10/9/24 - Bow

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Results Here Soon

(Still having photo upload issues, but check out the SmugMug link!)

Today was a Happy Coach meet! Our clothing order finally came in, and the weather was perfect for both running and spectating (rare that both happen at the same time), and the girls ran FANTASTIC! It was fun to have just a little old-fashioned duel meet and to be able to truly race it. We were down 1 runner due to illness (we missed you Tess!), and one runner due to injury (Raven, there cheering loudest of all!) but all the other 9 were able to line up on the track, competing against Bow, Laconia (!?), and St. Thomas, who I feel we’ve raced more than any other team this year. The directive was to continue to work on starts, and race quickly but mentally light (low stress). Both seemed to be successful.

The race got out with 2 Bow girls in the lead, trailed by Lily and Maddy. Maddy was always a step behind (can’t you two run side-by-side? Geesh), but they were eventually able to drop 1 Bow girl and push the other all the way to the line. Lily gave it a go with a valiant effort over the final 100 meters, but was outkicked in the end, taking 2nd in her best time of the year. Maddy closed at the end, finishing only a second or so back of Lily in what is likely a new PR. Those don’t happen every day!

Next our sophomore duo of Reagan and Emily, with Reagan tasked with staying with Emily at the beginning. Photo evidence shows that this did indeed happen! Reagan has been undergoing “Project 23” for several weeks now, and today it was Mission Accomplished! Due to lack of results at the time of this writing it looks like she ran well under 24, if the scoreboard time was anywhere close. That is yet another PR! Now it is on to “Project 22”! Emily, fairly full of cold-related fluids, ran through the discomfort to cross as our number 4 runner, just a little bit ahead of a battling Nicole and Keira. Both Nicole and Keira have taken large chunks of time off their PR’s recently, and are now locked in a battle for the #5 spot. Nicole had it today for 4996 meters, while Keira had it for only 4 meters. But it was the final 4. Interchangeable #5 runners is not exactly something that saddens a coach though. The more the merrier! Kendra, also usually battling for #5, probably felt like she was running underwater and breathing through a straw. She ran with no excuses though, and made MVXC proud today. Now it’s time to get better! Hot tea, hot showers, and extra rest! Our 8th on the day was Jessi’s first race in a while - and she ran very strong, perhaps running in the 28’s? She mentioned it was a quiet run, no one in sight front or back. It almost sounds pleasant. Emma wrapped things up for us with another sub-30 run, despite falling at some point. It seems she made an XC friend though, there was some nice camaraderie with a Laconia runner at the end. All in all, a great day with great people!

10/5/24 - Thetford/Woods Trail Run

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Currently having technical issues with posting photos…

Results

If the above link doesn’t work, the results can be found on www.lancertiming.com

Just like Great Glen, the weather does not usually disappoint up in Thetford, VT. Known for it’s music, unique race format, T-shirts, and MORTY’S MONSTER, the race is always one of the highlights of the season. Held in the middle of maple country at the start of leaf peeping season, it’s always one of the most beautiful as well.

The race is unique in that it has 5 different races; runners are seeded according to expected times. The top 15 of every race win a ribbon, with the top 3 receiving a medal. The usual goal is as many ribbons as we can get, and hopefully a seeded race win!

With Raven on the injury list, Emma was the lone starter of Seed 5. She ran bravely and quickly, running a very solid time over a hard course. She placed 45th of 92 runners. Top half!! Next up was Seed 4, where most of the MV squad was to line up (Kendra, Tessa, Keira, Nicole, Reagan, and Emily). Having won Seed 4 each of the past 2 years (Sydney in ‘23 and Maddy in ‘22), the pressure was on to make it a three-peat. Despite a slow start, Reagan gave it a go, probably running the last 2.5 miles faster than anyone else. However her start put her a bit too far back to compete for the win, but she did finish 8th and snag the first ribbon of the day. Emily gave it a go as well, getting as high as 12th by mile 2 before being devoured by Morty yet still finishing a respectable 24th. Keira continued to find sudden success, finishing just behind Emily in 26th. That kind of running will make a difference for the team score down the line! Nicole crushed, finishing in 35th (of 107). Nicole finished in 31:27 as a freshman, 29:59 as a sophomore, and now? 26:42. That’s just inspiring! Kendra ran a fine race in 66th, perhaps unknowingly affected by her soon-to-appear cold. Tessa ran a brave race to place 98th and round out the Seed 4 scoring.

