Drew Thompson & Julia Robitaille Best in New England
Pinkerton Academy girls claim team title, while Xavier, CT is the best on the boys' side.
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Julia Robitaille a junior from Manchester West, NH was all smiles as she crossed the finish line at the 2017 Girls' New England XC Champion. Robitaille who didn't win her state meet in NH, ran a new course record of 17:31.65 despite the cool temperatures. Her time was 17 second better than the previous course record of Cassie Hintz set in 2004. Her winning margin was nine seconds over Eleanore Lawlor of South Kingstown, RI.
The last two weeks Julia Robitaille ran in the shadows of Jacqueline Gaughan in the New Hampshire state meet & then Meet of Champions, finishing second each time.
On Saturday she stuck with the lead pack throughout two miles before putting the pedal down with a mile to go. No one was able to match the juniors acceleration as she pulled away for a nine second victory.
She was all smiles as she crossed the finish line.
"It doesn't feel real, I didn't have expectations, I just wanted to run fast." the champion said.
Her winning time 17:31.65 was the fastest ever run on the Troy Howard Middle School course breaking the 13 year old course record of Cassie Hintz.
"Anything can happen in any race, so I just wanted to keep believing in myself" Robitaille said of running in the shadows of Gaughan in New Hampshire.
That belief certainly paid off in a big way as she captured her first New England title.
After a balmy fall, cool temperatures and a raw wind met the best in New England. For Robitaille that meant wearing a long sleeve shirt under her jersey and a pair of gloves.
South Kingstown senior & Syracuse bound Eleanor Lawler has been a model of consistency in her four years of high school. On Saturday she earned her fourth straight All-New England honors, and her second New England runner-up finish (10th in 2014 & 4th in 2016). Lawler who clocked 17:40.55 was also under the old course record.
Portsmouth, RI's Nikki Merrill sprinted her way to a third place effort (17:50.68) with Wilton, CT senior Morgan McCormick right behind in fourth (17:50.80). Kate Wiser a freshman from Pomperaug, CT rounded out the top finish at 17:53.16
Defending champion Jacqueline Gaughan was next in sixth followed by Emily Kane of La Salle Academy. Next was Elizabeth Sullivan of Portsmouth, RI in 8th while Randi Burr of Westerly, RI was 9th. Rhode Island had 5 of the top 9 individuals.
Maine freshman Sofie Matson of Falmouth nabbed 10th.
In the team competition New Hampshire stood tall as Pinkerton Academy took the title by twenty points over Bishop Guertin. For Pinkerton they were led by Meghan Cross in 22nd & Jordan Vaillancourt in 31st.
Glastonbury, CT was third with Champlain Valley of Vermont in 4th followed by Souhegan, NH in fifth
Top 25 Girls All-New England
1 Julia Robitaille JR Manchester West NH 17:31.65 2 Eleanor Lawler SR South Kingstown 17:40.55 1 3 Nikki Merrill JR Portsmouth HS - RI 17:50.68 2 4 Morgan McCormick SR Wilton CT 17:50.80 5 Katherine Wiser FR Pomperaug CT 17:53.16 3 6 Jacqueline Gaughan SR Exeter NH 18:06.50 7 Emily Kane SR La Salle 18:08.84 4 8 Elizabeth Sullivan JR Portsmouth HS - RI 18:09.22 5 9 Randi Burr SR Westerly HS - RI 18:14.61 10 Sofie Matson FR Falmouth - ME 18:17.30 11 Caroline Fischer SO Bishop Guertin - NH 18:20.02 6 12 Jane Leighton SR Souhegan NH 18:22.11 7 13 Meredith Bloss JR Guilford CT 18:33.65 8 14 Lauren Robinson JR Milford NH 18:34.76 15 Haley Schmitt SO Bishop Guertin - NH 18:36.52 9 16 Grace Connolly SR La Salle 18:37.04 10 17 Addison Cox FR Coe-Brown NH 18:40.04 11 18 Una Treanor SR Smithfield Hs-Ri 18:40.89 19 Danielle Slavin SR Oyster River NH 18:41.03 12 20 Delaney Bullock SR Putney School VT 18:43.44 21 Angela Saidman JR Immaculate CT 18:43.69 22 Meghan Cross SO Pinkerton NH 18:43.73 13 23 Grace Iltis SO Camden Hills - ME 18:43.78 14 24 Kylie Raymond SO Somers CT 18:44.95 25 Corinne Robitaille JR Manchester West NH 18:45.82
