The GIANT Middle School Duel of 2017
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Samantha Starts the Girls Race
Teams places and scores are at the bottom of the post
Fast times on the MV Middle School course today! Massive crowds of spectators showed up to cheer on the massive throngs of middle school racers (Bow - 106 or so runners?!?!). Lucky for us, Maizie was on hand to keep all over-enthusiastic spectators BEHIND THE CONES and kept all finishing runners IN ORDER (STAY IN ORDER!!). I think that she is the new head finish line judge, forever and for all time. It seems to be a great way to channel the aggression.
Sophia en route to a Course Record
Despite only running 4 girls (there was a 5th on the line, until nerves interfered), MV put up a great showing. With 101 runners finishing, Samantha crossed in 8th place, while Sophia, in her return to racing from a month’s hiatus, finished a solid 20th. Violet was just a bit behind in 30th place, while Anna crossed in 68th position. Another race, another victory and course record for Andover’s Sophia. She led from the horn, only slowing down to keep from running over the lead cart just past the mile and to keep from running over an Andover teammate (Woops! Don’t worry kiddo, that happens to everyone at least once). I’ve only got last names here, but Trinity was the next to cross in 34th place, followed by Delaney (66th), Paige (76th), and Violet in 83rd place. Despite the fact that an inordinate amount of Andover runners disappear into the dark shadows of Proctor, for fun I combined the two teams and found that they scored 74 points, just out of second place.
Mark Finishing Strong
Cue the boys race. 116 competitors! The race course narrows significantly about ¼ mile in, and while everyone seemed to negotiate it successfully, those who got a fast start greatly benefited. By the end, it was clear who was going to take the team battle as 8 of the top 9 were from Hillside. A Bow runner succeeded in preventing a perfect score, ,finishing in 4th place. For MV, Mark was the top runner, placing a very solid 21st. Jack from Andover took first for his team, placing 31st, followed by three more Andover runners;Evan in 38th, Jason in 43rd, and MRen #2 (Mychal) in 44th. Spacebear Linscott was MV’s #2 runner in 48th place, while Dante rounded out the scoring for Andover in 54th (that’s all 5 in the top half!). Marshall, Mark A, and Bryce finished the scoring for MV in 74th, 87th, and 89th, respectively. Ryan finished things off for MV coming in an even 100th.
The Future!
Next up for the middle schoolers is the State Meet, with DIII Andover at Coe-Brown and DII MV at Londonderry. We could see the first ever Andover/MV individual state champ! Good luck to all!
Boys Results
1 - Hillside 1-2-3-5-6 17
2 - Bow 4-9-11-14-18 56
3 - Hopkinton 10-12-15-17-45 99
4 - Derryfield 13-21-23-28-30 115
5 - Andover 22-24-26-27-33 132
6 - Merrimack Valley 16-29-38-39-41 163
7 - Henniker 25-36-37-40-42 180
Girls Results
1 - Hillside 2-3-5-8-9 27
2 - Bow 7-13-14-17-18-(19) 69
3 - Hopkinton 4-10-11-20-24-(26) 69
4 - Derryfield 6-21-29-31-32 119
5 - Henniker 16-23-28-30-34 131
6 - Andover 1-25-35-38-39 138
7 - Merrimack Valley 8-17-23-36---- NS
*Note* - Boys corrected winning time is 11:55
Girls winning time of 12:02 is an “All Courses” course record (old record 12:13)