On to the Seed 3 race, where Maddy was the sole MV entrant. Not even convinced that she wanted to run just ten minutes before the gun she got a great start anyway and soon found herself in contention for the win. Going into the third mile she had a tiny lead for a moment, before slipping back slightly on Morty, placing 3rd, only 11 seconds out of first and securing a medal. Lily was our final racer of the day, running in the Seed 2 race. She also zipped out to a solid start, in the top 15 by mile 1 and working up to 7th by mile 2. She only gave away 1 spot over the final mile to place 8th and capture the third and final award for the team on the day. Overall the girls did remarkably well - 20th out of 34 scoring teams and 59 total teams.

10/2/24 - John Stark - The "Sidehill Wampus" Meet

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Meet Results WILL Be Linked Here Soon!

The great SIDEHILL WAMPUS course, AKA John Stark, was the location of the afternoon’s activities on Wednesday. So nick-named due to all the sidehill running required, and in memory of the sidehill wampus stories former Coach Neilson used to tell. A fun meet also, as the focus of the week is on Thetford, so the race plan is usually dialed back.

Today’s itinerary called for the front group to stick together as much as possible, then slowly “open the door to the cage” and “roll out” and “lock in” over the second half of the course. It was a fun start too, as Maddy grabbed the Dad-cam for the first mile to document the pack race. The pack was large also, consisting of the entire top 7 of Maddy and Kendra, Reagan and Emily, and Lily, Nicole, and Keira. Lily did get a little anxious early and broke away early, but the rest of the group was soon ready to Roll Out.

After the Roll Out the girls got cooking. The race turned out surprisingly fast behind the top girls as many set all-time or season PR’s. Lily and Maddy tallied several victims to climb from about 15th to 6th and 7th in 23:10 and 23:16 respectively. Reagan and (maybe) Emily set PR’s and finished 13th and 14th in 24:36 and 25:12. Keira had the best race of her career and hooked the #5 spot on the team in a PR of 25:21, while Kendra was just behind her in a season-best 25:35. Nicole had the most dramatic run, not only wiping out in the last half mile and finishing with socks stained red from blood (I didn’t even know I was bleeding) but also setting a PR of a minute in 25:37! I remember when she was trying so hard to break 30! Tessa had her best race of the year finishing in 27:59, while Emma took home the AWESOME AWARD with a gutsy wire-to-wire run in under 30 minutes (29:17). Raven closed out the team placing with a PR of 31:20. What a great day of running!

9/21/24 - Manchester Invitational

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Manchester! One of the biggest meets of the year, and the race that signifies the end of the first part of the season. A meet that draws athletes from all six New England states as well as New York, and sometimes beyond for a carnival of 10 races throughout the day. The weather was damp and cool, in other words perfect running weather. We did get a little damp on our course walk, but survived as we surveyed the many changes to the course - the most significant changes in the 50+ history of the infamous Derryfield Park XC Course. While the weather was quick, the course would prove to run about 30 second slower, due to its being extended to a true 5k (it was always 117 meters short) and the addition of a little more elevation gain along the way.

The day kicked off with a nice surprise; another visit by alumni - this time Samantha and Ryan joined Anna (all from MV’s class of ‘23) in cheering on their old teammates. We also had a future MVXC’er on hand running the camera - Maddy’s sister Isabel. We were only down Raven, struck down by illness for the weekend, resting and recovering for the future!

With no Raven, Emma decided to move up to the JV “C” race and join Keira for the 2 mile version of Derryfield. Out of the 199 runners, Keira placed 26th (!) and Emma placed 141st. That’s 58 runners defeated Emma! Extending their paces out over another mile would have given Keira just under 25 minutes and Emma right around 30 minutes. No problem!

Tessa took to the line all by her lonesome in the JV “B” race. Despite a great attitude and a great first mile she wisely pulled out shortly after the first big hill due to to injury. Live to run another race - brain over pain.

On to the girls varsity, made up of Lily, Maddy, Reagan, Emily, Kendra, Nicole, and Jessi. Course conditions were still good, despite the wetness, and some good showings were on hand. Looking back over the splits it’s clear that the entire team got out a bit slow, but that just allowed them to CRUSH the last two miles. Reagan especially, as she passed something like 60 people throughout her race. Lily ran her usual strong seemingly effortless race, cruising in with a new course record for MV, 22:41, good for 52nd place and 28th out of DII runners. Maddy looked great the whole way, eventually placing 70th in 23:16 (34th in DII). Playing the hunter and running down about a billion competitors was Reagan, running yet another PR of 24:45. Not an easy course to PR on! Placing 4th for MV was our other 10th grader, Emily, in 25:39, followed by Kendra in 26:24 (quite a bit faster than last year with the conversion!). Speaking of faster than last year, Nicole was our #6 with a time of 28:14, half a minute faster than 2023 not even including the conversion! Rounding out the runners was Jessi, returning to Derryfield after a year away with a very respectable 29:30. As a team we finished 16th of 23 complete teams, and many more incomplete teams. Among DII teams we were 6th of the 15 complete and partial DII teams represented.

