RallyNorth.net

Sat, Nov 01, 2014 TBA @ Nashua South

Team	Final
Londonderry	0
at Nashua South	0
Pelham	0
Salem	0
Sanborn	0
Windham	0
Pinkerton	1
Timberlane	2

Kimball 5th at Meet of Champions

NASHUA — Even in cross country, good things can happen for those who wait.

That was the case Saturday afternoon at the Meet of Champions as — under miserable cold, rainy and windy conditions — Timberlane standout Liam Kimball, as well as his Timberlane teammates, and the Pinkerton boys ignored a furious opening pace before making their move.

The strategy worked wonders as Kimball passed several runners in the final half-mile to finish fifth overall in 15:51.1 on the 5K course to pace the Owls to second place, marking the first time Timberlane has ever qualified for the New England meet since becoming a Division 1 school.

“To become the first team to do this is awesome,” said Kimball, who was the individual winner at last week’s Division 1 meet. “This is what we’ve been working for all along.”

As far as his own race, Kimball was taken aback at how fast the leaders went out.

“It was really fast from the start, at least 5:05 at the mile,” said Kimball. “I wanted to keep up, but it was too fast. I felt a little stronger later.”

Kimball’s time was only seven seconds behind his winning time last week at a much more difficult Derryfield Park in Manchester. He wasn’t surprised.

“I don’t really like flat courses like this one,” he said. “I like courses with more variation. I think next week at Wickham Park (in Connecticut, the site of New England) is a better course for me.”

Timberlane’s second and third runners, James Busi and Peter Saviano, also made up considerable ground after a more conservative start. They finished back-to-back, with Busi 29th in 16:34.6 and Saviano 30th at 16:37.6.

Laying back was even more successful for the Division 1-champion Astros. Their pack held back early before surging late on its way to 67 points and first place, far ahead of the runner-up Owls (144).

Starting from way back, “somewhere in the 30s” according to Pinkerton coach Mike Clark, the Pinkerton front pack of Nico Sevilla (16:19.4), Owen Clark (16:20.3) and Tom Hanlon (16:21.9) finished together at 15-16-17.

Clark’s MOC time was nearly a minute better than his 2013 clocking (17:18.2) on the same course and Hanlon was 15 seconds faster.

Not much farther back were Austin Smith (27th in 16:31.1) and Nate Rees (35th in 16:41.9), meaning that the spread between the scoring runners was just 22 seconds.

“That was our goal, to stay together as a pack and just qualify (for New England),” said coach Clark. “That early pace was ridiculous — not many runners can sustain that.

“It’s nice to win this but we weren’t going for it. We just wanted to qualify, so we worked right through this. I worked them pretty hard this week.

“Our goal is to go hard after LaSalle (R.I.) next week.”

The Astros qualified for the New England meet for the 10th straight year, which ties their own record for second most consecutive appearances. Londonderry leads with 16 straight. 

Joining the Pinkerton and Timberlane boys at New England will be Londonderry, which finished fifth with 187 points. Juniors Jared Kane and Cameron Jackson led the way, coming in 38th and 39th respectively.

Just missing an individual medal was Windham’s Nick Khoury, who led the Jaguars by placing 40th in 16:47.8. Windham placed 16th as a team.

Sansing 5th again

For the second straight year, Pinkerton’s Morgan Sansing took fifth at the girls Meet of Champions race to help pace the Astros to a New England qualifying spot, in fifth as a team.

Sansing finished the course in 18:25.5, which was 11 seconds faster than last year. She was backed up by Ariel Vaillancourt, who was 10th in 18:48.2 — almost exactly the same time she ran last year.

Sophomore Samantha Mangano was the third runner for the Astros, taking 47th in 19:52.6.

As expected, powerhouse Coe-Brown was an easy winner, taking 2-3-6-7-19 to total just 36 points. Oyster River’s Maegan Doody was the individual winner for the second straight year, finishing first in 17:51.2.

Windham finished 16th, led by senior Kristen Tilley, who was 55th in 20:03.6.

Andover girls shine

Andover had a fine day at the State Coaches Meet at Wrentham in which no team scores were kept. Chantal Kellerd led the way, finishing second (19:24 for 5K) in the junior-senior race with Sarah Rothman taking sixth. Just as impressive was the third place of surging Caroline Wacome (19:26) in the sophomore race.

Also for the Warriors, Andy Chaves was sixth and Vikram Daesety was 11th in the sophomore boys race.

