Boys Individual Recap Interview with Robert Allen | Interview with Jeff LaCoste | Boys Award CEREMONY | Boys Race Video | Boys Pre-Race Video | Boys Photos
It was like an early September afternoon with the temperatures in the high 50’s with the skies shining brightly expect it was the middle of November at Thetford Academy the site of the 76th New England Championships. 270 boys attack the challenging course, as they sprinted off the starting line trying to get into position before the course narrows after 300m.
The mile was passed in a controlled 5:00 for the leaders which included one of the pre-race favorites Jeff LaCoste (Bishop Guertin, NH), joining Lacoste at the front was Alex Gallo (North Providence, RI). About 5-10 meters behind them were Conor Rog (Fairfield Prep, CT),RI All-State Champion Robert Allen (Cranston West, RI) 
& La Salle Academy’s Zachary Fraielli.
The front group would be whittled down to LaCoste and Rog with Allen maintaining contact 5-10 meters back as the hit 3k, and tackled the hill called “Morty’s Monster”. “Once we got to the hill, I felt the front group coming back to me like a magnet.” Allen would say post race. This group three were clear of the field, at the 1k mark Allen made his first move to take over the lead but LaCoste and Rog had the same idea on the downhill sections. The pack emerged even with 600m to go even as they hit their last climb before the downhill run into the flat finish. Fraielli was in 4th with Gallo & Bryan Fowler (Tolland, CT) a few strides behind.
With 400m to Allen dug deep and was able to use his track speed to pull away from LaCoste and Rog, to stop the clock at 16:28.5. LaCoste would finish in the runner-up spot holding off the kick of Rog 16:35.4 to 16:35.6. Fraielli was 4th (16:45.8), Gallo would pull away fro 5th (16:51.1). Fowler the CT State Open champion finished 6th (16:56.6). Jon Conlin (Merrimack Valley) was the 2nd junior across the line in 7th (17:04.7) with the Xavier, CT duo of Jonathan Annelli (17:05)and Ian Albert (17:05.2) next for 8th and 9th. Guilford, CT Jeff Moretti rounded out the top 10 (17:08.4)
Team Recap
2010 New England Champions Manchester Ceentral, NH (photo by Dan Grossman Mapleleafphotos.com)
In the team race, Manchester Central, NH the winner of the NH Meet of Champions last week edged the RI All-State champions Bishop Hendricken for the team title by just 8 points, 157-165. La Salle Academy, RI was the 3rd best team. Samuel Gagnon (18th) led the way for the Little Green 17:15.9. For Hendricken, senior Ryan Meehan, the RI All-State runner-up, paced the Hawks with a 15th place finish (17:13.5). Manchester Central got top 50 finishes from Dylan LaFond (32nd) & Matt Becker (45th). Zach Chabot (72nd) & Max Tucker (96th) rounded out the scoring 5. BH also placed all 5 scorers in the top 100, but Central got the better of Hendricken at positions 2,3,4 which proved enough for the upset win. La Salle Academy the runner-up to Hendricken in the RI state meets the past weeks finished on the podium in 3rd. Xavier, CT had the best top 3 in the meet as they missed having 3 All-NE by 2 spots. Tolland, CT also had 2 ALL-NE selection with Bryan Fowler (6th) & Trevor Lafontaine (11th). Connecticut led the way with 9 ALL-NE selections.
Photos below from Dan Grossman (Mapleleafphotos.com)
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Robert Allen crosses the line to claim the NE title left, pictured right Jeff LaCoste holds off Conor Rog for 2nd
The girls race was led up front by some very talented harriers. Defending champion and 2009 Footlocker finalist Emily Durgin (Cheverus, ME), was joined by 2010
NIN 5k champion Lindsey Crevioserat (Glastonbury, CT), 2010 CT State Open Champion Jackie Nicholas (Monnewaug, CT), & 2010 NH MOC champion Kelsey Smith (Exeter, NH) these four battled it out during the first two miles running virtually stride for stride with each other. It was after the 2 mile mark that the real race unfolded, on the down hill sections of the tough course at Thetford Academy.
“I focused on letting myself go on the downhills after Morty’s monster, no one came with me.” Eventual race winner Lindsey Crevoiserat would say post race. Crevioserat pulled away on the down hills after the 2 mile, opening up a 10-15 meter lead that she wouldn’t relinquish. She took her first New England XC title, erasing some previous bad races at the meet (11th in 2009 & 26th in 2008), when she crossed the line in a fine 19:11.4 on the difficult and challenging course at Thetford Academy. Just last week Lindsey suffered a
lost at the CT State open meet, when she finished 2nd to Jackie Nicholas. The loss may have helped her out today. “I didn’t take the lead right away, the pace was under control for the first mile, I led last week and it didn’t work out.”
There was a strong pack of three battling it out for spots 2-3-4 with 600m to go (Durgin Nicholas, & Smith), defending champion Emily Durgin would have enough to nab the runner-up position 19:23.2. Durgin has now placed 2nd-1st-2nd in her three years, behind her CT State Open champion Jackie Nicholas was 3rd 19:25.4. Elle Purrier (Richford, VT) had a great day leading the VT contingent with a 4th place (19:44.1). At the VT state meet two weeks ago on the same course Purrier was ? Kelsey Smith (Exeter, NH) wound up 5th (19:47.5). Sarah Cotton (Daniel Hand, CT) ran well to finish 6th (19:52.9) holding off a challenge from VT Div. 1 State Champion Markie Palermo (19:54.8). Mary Kate Cirelli (Rutland, VT) finished 8th (20:00.8). Caroline Edison (Fairfield Warde, CT) was the 4th CT harrier across in 9th (20:05.5) place while Maine Class B State Champion Dacie Manion (Old Town) leaned her way to a top 10 finish (20:08.5)
Photos below from Dan Grossman (Mapleleafphotos.com)
Picturd above New England Champion Lindsey Crevoiserat (Glastonbury) & Rmily Durgin (Cheverus) the NE runner-up
Team Recap
2010 New England Girls Champions Champlain Valley, VT (Photo by Dan Grossman, Mapleleafphotos.com)
The home course advantage of Thetford Academy proved to be a lucky charm for Champlain Valley, VT as they cruised to a win at the New England Championship tallying just 88 points to defeat pre-meet and defending champion La Salle Academy by 33 points. Despite their first finisher crossing in the 24th position Champlain Valley relied on a tight pack with runners 1-4 (24th-32nd) which proved to be the difference maker as they placed 4 runners in front of La Salle’s #2 runner, and beat them at each of the 5 scoring positions. All 5 scorers for Champlain finished in the top 62 led by the 24th place finish of Summer Spillance (20:31.9) & her sister Taylor Spillance (20:33.6)25th place finish, they had a pack time of a tidy 48 seconds. La Salle had all 5 scorers in the top 70, they were led by Evie Jensen (26th) 20:36, there pack time was 54 seconds. CT State Open champion Glastonbury had a strong day despite some illness. The TomAhawks finished on the podium with their 3rd place finish led by individual champion Lindsey Crevoiserat. Only two teams had more than one ALL-NE selection, team champion Champlain Valley with sister Summer & Taylor Spillance (24th & 25th), and 4th place finisher Cheverus with Emily Durgin (2nd) & Shannon Conley (19th). Conneticut had the most ALL-NE runners with 8.