GRANITE STATE FLASH HAS STRONG SHOWING AT JUNIOR OLYMPIC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP

November 18, Eisenhower Park-Long Island NY

On November 18th, 71 Granite State Flash youth runners ages 6-16 traveled down to the hurricane-hit, very flat course on Long Island to participate in the Region 1 USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. Coming from 19 towns across New Hampshire and competing in 9 divisions, our athletes competed against the top youth runners across New England, Maine, Connecticut and NY (Metro, Long Island and Adirondack). The conditions were perfect for fast races- sunny, cool, and very flat grass fields- and Flash had very strong results. We had two 1st-place teams- Youth Girls and Bantam Girls- as well as 2 overall race winners in Caroline Fischer (Bantam Girls) and Ben Platt (Intermediate Boys). In the end Flash had 25 athletes medal by finishing top-20 in their respective races and automatically qualify on to Nationals. In addition, 5 of our 6 teams also qualified on to Nationals by placing top-3 teams in each race.

Even with some athletes deciding to focus on their quickly-approaching indoor track school seasons, in all 38 Flash runners are packing their bags for Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete at the Junior Olympic National Championships on Dec 8th! Following are the results of the Granite State Flash athletes in the Region 1 meet, including Place, Time and Town. Top 20 individuals and top 3 teams (min. 5 runners) automatically qualify for Nationals:

• Sub-Bantam Girls 2K (8 and Under): Charlotte Sullivan (11, 9:28, Brentwood), Masho Primmer (18, 9:40, Amherst), Kathryn Craig (22, 9:51, Manchester), Ashereka Primmer (31, 10:20, Amherst)
• Sub-Bantam Boys 2K: Garrett Vaillancourt (17, 9:10, Manchester), Cole Borovicka (22, 9:21, Londonderry)
• Bantam Girls 3K (9-10): Caroline Fischer (1, 10:44, Merrimack), Morgan Nault (11, 11:23, Manchester), Katelyn Pepin (12, 11:27, Auburn), Keegan Pepin (19, 11:43, Auburn), Kaylee L'Etoille (20, 11:48, Litchfield), Gillian Gallagher (24, 12:10, Litchfield), Taylor Clark (37, 12:35, Contoocook), Lilly Law (45, 12:53, Londonderry), Cailin Borovicka (46, 12:55, Londonderry), Emma Pyles (51, 13:05, Amherst), Lily Sabol (52, 13:07, Hopkinton), Alexandra Roy (57, 13:15, Manchester), Madison Carrillo (73, 13:41, Merrimack), Victoria Smith (86, 12:53, New Ipswich)-TEAM QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS WITH 1ST PLACE FINISH
• Bantam Boys 3K: Zack Allen (17, 10:53, New Ipswich), Joseph Ntengeri (19, 10:55, Nashua), Ryan Fischer (20, 10:59, Merrimack), Christian Garcia (40, 11:46, Amherst), Matt Bernier (41, 11:47, Rindge), James Sullivan (42, 11:48, Brentwood), Connor Donoghue (47, 11:55, Amherst) -TEAM QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS WITH 2ND PLACE FINISH
• Midget Girls 3K (11-12): Violet Sullivan (9, 10:32, Brentwood), Kalin Gregoire (14, 10:43, Londonderry), Mollie Simpson (25, 11:00, Manchester), Marley Sullivan (28, 11:02, Manchester), Rebecca Ntengeri (29, 11:04, Nashua), Bailey Carrillo (33, 11:07, Merrimack), Jordan Vaillancourt (37, 11:10, Manchester), Alexandra Seeley (49, 11:24, Londonderry), Taylor Clark (67, 11:45, Amherst), Kimberly Fountain (68, 11:45, Bedford), Rylee Ducharme (69, 11:50, Manchester), Arielle Zlotnick (73, 12:00, Amherst), Shauna Kimura (74, 12:03, Merrimack), Julia Pascucci (79, 12:10, Amherst), Sloan Facques (81, 12:12, Amherst), Emma Desmarais (125, 13:41, Chester) - TEAM QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS WITH 2ND PLACE FINISH

• Midget Boys 3K: Joseph Gagnon (25, 10:13, Hooksett), Zena Primmer (35, 10:24, Amherst), Nick Garcia (45, 10:37, Amherst), DJ Turner (60, 10:51, Greenville), Mitch Nault (65, 10:58, Manchester), Nathan Seeley (70, 11:02, Londonderry), Ethan Desmarais (78, 11:14, Chester), Simon Doneski (86, 11:23, Hopkinton)- TEAM EARNED 6TH PLACE FINISH
• Youth Girls 4K (13-14): Madeleine Hunt (2, 15:03, Amherst), Madison Clark (4, 15:10, Contoocook), Ariel Vaillancourt (9, 15:13, Manchester), Heidi Ntengeri (14, 15:30, Nashua), Katie Valin (17, 15:32, Wilton), Molly Power (19, 15:35, Hampton), Erica Lane (25, 15:46, Merrimack), Jessica Ewing (26, 15:48, Amherst), Taylor Lacey (31, 15:56, Chester), Isabela Fast (53, 17:04, Windham)- TEAM QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS WITH 1ST PLACE FINISH
• Intermediate Girls 5K (15-16): Shannon Glidden (18, 20:39, Greenfield), Sophia Simard (22, 22:15, Londonderry)Intermediate Boys 5K: Benjamin Platt (1, 15:42, Amherst), Sean Munnelly (12, 16:14, Litchfield), Christian Parenteau (15, 16:25, Hollis), James Busi (18, 16:40, Plaistow), Dan McColley (19, 16:42, Brentwood), Tyler DeChane (21, 16:50, Danville), Byrne Cronin (22, 16:51, Goffstown), Sam Richmond (30, 17:51, Bedford)- TEAM QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS WITH 2ND PLACE FINISH

Congratulations to all the Flash athletes that competed, their talented and caring coaches, and the families that have supported them all season. Also, congratulations to the other New England clubs and coaches that have competed and qualified on to Nationals! In total, New England made up 21 of the 25 teams from Region 1 that are advancing to the National meet! Full meet results can be found at http://www.usatfne.org/cross/results/12-11-18-region1-jo.html.