Drew Thompson & Julia Robitaille Best in New England


Drew Thompson & Julia Robitaille Best in New England

Pinkerton Academy girls claim team title, while Xavier, CT is the best on the boys' side.

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Julia Robitaille a junior from Manchester West, NH was all smiles as she crossed the finish line at the 2017 Girls' New England XC Champion. Robitaille who didn't win her state meet in NH, ran a new course record of 17:31.65 despite the cool temperatures. Her time was 17 second better than the previous course record of Cassie Hintz set in 2004. Her winning margin was nine seconds over Eleanore Lawlor of South Kingstown, RI.


The last two weeks Julia Robitaille ran in the shadows of Jacqueline Gaughan in the New Hampshire state meet & then Meet of Champions, finishing second each time.

On Saturday she stuck with the lead pack throughout two miles before putting the pedal down with a mile to go. No one was able to match the juniors acceleration as she pulled away for a nine second victory.

She was all smiles as she crossed the finish line.

"It doesn't feel real, I didn't have expectations, I just wanted to run fast." the champion said.

Her winning time 17:31.65 was the fastest ever run on the Troy Howard Middle School course breaking the 13 year old course record of Cassie Hintz.

"Anything can happen in any race, so I just wanted to keep believing in myself" Robitaille said of running in the shadows of Gaughan in New Hampshire.

That belief certainly paid off in a big way as she captured her first New England title.

After a balmy fall, cool temperatures and a raw wind met the best in New England. For Robitaille that meant wearing a long sleeve shirt under her jersey and a pair of gloves.

South Kingstown senior & Syracuse bound Eleanor Lawler has been a model of consistency in her four years of high school. On Saturday she earned her fourth straight All-New England honors, and her second New England runner-up finish (10th in 2014 & 4th in 2016). Lawler who clocked 17:40.55 was also under the old course record.

Portsmouth, RI's Nikki Merrill sprinted her way to a third place effort (17:50.68) with Wilton, CT senior Morgan McCormick right behind in fourth (17:50.80). Kate Wiser a freshman from Pomperaug, CT rounded out the top finish at 17:53.16

Defending champion Jacqueline Gaughan was next in sixth followed by Emily Kane of La Salle Academy. Next was Elizabeth Sullivan of Portsmouth, RI in 8th while Randi Burr of Westerly, RI was 9th. Rhode Island had 5 of the top 9 individuals.

Maine freshman Sofie Matson of Falmouth nabbed 10th.

In the team competition New Hampshire stood tall as Pinkerton Academy took the title by twenty points over Bishop Guertin. For Pinkerton they were led by Meghan Cross in 22nd & Jordan Vaillancourt in 31st. 

Glastonbury, CT was third with Champlain Valley of Vermont in 4th followed by Souhegan, NH in fifth


Top 25 Girls All-New England

  1 Julia Robitaille          JR Manchester West NH    17:31.65
  2 Eleanor Lawler            SR South Kingstown       17:40.55    1
  3 Nikki Merrill             JR Portsmouth HS - RI    17:50.68    2
  4 Morgan McCormick          SR Wilton CT             17:50.80
  5 Katherine Wiser           FR Pomperaug CT          17:53.16    3
  6 Jacqueline Gaughan        SR Exeter NH             18:06.50
  7 Emily Kane                SR La Salle              18:08.84    4
  8 Elizabeth Sullivan        JR Portsmouth HS - RI    18:09.22    5
  9 Randi Burr                SR Westerly HS - RI      18:14.61
 10 Sofie Matson              FR Falmouth - ME         18:17.30
 11 Caroline Fischer          SO Bishop Guertin - NH   18:20.02    6
 12 Jane Leighton             SR Souhegan NH           18:22.11    7
 13 Meredith Bloss            JR Guilford CT           18:33.65    8
 14 Lauren Robinson           JR Milford NH            18:34.76
 15 Haley Schmitt             SO Bishop Guertin - NH   18:36.52    9
 16 Grace Connolly            SR La Salle              18:37.04   10
 17 Addison Cox               FR Coe-Brown NH          18:40.04   11
 18 Una Treanor               SR Smithfield Hs-Ri      18:40.89
 19 Danielle Slavin           SR Oyster River NH       18:41.03   12
 20 Delaney Bullock           SR Putney School VT      18:43.44
 21 Angela Saidman            JR Immaculate CT         18:43.69
 22 Meghan Cross              SO Pinkerton NH          18:43.73   13
 23 Grace Iltis               SO Camden Hills - ME     18:43.78   14
 24 Kylie Raymond             SO Somers CT             18:44.95
 25 Corinne Robitaille        JR Manchester West NH    18:45.82


