Londonderry High School Track and Field coach, Sue Johnson, and volunteers from her team hosted the 40th annual Elementary School Cross-Country Meet.
Boys’ and girls’ fifth-grade teams from Matthew Thornton, South and North Elementary schools competed on a one-mile coarse set up at the High School with the team from Matthew Thornton winning the girls’ race and South School narrowly defeated North School for the boys.












Cheyanne Boles was the first-place winner of the girls’ race, coming in at 8:57.2. North School’s Gabriella Rao was second, at 9:06.8, Maeve Wessling, of Matthew Thornton took third at 9:20.7, Kaleigh McKeown, of North was fourth at 9:41.7 and Matthew Thornton’s Quinn Cunningham came in at fifth with her time of 9:43.6.
Matthew Thornton’s winning score of 30-points beat South School by 14-points (44) and North had a score of 46.
In the boys’ race, North School’s Ethan Hartley had a time of 7:30.2 to place first. Will Porter, who came in just four seconds behind Hartley, was second at 7:34.5. South School’s James Presher took third with a time of 8:04.3, followed by his teammate Jackson Doughty at 8:11.8 for fourth. Matthew Thornton’s Liam Hocking had a fifth-place time of 8:13.2.
The 40-year Cross Country racing tradition started with longtime former coach, Larry Martin, along with Johnson and Ed Daniels, who recruited students from each of the schools and helped coach them at the time.
At that time, only about 20 students participated in the races. As the event grew to over 200 students, Johnson and Daniels needed the help from the school’s teachers to help coach and prepare students for the races.
The two winning team names have filled the final spot on the plaques that are awarded to the winning schools. Next year will start a brand new plaque.