9/16/24 - Kingswood Invitational

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Results If link not working results are at Lancertiming.com

Today was a Monday girls team ADVENTURE - no boys along for the trip and off to a brand new meet and course! We did use to run this way back when the Irving’s coached middle school, but it was at a different location. This year it takes place at Abenaki Ski Area in Wolfeboro, a tiny little rope-tow area that Coach Irving had no idea even existed. Despite the coaches promise, the course did not in fact go straight up the ski area - instead it went into the woods…and then up - and up - and up - with a little more up. A very rugged course, although a bit short resulting in times about a minute quicker than expected. Or we just crushed it. All 11 girls started and all 11 girls finished, a first for the year and a good sign of health. Knowing that the top 10 received awards the pressure was on Lily and Maddy to place well, with Reagan suggested as a possible top-10er as well.

Rockin’ the Goodr shades, Maddy and Lily took advantage of their intimidating presence to zoom to the front and never look back. Maddy was close on Lily’s heels as they ran by the finish line for the first time, about a mile and a half in. Reagan was right where she needed to be, about 7th and looking strong, while Emily and Kendra were close together about 12th and 13th place. Everyone else was also running well, particularly Jessi, all taped up and crushing it. Back through the finish area with a mile to go and Lily had extended her lead, as had Maddy in second. Reagan was leading a pack in 5th, while Emily had pulled all the way up to just behind Reagan. Kendra was still in 12th but knocking on the door of top 10, with Nicole providing safety points just a few runners back.

By the end it was an easy victory for Lily, and a solid 2nd for Maddy. Reagan ran away from her pack (and Emily) to place a solid 5th (3 in the top 5!), while Emily did hang on for 7th. The surprise of the meet was Kendra, Krushing the final mile to make up 2 spots and snag the 10th position. Five in the top 10 meant five “Top-10 T-Shirts”!

Free food, t-shirts, a rugged course, and a WIN for the team made for a great girls afternoon adventure. Add in some rockin’ music on the bus home, and what a perfect trip!

9/10/24 - Souhegan Horse Farm

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Results In Photos Below

Not the timeliest of write-ups for this race, but seeing how the Awesome Award Winner still doesn’t know who she is at this point, it’s not the last thing about this race that needs to get done!

A warm Tuesday, a windy backroad bus trip, and…HORSES! Could this be Lily’s favorite course? It sure seems like it as she wasted no time at all recovering from her weekend illness to jump out to the lead with Maddy, pursued by a couple of Souhegan runners. She held at least a share of the lead until the final ⅓ of a mile, finishing a strong 2nd in a time faster than a year ago. Maddy was the next girl across the line for a great 3rd place finish, giving MV a 2-3 finish, a good start to the team scoring. Souhegan showed off their depth however, claiming the next 6 spots to take home the win. For the Pride, Reagan was once again the #3 finisher, followed shortly by Emily. Kendra ran strong to finish off the scoring 5, while Nicole (6th) just snuck under the all-important 28 minute barrier. Tessa ran a very patient race encouraging Raven, who zoomed to yet another PR, this time in the 31’s. It took a bit to recover from this one, but she was rewarded for her bravery. Emma finished off the placing for the team with a very determined race. 





9/8/24 - Great Glen

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With the way the weather is every year at Great Glen, you may think Mt. Washington is in the Banana Belt of New Hampshire. I don’t believe that it has ever rained or been anything other than perfectly beautiful weather every year. The only true obstacle of the day is the 6:30 am bus departure, which everyone made on time save our junior speedster, Lily. She is someone who would never miss a meet were it up to her - sprained ankle? She’ll run with a limp. Two sprained ankles? She’ll run with TWO limps! So we know that whatever illness beset her over the weekend she also probably had 4 extra large Asian Elephants sitting on all her limbs to keep her from escaping. With Lily off for the day that opened up a spot in Varsity, which Kendra filled leaving Jessi, Emma, and Raven as the only ones to toe the line for the first race of the day.

Jessi finished strong, cutting a minute and a half off her time from three days earlier and placing 22nd of the 39 runners. Raven and Emma ran together the entire race, with Emma putting together a terrific kick to win the intra-team battle, with both runners taking almost 2 minutes off their first race.