Top 10 Girls Teams

   1 Pinkerton NH                163   13   16   27   39   68  100  174
      Total Time:  1:36:34.93
         Average:    19:18.99
   2 Bishop Guertin - NH         183    6    9   15   40  113  135  176
      Total Time:  1:36:08.25
         Average:    19:13.65
   3 Glastonbury CT              212   22   23   30   53   84   92  136
      Total Time:  1:37:59.28
         Average:    19:35.86
   4 Champlain Valley VT         215   24   25   47   49   70   90  112
      Total Time:  1:38:08.05
         Average:    19:37.61
   5 Souhegan NH                 236    7   20   29   77  103  140  159
      Total Time:  1:37:40.33
         Average:    19:32.07
   6 La Salle Academy - RI       238    4   10   51   63  110  114  149
      Total Time:  1:37:13.51
         Average:    19:26.71
   7 Coe-Brown NH                239   11   32   38   78   80  126  160
      Total Time:  1:38:04.81
         Average:    19:36.97
   8 Danbury-CT                  251   17   19   59   71   85   86  168
      Total Time:  1:38:24.07
         Average:    19:40.82
   9 Portsmouth HS - RI          279    2    5   21  106  145  169
      Total Time:  1:37:12.12
         Average:    19:26.43
  10 Pomperaug CT                293    3   26   56   66  142  150  164
      Total Time:  1:38:21.93
         Average:    19:40.39


Drew Thompson of Fairfield Prep, CT dominated the field after the halfway point at the 2017 New England XC Championship. The senior bound for Dartmouth won in a strong tim of 15:18 considering the blustery and muddy conditions at the Troy Howard Middle School course in Belfast Maine. His winning margin was 32 seconds.


Drew Thompson came to Belfast with a plan, and he executed that to a tee on Saturday as he romped to a thirty two second victory to win the New England Cross Country Championship. The 32 second margin matched Alex Ostberg's winning margin in 2014, almost unheard of for the caliber of competition seen at a New England Championship meet.

"My plan was to go out hard, as that's my strength" Thompson said after the race.

After the 400m mark Thompson assumed the pacing duties up front with Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth in tow. At the halfway point Thompson's strength really showed as the Dartmouth bound senior started to open up a gap.

By the two mile mark that gap continued to grow and Thompson was well on his way to victory.

Thompson who is undefeated on the season will next run in the Footlocker Northeast Regional at Van Cordlandt Park in New York in two weeks, a year ago he earned the final spot to Footlocker Nationals in San Diego, and based on how well he has run so far a repeat trip is well within reach.

Riley Fenoff of Danville Vermont had a bounce back race after finishing fifth in the Vermont State meet a couple of weeks ago after entering the favorite. Fenoff used that performance for fuel on Saturday, and with 400m to go knew he was going to be top 5. 

"I looked up and saw second place, and figured why not go for it"

The burly Fenoff did just that powering his way across the line in 15:48.45, a new personal best.

Cheshire, CT senior Brendan Murray was next in 15:51.15 with sophomore Max Dimuccio of La Salle Academy crossing in 4th at 15:52.32.

Rounding out the top five was Benjamin Seiple of Staples, CT in 15:53.13.

Connecticut dominated the top 10 with six athletes. Robert Dillon of Shelton, CT was sixth followed by Christian Myers of Staples.

Maine's Luke Laverdiere struggled home to finish eight after running second for 4,600m of the race. He was followed closely to line by Maximillian Sparks of Canton, CT.

Deering's Yahya Nure had a tremendous run to place tenth, Nure was third at the Class A meet two weeks ago, he clocked a new personal best 16:01.23.

