By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country teams competed in the State Division I Championship on Saturday, Oct. 17 and a number of personal best times were posted by Lancer runners.
The meeting, held at Derryfield Park in Manchester, had 20 teams running for the state title and the Londonderry boys’ team were able to post a fifth-place spot.
Individually, there were 130 athletes competing and Lancer runners had three in the top-25, another three in the top-60 and one just outside the 100 mark.
Sophomore Carson Fitzgerald was the first Londonderry competitor, at 16:59.61, a time that put him in 12th place.
Sophomore, Josh Twomey had a time of 17:36.12 and placed 22nd; senior Aiden Oljey finished in 23rd with a time of 17:37.33; sophomore Jack DiBuono (32nd) with a time of 17:46.56; junior Alex Vaccaro (57) at 18:32.10; senior Will Buckley (59th) 18:33.50; and freshman Mason Hernandez finished just outside the top 100 at 20:13.52.
Head coach, Matt Smith, was happy with the result, saying “This is the meet we’ve been working towards all season long, and the guys delivered big time. It was great to see so many personal bests on this course despite the unseasonably warm weather. To knock off BG and Keene and race their way into the top five is a huge accomplishment for us. I’m incredibly proud of their hard work, determination, and of course the results they achieved today.”
The Lancer girls’ runners didn’t get inside the top ten as a team.
Their top finishers were between the 70th and 100th spots.
Sophomore, Drew Shermann was the top finisher, at 70th, with a time of 23:36.90.
Senior Amara White finished with a time of 24:02.45; and junior Sayde White had a time of 24:07.97.
A full list of the state meet results can be found at: https://lancertiming.com