Lancers Run Against the Masses at Annual Invitational

Cross-country teams and their athletes from across the New England region traveled to Manchester’s Derryfield Park last Saturday, Sept. 23 to compete against one another at the 43rd Annual Manchester Invitational. And Londonderry High School runners wound up being right in the mix in a number of races.

The biggest news was made by the Londonderry High boys’ freshman crew, which showed what their program’s future may well hold by taking first place out of some 19 teams.

And on the girls’ side of the ledger, the Lady Lancers had battle-tested senior star Kalin Gregoire remind everybody what a talented and determined athlete she is in the girls’ large school race.

In that freshman boys’ one-mile race, Londonderry’s standout ninth graders Will Heenan and Ryan Young impressed incredibly by finishing first and second respectively out of some 184 competitors.

Heenan won the race in five minutes and 23 seconds, and teammate Young was right on his heels in second crossing the finish line in 5:24. Londonderry also had Matt Griffin go top-ten, finishing a superb sixth overall in 5:32.

The young men led their squad to first place overall with an impressive group score of 56.

In the boys’ large school race – in which 248 harriers crossed the finish line – the LHS varsity was well represented by Jake Donnelly in 62nd place (17:47), Jeff Cieslikowski in 79th (18:05), Kyle Hoglund in 86th (18:14), and Eric Nowack in the 98th spot (18:23). Londonderry ended up 16th out of the 37 squads in that large race.

And in the girls’ large school race – which had 210 finishers – Londonderry High was well represented by Gregoire in 32nd place (20:46) and Caitlin Boufford in the 62nd position (21:44).