The team race was dominated by Connecticut as well. Xavier tallied 74 points to outdistance rival Staples by 29 points. The two teams tied for the Connecticut State Open title last week, with Xavier earning to win with a better 6th runner. 

Xavier packed its scoring five between places 12-31, the were led by junior Dillon Selfors (16:02.03 -12th) & senior Owen Curran (16:02.32 -13th). They averaged 16:11 as a team with an impressive 18 second pack time.


Top 25 Boys All-New England
  1 Drew Thompson             SR Fairfield Prep-CT       4:55.1   15:16.66    1
  2 Riley Fenoff              SR Danville School VT      5:05.3   15:48.45
  3 Brendan Murray            SR Cheshire-CT             5:06.2   15:51.15
  4 Max Dimuccio              SO La Salle                5:06.6   15:52.32    2
  5 Benjamin Seiple           SR Staples-CT              5:06.8   15:53.13    3
  6 Robert Dillon             JR Shelton-CT              5:07.3   15:54.51
  7 Christian Myers           SR Staples-CT              5:07.9   15:56.47    4
  8 Luke Laverdiere           SR Yarmouth - ME           5:08.9   15:59.70
  9 Maximillian Sparks        SR Canton-CT               5:09.3   16:00.81
 10 Yahya Nure                SR Deering - ME            5:09.4   16:01.23    5
 11 William Landowne          SR Staples-CT              5:09.6   16:01.73    6
 12 Dillon Selfors            JR Xavier-CT               5:09.7   16:02.03    7
 13 Owen Curran               SR Xavier-CT               5:09.8   16:02.32    8
 14 Forest MacKenzie          JR Concord NH              5:09.9   16:02.75    9
 15 Joe Pearl                 SR Manchester-CT           5:10.0   16:03.03
 16 David Vorbach             SR Nashua North NH         5:10.2   16:03.69   10
 17 Trey Cormier              JR Hall-CT                 5:10.6   16:04.87   11
 18 Alec Troxell              JR Deering - ME            5:10.8   16:05.64   12
 19 Henry Farrington          SO Essex VT                5:11.1   16:06.32   13
 20 Aidan Tierney             JR BishopHendricken        5:11.2   16:06.73   14
 21 Killian McNamee           SO Tolland-CT              5:11.4   16:07.49
 22 Alex Mocarski             SR Fairfield Warde-CT      5:12.4   16:10.48   15
 23 Robbie Cozean             SO Xavier-CT               5:13.3   16:13.13   16
 24 Jake Winslow              JR Exeter NH               5:13.4   16:13.65
 25 Stephen Looke             SR U-32 VT                 5:13.5   16:13.88   17


Top 10 Boys Teams


   1 Xavier-CT                    74    7    8   16   21   22   55   74
      Total Time:  1:20:57.41
         Average:    16:11.49
   2 Staples-CT                  103    3    4    6   37   53   54   76
      Total Time:  1:21:04.49
         Average:    16:12.90
   3 Bishop Hendricken HS - RI   126   14   19   28   29   36   39   41
      Total Time:  1:21:44.32
         Average:    16:20.87
   4 La Salle Academy - RI       159    2   26   40   45   46   48   79
      Total Time:  1:22:00.92
         Average:    16:24.19
   5 Concord NH                  202    9   24   47   60   62   90   93
      Total Time:  1:22:39.30
         Average:    16:31.86
   6 Fairfield Warde-CT          212   15   27   31   68   71   92  115
      Total Time:  1:22:49.51
         Average:    16:33.91
   7 Fairfield Prep-CT           224    1   33   50   58   82  179  197
      Total Time:  1:22:09.22
         Average:    16:25.85
   8 Haddam-Killingworth-CT      266   18   34   44   69  101  128  149
      Total Time:  1:23:29.70
         Average:    16:41.94
   9 Hall-CT                     328   11   42   56   75  144  151  194
      Total Time:  1:24:01.65
         Average:    16:48.33
  10 U-32 VT                     343   17   65   70   78  113  152  159
      Total Time:  1:24:20.98
         Average:    16:52.20