The varsity race was sent off on the trails at 11:15 with 7 complete teams and several incomplete teams, with a field of 60 runners. The girls looked well-rested and composed, each running strong races highlighted by a strong comeback race from Kendra, and a determined race by Reagan who wasted no time in establishing herself as a top-5 runner on the team from the start. Maddy was the top finisher, placing 15th and taking over a minute off her time from Coe-Brown. Reagan breezed across the line next, taking yet another minute-plus off her PR. Let’s go sub-25!! Kendra crossed as our third runner in a great comeback race that earned her the “Awesome Award”, while the winner of Coe-Brown’s Awesome Award, Nicole, was the 4th runner on the team, also taking a minute off her time. Somewhere in the mix around there was the rugged runner of the day, Emily, who took a solid spill about two miles into the race but managed to get up and gut out the last mile on a twisted ankle. Her results were somehow missed on the official sheet, but we know she ran awesome! Keira and Tessa, both a little banged up from practice, were the next to cross, both managing to run under 30 minutes.

Despite being a little beat up and shorthanded, the girls still placed 6th and had a very solid showing. A non-running highlight of the day was a surprise visit from Emmaleigh and Anna (MVXC ‘22), who both made the long drive up to cheer on their former teammates. After a late lunch at Jersey Mikes/Five Guys/Dairy Queen, it was back home to rest, recover, rehydrate, and get ready for our next adventure on Tuesday at Souhegan - the Horse Farm race!




9/4/24 - Coe-Brown

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Wednesday kicked off the long-awaited start to the competitive XC season; a hotter day than we would have liked but not terrible. Coe-Brown were the hosts, a course the current seniors have only run once, 2 years ago. With bibs and a timing company it gave the feel of a very low-key weekend invitational. The girls were certainly well-rested and Coach Irving wasn’t sure what to expect as we haven’t had many high-intensity days (although our one hill day was a definite winner!). Several local DII teams were in attendance; Coe-Brown, John Stark, St. Thomas, and a Pembroke team with too few runners to score. Interestingly, MV was the largest team on the line, 1 more than John Stark and 2 more than Coe-Brown.

After a clean start, it was off to the ¾ mile mark to see how the race would unfold. After a few tense minutes of waiting the lead pack came into view, and there was Lily, escorted by two Coe-Brown runners! Not too far back was Maddy, then Keira, then Emily followed by a fairly tight pack of the rest of the 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. The 9th graders, Raven and Emma, were testing this racing thing out a little farther back and moving along just fine! 

At the next viewing point at about the 1 ¼ point not much had changed - Lily was running very controlled and clearly was in charge of the race despite having two tag-alongs. The only other noticeable was that Emily had moved into MV’s third position, with Reagan, Tessa, Keira, Jessi, Kendra, and Nicole clumped fairly close together. Just before the 2 mile mark Lily had managed to lose one pursuer, and Reagan was closing the gap on Emily. Notably, Jessi was looking great ⅔ of the way through her first race in 2 years! The weather unfortunately was not Kendra weather and necessitated a stop to her race (but Saturday is looking great!).

Fast forward to the finish, and who is it coming around the final turn? LILY!! She said it wasn’t an easy run, but she sure knows how to make a hard run look easy then. In winning she is only a few seconds off her time from last year’s divisional meet time, and she defeated at least one runner who qualified for Meet of Champions last year. Not a bad start! A slightly bruised Maddy rolled in for a strong second for MV and 7th overall. Race of the day though? Reagan! Nursing a bandaged finger (injured while trying to make a safe home for her fishing worms (true story!), she managed an overall 11th place, a team 3rd place, and a 20-ish second all-time PR (personal record). Who does that in the first (hot) meet of the season? Someone who has a LOT of potential, that’s who. Emily rolled in about 50 seconds later with a solid race, followed by Nicole, solid and dependable as always. In fact, this was Nicole’s first top-5 team finish and earned the Captain’s nod (there were a lot of nominations!) for the first Awesome Award of the year. She has a snazzy jersey to rep during warm-up on Saturday, before she reassigns it after the race. Keira and Tessa wrapped up the top 7, while Jessi was just behind with a huge victory in simply finishing the race. It has been a long time coming! Raven, sporting a fantastically rugged and bloody scrape from a late fall finished just ahead of a gutsy run from Emma, both of whom ran first-ever races to be proud of, in the hardest high school sport there is. 

Overall it was a great start to the season and one that we can be proud of!