The 20th annual Battle of the Border Invitational will be held this Saturday at Alvirine High in Hudson, N.H. This is a meet that matches up teams from Massachusetts and New Hampshire in a friendly and somewhat intense meet.
This is one of those competitions where bragging rights is far more significant than medals awarded at to the top finishers.
For the last several years. the Concord State has earned that right. Could it be different this weekend? It does appear that once again NH has the edge as the winner is determined by the top five teams. On the boys’ side, through, North Andover does appear to be one of the favorites to take the top spot. Oyster River, the No. 1 squad in N.H., is the clear-cut favorite for the girls. The last two weeks, the Bobcats have captured the Manchester Invitational (Sept. 21) and Wickham Park Invitational (Sept. 28). Marshfield, North Andover and Needham are among the stronger MA squads that will be vying for top-five placements.
Our sister site, nh.staterunning.net, will be on site providing complete coverage of the meet.
SCHEDULE
1:00 p.m. – Course Walk
2:00 – Freshmen Girls’ 3,200m
2:30 – Freshmen Boys’ 3,200m
3:00 – JV Girls
3:45 – JV Boys
4:20 – Varsity Girls
4:50 – Varsity Boys
5:20 – Awards
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Back home, and celebrating its 66th year on Saturday is the annual Wachusett Invitational. The host school’s Dylan Brenn captured the boys’ varsity title last year with a winning time of 16 minutes, 37.4 seconds. Murdock’s Avery Murphy was the first to break the tape for girls with a 20:43.1 clocking.
This weekend’s meet features middle school, freshmen, JV and Varsity (or Championship) races. The competition kicks off at 10:30 a.m.
SCHEDULE
10:30 a.m. – Girls Middle School Race
11:10 a.m. – Boys Middle School Race
11:45 a.m. – Girls Freshmen Race
12:25 p.m. – Boys Freshmen Race
1:00 p.m. – Girls JV Race
1:40 p.m. – Boys JV Race
2:15 p.m. – Girls Championship Race
2:50 p.m. – Boys Championship Race
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As you know, several of our MA teams headed to Rhode Island last weekend for the Ocean State Invitational.
So while the fields for each race weren’t as big at the Bay State Invitational last Saturday, there was some quality competition at Wrentham. In the girls’ varsity races, 19 went under 20 minutes for the five-kilometer course and 17 broke 17 minutes for the boys.
Peabody’s Declan Smith clocked the fastest time of the day for the boys, capturing the ‘B’ race in 16:09.23. Boston Latin’s Bilal Elhaji (16:09.23) and Newton North’s Badri (16:34.61) were the ‘A’ and ‘C’ winners, respectively. Newton North (C) and Boston Latin (A), two teams in the Chase Pack of the Division 1 coaches rankings, came out on top in the team scores as well as Braintree (C).
Ciara Evans of Newton North was the quickest for girls with a time of 18:21.61. She was one of six that went sub-19. Behind Evans was Holliston’s Maggie Kuchman (18:31.27). In the ‘A’ race, Taunton’s Emersyn DePonte (18:38.08) and Norwell’s Katherine Murray (18:48.85) went 1-2. Taking the top two spots in the ‘C’ race and also dipping under 19 minutes were Westfield’s Megan Moran (18:45.74) and Braintree’s Caitlyn Chang (18:59.30). Milton (A), Peabody (B) and Newton North (C) won the team crowns. Newton North is currently No. 7 in the polls.
