Londonderry High boys’ cross-country coach Matt Smith saw his charges finish their 2014 campaign in modest fashion at 21st out of 30 teams at the New England Interscholastic Cross-Country Championships in Wickham Park in Manchester, Conn., Saturday, Nov. 8.
The Lancers, who narrowly qualified for the New Hampshire Meet of Champions (MOC) with an eighth-place finish at the Division I Championships several weeks ago – and then notched a fifth-place finish in awful weather at the MOC a week later to qualify for the New Englands – ran against the finest high school competition in the region at the Wickham Park competition. They were fifth out of the six Granite State contingents at the regional event, with the two-time defending Division I champion Pinkerton Academy Astros eighth overall to lead New Hampshire squads.
Rhode Island’s LaSalle Academy boys’ squad snared another championship handily, and Darien, Conn., harrier Alex Ostberg was the first runner across the finish line with his time of 15 minutes and 7 seconds.
The Londonderry team had Jared Kane finish first – 92nd overall – in the 264-finisher field in a time of 17:10. He was followed by teammates Cameron Dickson in 127th place (17:22), Noah Schrank in the 160th spot (17:37), Bailey Hamilton in 187th place (17:53), Josh Wasserman in 200th place (18:00), and Spenser Kutney 232nd (18:26).