls Park in Nashua.
“Last year, I ran at the Meet of Champs and I qualified for New Englands from there,” Baughman said. “It was a really good year, but I think this year it’s really just about the team and getting them there as well.”
The senior reflected further when asked to describe what’s different about Hanover’s current squad.
“The guys are definitely a lot closer,” Baughman said. “Last year, we kind of had some standouts and we tried to include everyone, but everyone was really running at the level we were expecting from them. This year, for some reason, it just all came together. All the guys are running together, dropping fast times. It’s a good thing.”
Simon Herron finished 26th with a time of 17:34. The Hanover senior crossed the finish line with teammates Daniel Bandler (27th) and Jack Lynch (28th) on his heels.
“We’ve had pretty good luck with that throughout the year, coming together as a pack,” Herron said. “Which is great because it means that if one of us doesn’t do so well, everyone else is there.”
Coe-Brown’s Evan Tanguay won the D-II boys race in 16:19. Manchester West’s Julia Robitaille was the fastest girl at 17:52, a D-II state meet record. Oyster River won the boys championship with 51 points. Souhegan won the girls title with 62 points.
Hanover coach Eric Picconi liked what he saw on Saturday, particularly out of his boys team, which improved on last year’s eighth-place finish. The Marauder girls were third last year.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Picconi said. “We’ve sort of been bubbling up and bubbling up. I think the seniors had some leadership, which really trickled down to the boys, and it just sort of clicked this year. … (It’s) a group that’s not afraid to challenge themselves, to get out front. Like if you saw the beginning of the race, they sort of surged out front and settled in. That’s not something we’re used to, but it worked today.”
Hanover’s Trummel (19:36) improved on her 11th-place finish a year ago despite a grueling pace at the outset of her race.
“The people who I was trying to run with just like went out so fast,” Trummel said. “I kind of stuck with them, so I feel like I went out too fast.”
The Lebanon girls (15th place, 413 points) were led by senior Grace Furlong in 22nd place with a time of 20:43.
“It boosts my confidence a little bit,” Furlong said of being Lebanon’s top finisher. “And (younger teammates) told me that they look up to me. I feel overwhelmed with happiness to know that I made a mark, so when I leave, they can take up their own mark and be the leader for someone else.”
Furlong, who ran for Hartford High before transferring to Lebanon, found it easy to get swept up in Saturday’s fast pace. “The first mile just kills me because I just always take it out too hard,” she said.
Lebanon’s top boy was sophomore Cody Davis, who ran an 18:03, good for 41st place. The Raider boys took 11th overall with 287 points.
Raiders coach Kevin Lozeau also spoke to Saturday’s fast start, which was characteristic of state meets.
“The key thing is everyone always goes out super hard for the first mile, and then the second mile starts going straight uphill,” Lozeau said. “A lot of people, they go out really hard because it’s states, then they hit the hill and they blow up. But if you run it smart, you have a long downhill in the third mile, and you can just make up all the time you back off in the first mile.”