McMahon Runner Captures State Open Championship

In his first Class LL cross country meet as a freshman in 2012, Eric Van Der Els of Brien McMahon High School placed in the bottom half of the pack, finishing 105th with a time of 18:17 at Wickham Park in Manchester.

Fast forward three years to a gorgeous, unseasonably warm Friday afternoon at the State Open, back at “The Green Monster.” Nearly 200 runners started the boys race, and the first to cross the finish line wore a McMahon jersey.

Van Der Els completed the hilly 3.1 mile track in 15:47, placing him eight seconds ahead of runnerup Gabriel Altopp of Ridgefield and 18 seconds in front of third-place Randy Neish of Glastonbury.

The same trio had finished in the same spots last week at the Class LL meet, also at Wickham Park.

In winning, Van Der Els became McMahon’s first-ever State Open champion, and for the third time, he earned a spot in the New England Cross Country Championships Nov. 14 at Thetford Academy, outside of White River Junction, VT.

Photo credit: Tim Jensen