By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden (mysportsresults.com)
The New England Interscholastic Cross Country Championships are scheduled for Saturday at Troy Middle School in Belfast ME. The meet is an assembly of the best runners and teams from five states (CT, ME, NH, RI, VT) to crown the individual and team champions, plus award medals to the top 25 individuals as well as trophies to the top three teams. Each state may enter six teams and any other individual who placed in the top twenty-five positions in its state meet.
Brisk temperatures alongside high probabilities of rain or snow will test athletes running the 5K course. The boys race kicks off the event at 11:30 am, followed immediately by the girls race at 12:15 pm.
Council of New England Secondary Schools Principals’ Associations website
2026 NE XC Championship Boys Entries
Live Results from Lancer Timing Services
Troy Howard MS Belfast ME 5km Course Map
INDIVIDUAL PREVIEW
The best of the best boys descend upon Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, ME for the 91st running of the New England championships. State champions from a five state region will battle it out to be called New England champions. Six of the past eight years, the individual crown has gone to a Connecticut runner.
The top returner from last year is Griswold’s Tycen LaBelle who dominated the CT State Open with a winning time of 15:37 on Wickham’s hilly course. The senior was 3rd last year at New Englands and won the 2-mile in the indoor regional meet and was 2nd outdoors in the 3200m. He has the strength to compete with the best in the area and has useable speed at the end of the race that might make him dangerous if it is close
New Hampshire Meet of Champions winner Ben Groves broke 16 minutes on the tough Derryfield course, site of the Manchester Invitational and then ran a blazing 15:05.2 on a much faster MOC course to win by two seconds over Ethan Fischer of Bishop Guertin. Both Granite State boys are expected to be in contention late in the race.
Senior Colby Flynn of Bishop Hendricken has also been having a killer season with wins at the Bowdoin Park Classic, site of Nike Northeast Regionals and New Balance Shore Coaches Invitational on the famous Holmdel Park, NJ course, site of Brooks Northeast Regionals before winning his state championships over by four seconds over Will Souza of LaSalle Academy who defeated his teammate Matt Lewis for the first time this season. Both Rams should be part of the conversation and just could be there at the end.
East Lyme junior Nico Cardello came into the CT State Open with the fastest time of the day from the Class meets and won the Varsity A race from the Manhattan Invitational, breaking 12:50 for the 2.5 mile course. He got outkicked by two runners at the Open but should definitely be within range of a top four or five finish.
Leo Woodman of Providence Country Day dropped nearly a minute from his time last year on the Rhode Island state meet course to finish in third place and also ran just over 13 minutes at Manhattan. He will be looking to crack the top ten.
You won’t find his name in the front of the results from the CT State Open, but Xavier’s Quentin Koch crossed the line in 2nd place before being unfortunately getting disqualified for wearing a heart rate monitor arm band, which is not allowed according to CIAC rules. He seems to be coming into his own after leading Xavier to their 9th straight Class title and might want some redemption. If he can place in the top ten, with his teammates close behind, he will provide his team a real chance at upsetting Bishop Hendricken.
Finishing right behind Koch was Stratford’s Zackary O’Toole who was awarded the 2nd place medal at the Open. The senior has run right around 16 minutes three separate times at Wickham which is a mark of consistency. If he can handle the crowds at New Englands he could move into the top ten or even higher.
You don’t get to be ranked 2nd in the Northeast Region off the back of just one star. Rhode Island’s Bishop Hendricken dominated their state meet and taking fourth, only two seconds away from 2nd was junior Shepherd Butler. Last year he was the first sophomore (11th) at New England and this year he was the 2nd junior at Eastern State Race in the Manhattan Invitational and is building toward some possible gold medal performances in the very near future.
Others to keep an eye on include: Benjamin Holoch – Champlain Valley Union (VT), Jason Robie Team – Pinkerton (NH), Andrew Williams – Bishop Hendricken (NH), Holden Hines – Xavier (CT), John Thornton-Sherman – St Johnsbury (VT), Cole Hart – Champlain Valley Union (VT), Brooks Mello – Barrington (RI), Gabe White – E.O. Smith (CT), Colby Napolitano – Barrington (RI), Atticus Merriam – Scarborough (ME), Vihaan Kamath – Greenwich, (CT), Alex Martin-Casas – Hall (CT), James Perrault – Xavier (CT), Oliver Redmond – Bishop Hendricken (RI)
TEAM PREVIEW
In the last 62 years, Bishop Hendricken has only failed to make New Englands in cross country, three times and haven’t missed the meet in 30 years. In this time, the Hawks have won 13 titles, 6th runner up plaques and three third place awards. They are the defending champions and currently ranked 2nd in the entire Northeast Region according to Dyestat with an outstanding chance of qualifying for NXN in Oregon. Besides Flynn and Butler, they have a 42 second 1-5 man gap with a chance of placing at least four in the top 25. While they are not guaranteed a win, someone is going to have to step up big time or one of the BH runners will have to have an off day for someone to catch them.
As long as Xavier comes in at full strength, they should give Bishop Hendricken a run for their money. Based upon their Class MM performance, they are much improved since they last met the Ocean State school at The Bowdoin Park Classic in September. Like BH, the Falcons also have a solid pedigree at New Englands with 31 trips to the meet, six wins, two runner up finishes and five 3rd place plaques. This is the 10th straight trip to New Englands,the longest active streak among CT teams.
Vermont sends two solid teams that could earn a podium spot. Champlain Valley Union easily won their Division I Champion but St. Johnsbury turned the table in their Meet of Champions. How things shake out at New Englands will be anyone’s guess, but the Green Mountain State is coming for some hardware.
Hanover put four runners in the top 11 and all scorers in the top 26 to come away with a victory in the New Hampshire Meet of Champions and have a shot at a podium finish if things go their way. The Marauders have made New Englands for the 13th time (5th straight) and won their only team trophy in 2008 when they finished 3rd.
With Bishop Hendricken dominating Rhode Island, taking 2nd is the goal for the other teams in the state. Barrington High School came away with the runner-up trophy and put all five runners in the top 27 with three in the top ten. This is their 29th trip to New Englands and they will be looking to crack the top ten for the first time since 1994.
Coe-Brown had a tight 37 second gap between their top five finishers in the New Hampshire Meet of Champions, only 14 points behind Hanover. The Bears tied their highest finish at New Englands last year with a strong 4th place finish and have made New Englands 15 times in the past 22 years. Another top ten finish or higher is a real possibility.
In their first trip to New Englands last year, Greenwich was a surprise third place finisher. The Cardinals broke their school record on Wickham Park at Class LLs and finished a strong 2nd at the State Open. In their 2nd trip to the regional meet, if things fall their way they should be among the top few teams.
Other teams to keep an eye on: Pinkerton – NH, East Greenwich – RI, Glastonbury – CT, Newtown – CT, La Salle Academy – RI, Yarmouth – ME, UThirtyTwo – VT, Haddam-Killingworth – CT, Ridgefield – CT
