Fresh off winning the state Division III title, the Mascenic girls’ cross-country team took to the fields and woods of Alvirne High School in Hudson for Meet of Champions Saturday, finishing 11th, one spot above their ranking of 12th.

The die for this year’s championship team was cast Oct. 29, 2022, when Mascenic Vikings finished in the runner-up spot at the state championships by 16 points and returned six of their top seven this year.

Mascenic is led by a set of sophomore twins in Erin and Kaitlin O’Shea, who took the division by storm last year, finishing fifth and sixth at the Division III meet and 42nd and 48th at Meet of Champions, with Kaitlin beating Erin that day. But the bulk of the team is a group of seniors who have been running together for most of the past eight years. Gracie German, Skye Lambert and Amelia Smith have been teammates since the fifth grade, and running partners from even before that. Emma and Florrie Schaumloffel joined the squad in seventh grade when they moved to town the year before. Each one of them was on the eighth grade team that won the TriCounty championship.

This season has been all about getting it done, but getting it done together. 

“We really wanted to do this for each other. It seems like we’ve been aiming for this for a long time,” stated co-captain Emma Schaumloffel. “We really wanted this so we could all be a part of it.”

The team ran well through its early schedule, but it was made up of assorted relays and pairings that might not show the true strength of the team. The first true meet would be their homecoming, with some strong Division III teams in attendance. 

“Fall Mountain, Newfound and Conant were on hand, with some of the top individuals in D3 there as well, so it would be the first time we’d see how we run collectively in competition,” stated coach Michael Smith.

The Vikings won easily, 24 to 54 over Fall Mountain.

Later in the season, Mascenic finished fifth in the Small School race, behind two New Hampshire’s best teams in Oyster River and Hanover, and two teams from out of state. 

“We beat Hopkinton, who we saw as our biggest challenge for the title in October, which was a good sign,” stated coach Becka Lyons. “We knew we were on the right track.”

That right track continued with wins at the Belmont Invite and Monadnock’s Midnight Madness. With only one race left on the schedule, the runners focused on the end of the season. 

“We really love running at Derryfield School, mostly so we can win the pumpkin, which is the goal every year,” stated Lambert.  “We really want to win it.”  

And win it they did, scoring a perfect 15. Win with two weeks to go until the championship race all there was was the training to focus on. 

“I was a little nervous without any competitions to distract them, the girls might start worrying about the championship way in advance, but the girls really did a great job keeping their composure over the two weeks,” stated Smith. “I felt we were ready to go come race day.”

While the temperature spiked at the state championship, the girls got out pretty fast, with their top four in the top 20 and the twins in pursuit of the lead, they began to fall victim to the late fall heat. As the athletes crossed the finish line and waited for their teammates, there was a touch of concern about the outcome. 

“I knew I was our fifth and it all kind of came down to me,” stated Amelia Smith. “I saw my time was in the 23s, way off what I was aiming to run so I thought there was no way. But when (Michael) Smith gathered us and told us we did it I was just kind of relieved. Other girls were getting pretty emotional, we had been wanting this for a long time and we did it.”

“We’re so proud of those girls,” stated Lyons. “I was on the team the last and only other time Mascenic won and these girls are better than we were. They worked incredibly hard and helped each other every step of the way and they really deserved it.”

“I’ve been a part of 10 championships now and this one was pretty special. It’s definitely my last year at the helm, and it’s possible I won’t be involved in future, so to have the girls win, with my daughter on the team, in my last year, it’s pretty special. I couldn’t be happier for them,” stated Michael Smith. “They deserve everything they get.”

Simard qualifies for regionals

ConVal junior William Simard qualified for the New England cross-country championships, coming up Saturday in Belfast, Maine. 

Simard finished sixth in the boys’ race at the Meet of Champions in a time of 15 minutes, 33.68 seconds, a 32-second improvement from his time at the Battle of the Border earlier this season over the same course as the Meet of Champions.