Once again the bragging right belonged to host New Hampshire at the Battle of the Border competition as the Concord State swept the team titles for the sixth straight year.
But for Marshfield High runners, Graham Heinrich and Eleanor Angeles-Whitfield, their efforts at Saturday’s meet held slightly more importance on this day, a day where a few key MA schools and runners did not make the trip to the 20th annual event.
Against some of New Hampshire’s finest schools, both harriers were among the best that competed on at Alvirine High. Their respective five-kilometer efforts also provided significant confidence-boosters at the midway point of the season.
In the boys’ varsity race, Heinrich was with the leaders from the beginning and held on to place third overall with a PR of 15 minutes, 36.1 seconds.
“The goal was kind of just to get out, hang around the front and finish the best that I could,” he said. “I feel like I really did that today.”
Heinrich, a sixth-place finisher at the Frank Kelley Invitational two weeks ago, ran into a bit of bad luck at the Division 1C Championships last year where he fell short of making it to the Meet of Champions with a DNF in his race. He rebounded with a strong track season that included bests of 4:18.64 for the mile and 9:39.14 for the two mile.
In the few meets he’s competed during this fall campaign, all signs are looking positive for the Rams’ standout. His effort at Battle of the Borders, is his second sub-16 race of the season. He clocked 15:49.1 at the Kelley Invite.
Next up is the Catholic Memorial Invitational on Oct. 19 with the divisional states and Meet of Champions less than a month later.
“The goal is to definitely to come in strong at divisionals and hopefully make it to states and do some damage,” he said.
Marshfield only sent their top three runners to the meet. Finishing 20th overall was senior Matt McCabe in 16:25.05. Junior Tucker McNamee was 40th with a time of 17:07.33.
The Rams’ Angeles-Whitfield was seventh overall in the girls’ competition where she was timed in a season best of 19:15.30 for the 5K distance. Her satisfying performance was 31 seconds faster than what she did two weeks ago at the Kelley meet.
Angeles-Whitfield went out strong, and was nestled in fourth place around the 1K mark. While she dropped back slightly, she ran solid splits the remainder of the way. Mikita Barry of Bedford (NH) ran away from the field to take individual honors, winning by 40 seconds with a time of 17:36.61.
“I just wanted to get out with the lead pack and sort of see how I could do,” the Marshfield runner said. “I kind of had a rough junior year and I just wanted this race to be a good confidence-booster for this season. I think it really boost my confidence. I haven’t had that great a race that really has pushed me going forward. I really excited to see what I could do.”
New Hampshire swept the top seven team placements in the boys’ competition with PInkerton Academy scoring just 50 points to take the top spot. The Astros easily defeated runner-up Nashua South, which compiled 133 points. Defending champion North Andover was eighth overall with 203 points. Milford and Needham were 10th and 11th, respectively, with 217 and 239 points.
North Andover had four of its runners under 17 minutes with senior Josh Pelletier (29th, 16:46.8), senior Trevor Wlodyka (31st, 16:48.6). sophomore Tucker LaRosa (35th, 16:54.7) and junior Brogan Zwinggi (36th, 16:57.9) all under the mark. The Scarlet Knights were competing in the meet without the No. 1 harrier, Emmett LaRosa.
The Bay State had four of its teams among the top in the girls’ race with North Andover leading the way in third with 130 points. The Scarlet Knights were followed by Marshfield (sixth, 197 points), Newton South (seventh, 204 points) and Notre Dame Academy-Hingham (tenth, 231).
Just 22 second separated North Andover’s top four runners – senior Nicole Kroon (15th, 19:57.1), senior Hannah Shea (19th, 20:15.0), senior Luna Prochazkova (20th, 20:18.4), and junior Carly Petersen (21st, 20:19.4). Newton South’s Izzy Monaghan, a sophomore, was 12th overall in 19:44.6.
Massachusetts had two victors in the meet. Winning the JV race was Tyngsborough’s Isabella Duarte with a time of 20:51.1. North Andover’s Julie Kroon was second at 21:13.6. In the Freshmen race, it was a battle between two eighth-graders with NDA-Hingham’s Xion Rondo edging Tyngsborough’s Hannah Levesque with a time of 12:34.6 for the 3,200m distance. Levesque was a mere stride behind in 12:35.1.
For additional photos, including the two Varsity Races, click HERE, thanks to Jay Smith of nh.staterunning.net.