Chris Lord and Marty Conrad finished seventh and ninth in the junior-senior race for North Andover. It was Lord’s best race since recovering from mononucleosis.

Boys Meet of Champions

at Nashua (3.1 miles)

Top team scores (top 6 qualify for New England): Pinkerton 67, Timberlane 144, Alvirne 150, Oyster River 174, Londonderry 187, Coe-Brown 197, 16. Windham 359

Winner and top area finishers: 1. Eli Moskowitz (Souhegan) 15:32.4, 5. Liam Kimball (Tim) 15:51.1, 15. Nico Sevilla (Pink) 16:19.4, 16. Owen Clark (Pink) 16:20.3, 17. Tom Hanlon (Pink) 16:21.9, 27. Austin Smith (Pink) 16:31.1, 29. James Busi (Tim) 16:34.6, 30. Peter Saviano (Tim) 16:37.6, 35. Nate Rees (Pink) 16:41.9, 38. Jared Kane (Lond) 16:46.5, 39. Cameron Dickson (Lond) 16:46.7, 40. Nick Khoury (Wind) 16:47.8, 46. Nick Pietrocarlo (Pink) 16:54.5, 46. Noah Schrank (Lond) 16:54.5, 48. Sam Lanternier (Pink) 16:54.5, 53. Joe Settineri (Salem) 16:57.5, 60. Josh Wasserman (Lond) 17:04.4, 64. Tyler DeChane (Tim) 17:11.9, 74. Jacob Huberdeau (Tim) 17:17.7, 75. Peter Caron (Wind) 17:17.8, 80. Bailey Hamilton (Lond) 17:22.6, 85. Spencer Sawyer (Wind) 17:25.6, 95. Niall Kimball (Tim) 17:29.5, 96. Joseph Margareci (Tim) 17:31.0

Girls Meet of Champions

at Nashua (3.1 miles)

Top team scores (top 6 qualify for New England): Coe-Brown 36, Bishop Guertin 121, Concord 152, Winnacunnet 159, Pinkerton 163, Souhegan 228, 16. Windham 379

Winner and top area finishers: 1. Maegan Doody (Oyster River) 17:51.2, 5. Morgan Sansing (Pink) 18:25.5, 10. Ariel Vaillancourt (Pink) 18:48.2, 47. Morgan Mangano (Pink) 19:52.6, 55. Kristen Tilley (Wind) 20:03.6, 60. Kaila Cote (Pink) 20:14.7, 62. Taylor Lacey (Pink) 20:20.7, 66. Olivia Tracy (Pink) 20:24.2, 78. Laura Pomeroy (Wind) 20:42.1, 80. Jessica Lacey (Pink) 20:50.0, 87. Amanda Carrey (Wind) 20:56, 95. Lily Shpak (Wind) 21:06, 100. Shaylyn Harrington (Pel) 21:15.3

Girls State Coaches Meet

at Wrentham (3.1 miles)

D1 Junior-Senior race

Top area finishers: 2. Chantal Kellerd (Andover) 19:24.15,6. Sarah Rothmann (Andover) 19:48.40, 10. Hannah Wunderlich (Methuen) 19. Mia Drury (North Andover) 20:17.62, 26. Kristen Killkelley (Methuen) 20:36.33, 35. Jordan Hanson (Methuen) 20:49.25, 48. Gwyneth Miner (Andover) 21:06.57

D1 Sophomore race

3. Caroline Wacome (And) 19:26, 11. Lily Voke (NA) 20:36, 13. Jenna Solimine (Haverhill) 20:37, 28. Isabel Silveira (And) 21:13, 46. Kelly O’Brien (Haverhill) 21:48

D2 Jr.-Sr. race

3. Stephanie Casaletto (Austin Prep freshman0 19:00.6

Boys State Coaches Meet

at Wrentham (3.1 miles)

Jr.-Senior race

Top area finishers: 7. Chris Lord (North Andover) 16:40, 9. Marty Conrad (North Andover) 16:43, 10. Chris White (Haverhill) 16:51, 44. Cameron Simes (Haverhill) 17:26, Alex Bensley (North Andover) 17:34

Sophomore race

6. Andy Chaves (And) 17:09, 11. Vikram Daesety 17:26, 24. Fernando Damato (Methuen) 17:37, 30, Jacob St. Onge (Methuen) 18:00, 36. Troy Sliney (Haverhill) 18:07