Top 10 Girls Teams
1 Pinkerton NH 163 13 16 27 39 68 100 174
Total Time: 1:36:34.93
Average: 19:18.99
2 Bishop Guertin - NH 183 6 9 15 40 113 135 176
Total Time: 1:36:08.25
Average: 19:13.65
3 Glastonbury CT 212 22 23 30 53 84 92 136
Total Time: 1:37:59.28
Average: 19:35.86
4 Champlain Valley VT 215 24 25 47 49 70 90 112
Total Time: 1:38:08.05
Average: 19:37.61
5 Souhegan NH 236 7 20 29 77 103 140 159
Total Time: 1:37:40.33
Average: 19:32.07
6 La Salle Academy - RI 238 4 10 51 63 110 114 149
Total Time: 1:37:13.51
Average: 19:26.71
7 Coe-Brown NH 239 11 32 38 78 80 126 160
Total Time: 1:38:04.81
Average: 19:36.97
8 Danbury-CT 251 17 19 59 71 85 86 168
Total Time: 1:38:24.07
Average: 19:40.82
9 Portsmouth HS - RI 279 2 5 21 106 145 169
Total Time: 1:37:12.12
Average: 19:26.43
10 Pomperaug CT 293 3 26 56 66 142 150 164
Total Time: 1:38:21.93
Average: 19:40.39
Drew Thompson of Fairfield Prep, CT dominated the field after the halfway point at the 2017 New England XC Championship. The senior bound for Dartmouth won in a strong tim of 15:18 considering the blustery and muddy conditions at the Troy Howard Middle School course in Belfast Maine. His winning margin was 32 seconds.
Drew Thompson came to Belfast with a plan, and he executed that to a tee on Saturday as he romped to a thirty two second victory to win the New England Cross Country Championship. The 32 second margin matched Alex Ostberg's winning margin in 2014, almost unheard of for the caliber of competition seen at a New England Championship meet.
"My plan was to go out hard, as that's my strength" Thompson said after the race.
After the 400m mark Thompson assumed the pacing duties up front with Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth in tow. At the halfway point Thompson's strength really showed as the Dartmouth bound senior started to open up a gap.
By the two mile mark that gap continued to grow and Thompson was well on his way to victory.
Thompson who is undefeated on the season will next run in the Footlocker Northeast Regional at Van Cordlandt Park in New York in two weeks, a year ago he earned the final spot to Footlocker Nationals in San Diego, and based on how well he has run so far a repeat trip is well within reach.
Riley Fenoff of Danville Vermont had a bounce back race after finishing fifth in the Vermont State meet a couple of weeks ago after entering the favorite. Fenoff used that performance for fuel on Saturday, and with 400m to go knew he was going to be top 5.
"I looked up and saw second place, and figured why not go for it"
The burly Fenoff did just that powering his way across the line in 15:48.45, a new personal best.
Cheshire, CT senior Brendan Murray was next in 15:51.15 with sophomore Max Dimuccio of La Salle Academy crossing in 4th at 15:52.32.
Rounding out the top five was Benjamin Seiple of Staples, CT in 15:53.13.
Connecticut dominated the top 10 with six athletes. Robert Dillon of Shelton, CT was sixth followed by Christian Myers of Staples.
Maine's Luke Laverdiere struggled home to finish eight after running second for 4,600m of the race. He was followed closely to line by Maximillian Sparks of Canton, CT.
