Cross country: Oyster River, Pinkerton girls shine at New Englands
Nov. 15—Patrick O'Brien is a new coach but he knows what he had this season was a rarity.
O'Brien, who just finished his first year leading the Oyster River High School cross country team, knows it's not often runners as talented as Mackenzie Cook and Haley Kavanagh are on the same team.
"Usually in New Hampshire, when you have an athlete of that caliber, they're probably doing most of their workouts completely alone," said O'Brien, a former Oyster River star who also ran at Dartmouth College. "To have a training partner that can run with you pretty much every workout and be up there with you in the races — it's special to have two athletes of that caliber."
Cook and Kavanagh, both juniors, led an Oyster River girls team with one senior among its top seven runners to the NHIAA Meet of Champions team title and a runner-up finish at the New England Championships.
Oyster River, which went undefeated in the regular season and won the NHIAA Division II title, placed four runners in the top 20 at the Meet of Champions, held at Alvirne High School, to finish with 61 points. Hanover (81 points) and Pinkerton Academy (82 points) rounded out the top three teams.
Kavanagh (17 minutes, 56.36 seconds), who co-captained the Bobcats alongside senior Talia Banafato, was the individual runner-up. Cook (18:01.62) finished just behind her in third place.
Kavanagh (11th place, 18:21.3) and Cook (19th, 18:34.18) were also Oyster River's top finishers at the New Englands, held at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, Maine, where the team finished with 130 points. Nationally ranked Champlain Valley Union of Vermont won the meet with 97 points.
"Mackenzie is one of the most consistent, steady, strong runners I've ever seen," O'Brien said. "She shows up, brings it every single race. Haley Kavanagh struggled a little bit earlier on in the season but kept a great attitude and mindset and improved over the course of the season like we knew she would and showed up really big when it mattered the most at MOCs getting second and New Englands getting 11th."
Oyster River was among three New Hampshire girls teams that finished in the top five at the New Englands. Pinkerton took third with 198 points. Hanover finished fifth with 247 points.
Senior Contessa Silva led Pinkerton at the New Englands with her 21st-place finish in 18:35.98. Freshman Sookie Folsom was the next Astro to finish, taking 27th in 18:43.53.
Silva (eighth, 18:21.24), Folsom (11th, 18:27.3) and senior Isabelle Groulx (13th, 18:40.85) all finished among the top 15 at the Meet of Champions. They were among six Astros to set personal-best marks that day, the others being sophomores Kalisan Marzolf (22nd, 19:10.08), Parker Knowlton (38th, 19:52.15) and Sarah Rzasa (103rd, 21:51.54).
Pinkerton girls coach Jon Alizio said Silva and Groulx, both captains, have been the model of consistency over their time in the program. They also served as mentors this fall to Folsom, who excelled at the middle school level, he said.
"We would have plans (the) beginning of the season like, 'Hey, Sookie, just run with Tess and Izzy,'" Alizio said. "I had a meeting with Sookie (Tuesday) and she expressed that it was comforting for her to have those girls run with her in the front pack because she was not used to having any teammates with her ever in her running career ... Their support can't be overstated, for sure."
Sophomore Lea Perreard was the standout for the Hanover girls at both the MOC and New Englands.
One week after winning the individual D-II title at Derryfield Park in Manchester with a time of 18:48.8, Perreard won the Meet of Champions race in 17:50.91.
Perreard was also the top New Hampshire female finisher at the New Englands, taking seventh overall in 18:08.16 on a muddy course.
Orono (Maine) senior Ruth White won the girls race in 17:12.25.
As past Hanover greats like Heidi Caldwell and Georgia Griffin did, Perreard adopted the strategy this fall to come out strong, grab the lead early and then maintain a gap on the field, Bears coach Eric Picconi said.
"She absolutely is a bold starter," Picconi said. "That worked absolutely perfectly throughout the whole season and at Meet of Champs. With New Englands, she knew that Ruth White was going to be the champion so her strategy was just to stay in front of every New Hampshire and every Vermont girl and that's exactly what she did ...
"When she puts her mind to something, she's not going to give an inch."
The Division II champion Hanover boys also finished runner-up at Meet of Champions and were the top New Hampshire team at New Englands with their fourth-place finish (255 points). Lucian Gleiser, a senior, was the Meet of Champions boys individual runner-up with his time of 15:20.05.
Bishop Guertin junior Matthew Giardina won the Meet of Champions boys race in 15:11.68. Division I champion Nashua South (78 points) won the boys team title, finishing 16 points ahead of Hanover.
At the New Englands, Gleiser (92nd, 16:49.8), freshman Ben Groves (49th, 16:26.79) and juniors Andrew Valentino (55th, 16:28.76) and Ryan Faris (79th, 16:45.29) all placed among the top 100.
Keene sophomore Sullivan Sturtz (fourth, 15:41.39) was the top New Hampshire boys finisher at the New Englands. Nashua South was the only other New Hampshire boys team in the top 10, taking seventh with 282 points.
Picconi said the Hanover boys and girls teams' finishes at the Meet of Champions and New Englands provided vindication to their efforts and approach this season.
"It's a testament to this group being willing to put in the hard work and working together and always being positive about the next race," Picconi said of his teams that have a combined 60 runners.
"It's a group that doesn't see themselves as individuals."
