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Windham's Poore 20th in New England

FOSTER, R.I. — New Hampshire, with Pinkerton Academy right in the thick of the fun, certainly made its mark at the New England championships Saturday.

Although Champlain Valley (Vt.)  took top honors with 121 points, Souhegan (163) and Pinkerton (227) took the next two spots, Bishop Guertin was fifth and the Granite State had five of the top nine teams in the 30-team field.

Moreover, New Hampshire runners took the top three individual places, paced by Exeter junior star Jacqueline Gaughan, who finished the 5K course in 17:34.11, followed by Bedford senior Leya Sallis and super frosh Caroline Fischer of Bishop Guertin (18:00.60).

The top local runner was Windham’s Susie Poore, who reached her goal of making the top 25, finishing 20th in 18:36.16.

For the third race in a row, Meghan Cross paced Pinkerton, taking 30th overall in 18:53.23. She was the second freshman finisher, trailing only Fischer.

Coming in next for the Astros was sophomore Jordan Vaillancourt, who was 45th (19:13.40), just three places in front of classmate Ciara April (19:16.61). Junior Maison D’Amelio was 53rd (19:20.44).

But the fifth runner, Annie Sullivan, was more than a minute and a half back despite running a strong race, relegating Pinkerton to third.

Still, thanks partly to the emergence of Cross, the Astros finished a place higher than in 2015 despite losing two top seniors from last year.

“This is definitely the high end of our goal so we’re really happy about it,” said Pinkerton coach Amy Bernard. “We were hoping as an ‘A’ goal to be in the top five so this was great.

“All the girls ran their hardest. Our fifth girl passed at least 10 runners at the end and we only got third by seven points.”

STARR FINISHES 6TH
In the New England boys meet, Pelham junior Cam Starr continued his rise by placing sixth in 15:50.93, just a half second from fifth. He was the top junior in the field and four of the five runners in front of him were seniors.

“He ran an amazing race today and proved that he is truly a runner who shows up to big races,” said Pelham coach Dave Niemaszyk.  “He ran a smart race and pushed at the right times.  Not once did he get caught up in the big meet excitement, and managed to run HIS race.”

Also from the area, Londonderry’s Chris Zaino had a fine race, reaching his goal of medaling by placing 24th in 16:04.47.

Team-wise, Pinkerton was off a bit and finished 9th overall and was the third New Hampshire team to finish behind Staples (Conn.). Calvin Graves led the Astros as he has all year, coming in 43rd in 16:18.59 with Jon L’Abbe next, in 86th, followed closely in 90th by Pat Bastek (16:45.36).

“Our kids ran great in a very tough field,” said Pinkerton coach Mike Clark. “Calvin has been a tremendous leader all year, Jon L’Abbe had another good race and Pat Bastek (who started the season with a severe foot injury) has really come on the last three weeks.”