Deering's Yahya Nure had a tremendous run to place tenth, Nure was third at the Class A meet two weeks ago, he clocked a new personal best 16:01.23.
The team race was dominated by Connecticut as well. Xavier tallied 74 points to outdistance rival Staples by 29 points. The two teams tied for the Connecticut State Open title last week, with Xavier earning to win with a better 6th runner.
Xavier packed its scoring five between places 12-31, the were led by junior Dillon Selfors (16:02.03 -12th) & senior Owen Curran (16:02.32 -13th). They averaged 16:11 as a team with an impressive 18 second pack time.
1 Drew Thompson SR Fairfield Prep-CT 4:55.1 15:16.66 1 2 Riley Fenoff SR Danville School VT 5:05.3 15:48.45 3 Brendan Murray SR Cheshire-CT 5:06.2 15:51.15 4 Max Dimuccio SO La Salle 5:06.6 15:52.32 2 5 Benjamin Seiple SR Staples-CT 5:06.8 15:53.13 3 6 Robert Dillon JR Shelton-CT 5:07.3 15:54.51 7 Christian Myers SR Staples-CT 5:07.9 15:56.47 4 8 Luke Laverdiere SR Yarmouth - ME 5:08.9 15:59.70 9 Maximillian Sparks SR Canton-CT 5:09.3 16:00.81 10 Yahya Nure SR Deering - ME 5:09.4 16:01.23 5 11 William Landowne SR Staples-CT 5:09.6 16:01.73 6 12 Dillon Selfors JR Xavier-CT 5:09.7 16:02.03 7 13 Owen Curran SR Xavier-CT 5:09.8 16:02.32 8 14 Forest MacKenzie JR Concord NH 5:09.9 16:02.75 9 15 Joe Pearl SR Manchester-CT 5:10.0 16:03.03 16 David Vorbach SR Nashua North NH 5:10.2 16:03.69 10 17 Trey Cormier JR Hall-CT 5:10.6 16:04.87 11 18 Alec Troxell JR Deering - ME 5:10.8 16:05.64 12 19 Henry Farrington SO Essex VT 5:11.1 16:06.32 13 20 Aidan Tierney JR BishopHendricken 5:11.2 16:06.73 14 21 Killian McNamee SO Tolland-CT 5:11.4 16:07.49 22 Alex Mocarski SR Fairfield Warde-CT 5:12.4 16:10.48 15 23 Robbie Cozean SO Xavier-CT 5:13.3 16:13.13 16 24 Jake Winslow JR Exeter NH 5:13.4 16:13.65 25 Stephen Looke SR U-32 VT 5:13.5 16:13.88 17
1 Xavier-CT 74 7 8 16 21 22 55 74
Total Time: 1:20:57.41
Average: 16:11.49
2 Staples-CT 103 3 4 6 37 53 54 76
Total Time: 1:21:04.49
Average: 16:12.90
3 Bishop Hendricken HS - RI 126 14 19 28 29 36 39 41
Total Time: 1:21:44.32
Average: 16:20.87
4 La Salle Academy - RI 159 2 26 40 45 46 48 79
Total Time: 1:22:00.92
Average: 16:24.19
5 Concord NH 202 9 24 47 60 62 90 93
Total Time: 1:22:39.30
Average: 16:31.86
6 Fairfield Warde-CT 212 15 27 31 68 71 92 115
Total Time: 1:22:49.51
Average: 16:33.91
7 Fairfield Prep-CT 224 1 33 50 58 82 179 197
Total Time: 1:22:09.22
Average: 16:25.85
8 Haddam-Killingworth-CT 266 18 34 44 69 101 128 149
Total Time: 1:23:29.70
Average: 16:41.94
9 Hall-CT 328 11 42 56 75 144 151 194
Total Time: 1:24:01.65
Average: 16:48.33
10 U-32 VT 343 17 65 70 78 113 152 159
Total Time: 1:24:20.98
Average: 16:52.20