The boys cross-country team traveled to Manchester, New Hampshire this past weekend to compete in one of the largest cross-country festivals in New England. This year was the 40th annual running of the Manchester Invitational at Derryfield Park, and the weather was unusually hot for the hilly 3.1-mile course.
First up for NYA were our crew of freshmen. At Manchester, the freshmen run a 2.1-mile modified course, which pleased them all immensely. Crossing the finish line first for the Panthers was Devlin O’Keefe (14:40 and 132nd in a field of 233). Jack Sillin was the number two freshman (15:15/154th) followed shortly by Justin Guo (15:22/161st). The next three finished in a close cluster – Parker Elkins (16:29 /199th) and Youssef Ayad (16:29/200th) in a sprint to the finish, and Kieran Rowe (17:00/210th) nearby. Perhaps aided by the 9:30 am start that allowed them to run before the heat of the day, all the ninth-graders turned in excellent performances. In addition, our six runners scored as a team in the freshman race, placing 22nd of 24th and only two points behind 21st place. A team score in this race is unprecedented in recent NYA cross-country history!
At noon, the small school varsity race went off into the record heat for this time of year. The weather was definitely a factor for the team; each runner ran hard, but the times showed the effect of the sun. Matt Malcom ’15 finished first for the team in 17:44 (23rd in a field of 219). Haley Cunningham ’15 turned in another strong race with a 19:38 time (115th) and John Leblanc ’15 was third for the team (20:18 / 144th). Jack Kostelnik ’17 continued his season-long move higher on the varsity squad with a 21:44 finish (192nd). Patrick Jackson ’15 was the team’s final scorer (22:21/204th) and Jake Malcom ’17 completed the team (22:50/210th). Overall, NYA finished 26th of 32 teams.
Here are the full results of the freshman race and of the small school varsity race.
Also, click here for photos of the meet by Coach Mazzurco!