Nov 10, 2010

76th New England HS XC Championship Boys Meet Preview

Top Teams

Vermont: Mt. Mansfield Union HS won the Boys Div 1 title by two points over St. Johnsbury Academy. They'll have home course advantage which should be a positive. Mt. Mansfield averaged 18:20, being led by 4th place finisher Jack Hegman (17:42). St. Johnsbury Academy will be looking to be the top team from Vermont after falling two points shy at the state meet. For St. Johnsbury they are led by Hayden Burnell (3rd), who was one of the 4 runners to break the 18 minute barrier running 17:41.

Maine: Class A champion Scarborough is the top team from Maine, they rolled over all competition the last month of the season on their way to a 5th state title in the last 7 years. The Red Storm will be shooting for a top 10 finish, which would be an all-time best for the school. The Red Storm are led by Class A State champion Nick Morris, the team averaged 17:07 with their victory at the state meet. Class B champion Caribou was the 2nd best team in the combined scores from the three classes at the State meet. The Vikings averaged 17:20 on their way to the state title, Caribou is led by senior Christian Sleeper who was 4th in the Class B Individual race.

New Hampshire: Manchester Central won the NH meet of champions last weekend by 36 points over Bishop Guertin. The previous week the Little Green won the Division 1 state title over Pinkerton by just 4 points. Leading the way from Manchester Central is senior Samuel Gagnon (2nd at MOC & Div 1 states). Key to the success of the Little Green at the NHMOC was a pack time 1-5 of just 54 seconds, they also averaged 16:09 on the the fast 5k course, the previous week on the famed Derryfield Park course they averaged 16:32. They will look to contend for the top spot this weekend. Bishop Guertin rebounded from a 4th place finish at the Division I meet two weeks by claiming the runner-up spot at the MOC. The Cardinals are led by one of the individual favorites Jeff LaCoste, who won the MOC by 27 seconds running 15:07, LaCoste also won the previous week at Derryfield Park clocking a fast 15:31. BG averaged 16:15 at the MOC, in 2009 they were the runner-ups by 1 point. Pinkerton Academy was the runner-up to MC at the Div 1 meet by just 4 points but finished just 6th at the MOC. Look for the Astros to rebound as #1 runner Anthony Anzivino (4th at Div 1) 15:54 placed 91st at MOC, with him running close to where he was at the state meet Pinkerton probably places 2nd at MOC, last fall they were 3rd in the NE meet.

Rhode Island: Two of the best teams in New England come from RI. Powerhouse Bishop Hendricken claimed the RI All-State Championships by 2 points over rival Lasalle Academy (77-79), previous week BH scored a 8 point win at the RI Class A State Meet. Hendricken is the defending New England champions. The team averaged 16:28 at the Ponaganset XC course in their win, just 2 seconds better than the 16:30 average from Lasalle. The teams are pretty evenly matched, although BH was better than Lasalle at 4 of the top 5 positions, Lasalle's #3 runner gives them a legit shot to overtake them in the NE meet. Hendricken is led up front by individual contender Ryan Meehan (2nd) 15:37, while Lasalle is led by Zachary Fraielli (3rd) 15:48. Look for these two teams to be in contention for the title this weekend.

Connecticut: The top team in CT this fall has been Tolland HS. The Eagles dominated at the Class M State Championship scoring just 33 points, they placed all 7 runners in the top 21, including 4 in the top 7. At the State Open championship they won their first ever title scoring a 22 point win over Guilford, led by a 1-3 finish of seniors Bryan Fowler (15:50) & Trevor Lafontaine (16:06). Guilford the Class MM State champions dominated the rest of field with 28 points to win two weeks ago, they placed 5 runner sin the top 13. At the State Open last week they were 22 points behind Tolland, getting a solid effort from Jeff Moretti (8th) 16:25. Tolland will look to match -up with the top teams in NE this weekend and keep their magical season going

Individuals

Rhode Island All-State champion Robert Allen (Cranston West-Photo, left, by Rick McCulloch, RITrackXC.com) comes into the meet ranked #13 in Milesplit's super 50 Individual rankings. Allen clocked the #2 time ever on the challenging Ponaganset XC course with his 15:30.86, being only 2008 champion Andrew Springer's 15:14.05. Allen finished 7th in 2009. Also watch out for the RI runner-up Ryan Meehan (Bishop Hendricken), Meehan ran an impressive 15:37 last weekend. Meehan was on the winning team last year placing 53rd. NH MOC champion Jeff Lacoste (Bishop Guertin) is another title threat. Lacoste blitzed the field at the NH MOC last week clocking 15:07, last year Lacoste placed 8th at NE's. Watch out for NH MOC & Class L runner-up Samuel Gagnon (Manchester Central), he clocked 15:34 finishing behind LaCoste last weekend. CT State Open champion Bryan Fowler (Tolland) clocked a fine 15:50 in winning the title by 1 second in a sprint finish over Conor Rog (Fairfield Prep), both should be near the front of pack this weekend. Fowler only placed 86th last year in the NE meet while Rog placed 23rd last year as a sophomore garnering ALL-NE honors. Class C state champion Matt McClintock (Madison) leads the Maine contingent in 2010, McClintock ran 16:00.91 to defend his state title two weeks ago. Matt will be looking to improve on his 46th place finish from a year ago, and to show he can run with the top guys in NE. Also keep an eye out for Class B state champion, Silas Eastman (Fryeburg Academy) who clocked 16:02 on the same course as McClintock. Eastman is undefeated on the season, and won't have to lead the race as he has had to do all year. As a freshman Eastman notched a 98th place finish. The host state Vermont will be led by Brendan Copley (Colchester), the Div. 1 champion, who clocked 17:26 on the same course as the NE meet, he placed 66th in the meet a year ago. Another runner to watch from VT is Div 1 runner-up Joe Bourgeois (North Country Union), Bourgeois ran 17:30, last year he placed 132nd at the NE meet.