After achieving a pair of second-place finishes at the Division I Championships and the New Hampshire Meet of Champions during the previous two weekends, the Londonderry High boys’ cross-country contingent closed out its 2015 campaign with a more-than-respectable seventh-place finish at the New England High School Cross-Country Championships at Thetford Academy in Vermont last Saturday, Nov. 14.
Veteran coach and former LHS runner Matt Smith saw his charges end up among the top 10 squads in a race that featured 30 highly-competitive teams from across the region. The LaSalle Academy harriers from Rhode Island impressively won not only the New England boys’ crown but the girls’ title as well that day.
As was the case at both the D-I championships and the Meet of Champs – at which the Lancers finished behind the rival Pinkerton Academy Astros – Londonderry senior star Cam Dickson paced the Londonderry effort by crossing the finish line first. He did so at the Vermont event 23rd overall out of 257 total finishers in 16 minutes and 49 seconds. Dickson had taken an excellent fourth at the D-I championships and 10th place at the MOC’s.
The LHS stalwart was followed closely by his teammate Noah Schrank in 29th place (16:56), and that dynamic duo was trailed by their fellow LHS Lancers Jared Kane in 50th place (17:13), Chris Zaino in the 133rd spot (17:59), Declan Hotter in 159th place (18:11), Bailey Hamilton in the 168th position (18:18), and Josh Wasserman in 201st place (18:38).