High School Sports

September 13. 2012 1:16AM

NHIAA girls' cross country preview: Coe-Brown the team to beat again

By MARK LABORE
New Hampshire Union Leader

The Scoop

Teams to watch: Division I provides the most excitement in a long while. Defending champion Bishop Guertin of Nashua interrupted runner-up Manchester Central’s three-year string of crowns dating back to 2008. The Cardinals’ repeat hopes lie with Sarah Burke, Molly McCabe, Gabby Richardson and Sarah Murphy. Central boasts the return of D-I individual champion and New Hampshire Union Leader Runner of the Year Elizabeth Conway, Megan Brockett and Emily Harris. Londonderry benefits from the top-10 efforts of Cassandra Cronin and Colleen Kennedy. Bedford, which posted a runner-up score at last year’s Meet of Champions, moves up from D-II and returns four of its five scorers led by Gwen Winship. Keep an eye on Plaistow’s Timberlane. Expect Coe-Brown of Northwood to pace the Division II field for the third consecutive season. Sophomore Hannah Parker has established herself as one of the elite scholastic runners in the state. Hanover has grown accustomed to winning (2004 through 2009) under the guidance of coach Jim Eakin. Parker Goss, Lydia Vogt and Liz Haas keep the Marauders in contention. The only champion Division III has known for the past eight years is Hopkinton. By the end of October, that number will change to nine. Katie Irwin, Emma Geiger, Emily Calder and Shannon Nadeau pace the Hawks, and 2010 coaches’ all-state selection Judith Marklin returns after a year abroad. Sophomore Casey Hecox is the reigning D-III individual champion.

Athletes to watch: Elizabeth Conway of Manchester Central seeks her second consecutive Union Leader Runner of the Year award. Milford’s Courtney Hawkins attempts to defend her Meet of Champions title. Derryfield sophomore Casey Hecox won’t take the Division III field by surprise again. Mia Eisenhandler of Nashua South, Hannah Kimball of Timberlane, Shannon Murdock of Exeter, Cassandra Cronin and Colleen Kennedy of Londonderry, and Sarah Burke, Molly McCabe, Gabby Richardson and Sarah Murphy of Bishop Guertin all want Conway’s D-I title. Hawkins, Hannah Parker of Coe-Brown, Meghan Philpot of Hollis/Brookline and Sami Hicks of Laconia seek D-II laurels. Katrina Weisner of Bow, Briggie Carr of Kearsarge, Katie Irwin, Emma Geiger, Judith Marklin and Emily Calder of Hopkinton and Elizabeth McGurk of Mascenic make a bid for gold in D-III.

Defending champions: Elizabeth Conway of Manchester Central led the Division I field by 22 seconds with a time of 18:54. Derryfield’s Casey Hecox was the only Division III runner under 20 minutes, winning in 19:45. Courtney Hawkins paced the state at the Meet of Champions with an 18:34.1 clocking. Bishop Guertin rules Division I. Coe-Brown Northwood Academy is the two-time Division II champion. Hopkinton has stood in the Division III winner’s circle every year since 2004.

Champions now in college: Mckenzie Haney of Penacook’s Merrimack Valley had the fastest time among all competitors at the divisional meets last fall, winning the D-II title in 18:39. She competes at the University of New Hampshire this season where she finished 11th overall (18:46.6) as the Wildcats’ fourth runner in a season-opening dual meet against Providence College.

They’ll be chasing bears through the New Hampshire woods this fall. The Coe-Brown Northwood Academy Bears.

And those Bears will be hard to catch.

Coe-Brown is the two-time defending NHIAA Division II girls’ cross country champion. Last season, it tallied the low team score at the annual Meet of Champions, and at the New England Championships, CBNA finished third, the top-finishing team from the Granite State.

The Bears return four of their five scoring runners from last season’s team, led by sophomores Hannah Parker and Katie Scannell and juniors Jessie Carney and Lexie Buiel. The four ran among the top 20 at the division meet and were scored among the initial 35 finishers at the MOC.

Parker, the squad’s sparkplug and runner-up at the D-II Meet a year ago, was named to the 2011 New Hampshire Union Leader All-State Girls’ Cross Country team as a freshman.

Competition in Northwood will be spirited this fall for the No. 5 position on the team. Last year’s junior varsity team won the D-II state meet.

But one thing is certain — the Coe-Brown Bears will be chased into the New Hampshire championship season and all the way to Maine for the New England crown.

The battle for individual supremacy among Granite State girls’ harriers has been brewing for several years now, and the fall season, and especially the Manchester Invitational at Derryfield Park (Sept. 22), will offer a preview of what’s in store for spectators when the leaves begin to fall.

The youth movement the sport has seen over the past several years, and which Parker has recently joined, will culminate on the first Saturday in November at the MOC in Nashua.

Running for laurels will be: last season’s state champion Courtney Hawkins of Milford, runner-up and Division I champion Elizabeth Conway of Manchester Central, podium regular Mia Eisenhandler of Nashua South, Hannah Kimball of Plaistow’s Timberlane, Shannon Murdock of Exeter, Meghan Philpot of Hollis/Brookline, and Sarah Burke and Molly McCabe of Nashua’s Bishop Guertin, as well as Parker.

Hawkins, Conway, Eisenhandler and Philpot join Parker as returning 2011 Union Leader All-State Cross Country selections. Conway is last season’s Union Leader Runner of the Year.

Hawkins (18:34.1) outdistanced Conway, Eisenhandler and Parker by a total of 11 seconds at the MOC last season. Each has matured into a seasoned senior runner.

Conway (18:54) easily outran Eisenhandler, Kimball and Murdock at last year’s D-I Meet. Parker finished the D-II competition with a 10-second advantage over Hawkins.

After an injury-plagued season last year, Laconia senior Sami Hicks is fit and ready to challenge.

Though the times were much slower at the D-III Meet, the youth movement was evident as the top seven finishers, led by Casey Hecox of Manchester’s Derryfield School (19:45), were underclassmen.

Coe-Brown is not the only team that will have its way this season. Hopkinton has won the D-III title for the past eight straight years, and is gearing to claim yet another NHIAA plaque for the school’s Wall of Fame.

The Hawks scored a New Hampshire championship season-low 31 points last October, and they return four (Katie Irwin, Emma Geiger, Emily Calder and Shannon Nadeau) of their top five scoring runners who ran among the initial 12 finishers at the title showdown.

D-I presents the most interesting team competition this season. Last season’s state champion, Bishop Guertin, returns its entire top seven runners, and second-place Central brings back its top five scorers. While Central’s Conway battles BG’s Burke for race laurels, meet outcomes will be decided further back in the field.

McCabe, Gabby Richardson and Sarah Murphy will wear the green and yellow of BG, while Megan Brockett and Emily Harris will sport the Little Green’s green and white. All are top 20 performers.

Joining the perennial powers in the D-I team competition is Londonderry, which also returns its top seven. The Lancers are led by Cassandra Cronin and Colleen Kennedy, who finished fifth and eighth a year ago.

In addition, the Lancers are loaded with depth, having won the D-I junior varsity championship last season.

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Mark Labore may be reached at mlabore@unionleader.com.