The Monadnock region has had its share of talented runners over the years as well as some great teams. But if you were to look from the present on back, you’d have to go to 2006 and the Mascenic girls’ cross-country squad to find a girls’ team that has performed at the highest level of the sport in this state.
The boys’ programs have fared slightly better, with Mascenic winning for the third time in a row in 2007 and again in 2014, and multiple visits to Meet of Champions.
There have been plenty of talented female athletes achieving within the ranks of New Hampshire cross-country, but the region’s been short on girls’ teams. Athletes like Jacy Christiansen and Elizabeth McGurk from Mascenic, Emma Bolduc, Courtney Fisher and the late Laura LaPlante of ConVal, have had decorated careers in high school and beyond. But the girls’ teams have seemed to lag behind.
Until now.
The ConVal girls team is off to a quick start this season, winning both the Sanborn Invitational and the Coach K Invitational in Hollis. Led by Clare Veverka and a bunch of returnees, the Cougars look to make a run at a top spot in the Division.
“Our girls are having a pretty awesome season,” said ConVal coach Lance Flamino, “and it’s a direct result of the hard work the returners have put in over the past few years combined with doing some running over the summer. Since the season begun all of our returning girls have been taking their training very seriously and that has rubbed off on the new athletes who are learning the ropes. I’m a pretty big long-term development kind of guy, so my training program works best with consistency over a season, year and ideally high school career.”
The lady Cougars have had a phenomenal start to the season, going 27 -0, winning some solid meets like the Jamie Martin Sanborn Invite and the Coach K Hollis-Brookline Invite. They scored a win at the Laconia Invitational, beating a very solid Kennett squad. Their first loss came this past weekend at the Manchester Invite where the best schools in the state and from around New England race on the Derryfield Park course that doubles as the divisional championship site. They finished 16th overall as the 4th Division 2 school.
“Our top four is running really solid right now and our No. 5 has bounced around a bit, but will be key to our performance at the DII state meet,” said Flamino. “As a team we are hoping to make Meet of Champions, but the competition in DII is pretty stiff, so we’ll have to have a good day to make it happen.”
And as Flamino’s focus is firmly on this season, he also has hope for the future.
“It’s always scary to think about the future when you have a solid senior class, but with some strong underclassman learning from our seniors I think the team will continue to perform well in years to come,” he said. “We’ll be shooting to have our best seven healthy and hungry on the starting line come championship season.”
Similarly to Flamino’s ConVal girls squad, Mascenic’s Mike Smith is also seeing his girls’ squad take a step forward this season.
“I’ve had some very talented ladies come through the program, and we’ve seen some success over the years,” said Smith, “but we’ve only won States once on the ladies side, something we’ve done four times with the guys. It’s not lost on me that we have a more difficult time getting girls to come out to the program. Right now we’ve got 20 guys and only seven girls. But we’ve got three up this year from a very successful middle school program and I look forward to benefiting from the success they are seeing down there.”
Mascenic won the boys’ and girls’ titles back in 2006.
“Those girls were working class,” Smith said. “We had no superstars but were able to put it all together on that one day. They toughed it out and beat a far superior team on paper, Hopkinton, in a monsoon. I think that helped us but we had no idea we had pulled it off until they announced second place.We were very happy to interrupt Hopkinton’s winning streak that would have stretched for ten years straight.”
This year’s team resembles that team of 2006 in many ways. With junior Samantha Bilodeau and sophomore Madison Labrie at the front, and three freshmen in the last three scoring positions, Smith thinks one more year will make them contenders for the title in Division III.
“We’re still pretty green this year, but the freshies are figuring it out. I’ve tasked Sam and Maddie with using this season to learn as much as they can, to prep for next year. They’re talented enough as a team to potentially make Meet of Champions this year, but they’re all back next year and we’re looking ahead a little bit to 2017.”
Now the third team seeing a surge on the girls’ side is Conant. Plagued by the same numbers issues as Mascenic, it can be a challenge simply getting enough girls for a full squad. This season has Conant coach Erin Kelly with some veteran leadership which is most noticeable in her girls’ squad. At the Jamie Martin Invite, won by the ConVal, Conant placed 7th, three places and 19 points ahead of Mascenic. With sophomore Isabella Mormando leading the squad, the team sees support from senior Claire Van Houten, and juniors Lily Bennett and Julia Aho. Like Mascenic, Conant also enjoys a youth movement with their recent freshman fifth placer, Bailey Despres.
“This has been our most exciting year for the ladies so far, which just makes the future that much more exciting,” Kelly said. “We had a couple of ladies really work this summer, and that is showing now. Isabella has an amazing amount of potential, with a full year of consistency and hard work, she should grow in leaps and bounds. If we can get everyone on board with consistent training, particularly over the summer, I think we’ll be in an excellent position for next year. ”
While none of the teams will likely challenge for the top title in their divisions, they are beginning to step out of the shadows of their respective boys’ teams, teams that have played at the top of the State over the last 10-15 years.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what these girls can do,” says Smith. “My own girls will hit the high school in two and four years and I’d love the expectation when they get here being that we’re going to give it a go every year, and if we don’t win we make whoever does work for it.” So while the future isn’t certain, it’s headed in the right direction.