By Matt Stout
Staff Writer

Hana Hojecka was the third John Stark runner to cross the finish line Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Manchester Invitational. Hojecka finished the 5K course in 24:26. (The Goffstown News/Matt Stout)

They’re looking for respect and a one-way ticket through their respective division’s standings. After years of growth and building from within, the Goffstown and John Stark boys and girls cross country teams were also searching for a way to show it.

The 32nd Manchester Invitational provided the platform.

Running in what many consider to be the season’s first true barometer for area teams, Goffstown and John Stark displayed why they’re so excited about the 2006 season on Saturday, Sept. 23, at Derryfield Park.

The Goffstown and John Stark boys teams finished 21st and 25th, respectively, among 32 teams in the 5K large-school race, while the girls teams finished 28th and 26th among 30 in their large-school event.

Junior Sean Colligan led the Grizzlies with a 42nd-place finish and a time of 17-minutes, 29 seconds, while John Stark senior Brendan Kurylo finished just ahead of him at 17:19, good for 31st place.

Goffstown freshman Jana Hieber led the girls with a time of 21:58 and 50th-place finish, and Jillian Martin took the top spot for the Generals, crossing the line in 22:48 and 87th place.

Their finishes may not put the clubs on their respective class contender watch-lists, but for programs relatively still in their infancy, the division titles can wait. Top-10 finishes in Class L for Goffstown and Class I for John Stark are the goals this year.

New attitude at GHS

“They’re going into the meets thinking they can run with these guys,” said third-year Goffstown coach Darren Hartung, whose team grew from eight runners total in 2004 to 34 this year. “It’s nothing we did. We’re still trying to build the team. But now people like Sean last summer as a sophomore said it’s time to step it up a notch. And they have. It’s incredible.”

Hartung wasn’t kidding. After the boys team finished second-to-last and the girls last in Class L last fall, Hartung sent a summer workout schedule to all his runners last spring. A simple confirmation would have sufficed, but when Colligan responded to the e-mail, he told his coach, “There is no way we’re finishing that low again.”

The rest of the runners have also taken that to heart. Besides Colligan, who improved by nearly three minutes from last year’s Invitational, Aaron Noga finished in 117th at 18:44; Tyler Fournier in 119th at 18:47; his twin brother Andrew in 123rd at 18:51; Nicholas Blanchette in 188th at 20:26; Ryan Sweatt in 191st at 20:34; and Nick Aubut, in 193rd at 20:41.

The top three Goffstown female runners ­ Hieber, Alyssa Renaud and Lauren Paradis ­ are all new to the team this year.

On Saturday, Renaud finished in 123rd at 23:36; Meaghan Jepsen in 183rd at 25:07; Feliccia Beaty in 185th at 25:21; Paradis, who was fighting off illness, in 191st at 25:43; Kayla Hillhouse in 192nd at 26:00; and Marguerite Malloy in 206th at 28:31.

“Last year we had fun, but we didn’t think much of running,” Colligan said. “We just wanted to have fun and be part of a team. But this year we realized that we could get better and we started taking it more seriously.”

Stark change

John Stark has experienced similar growth to Goffstown behind their top runners, Kurylo and Martin. Last season, the boys finished 11th among 22 Class I teams. The girls didn’t place.

With a roster of 24 boys and 15 girls, up from 12 and six last season, the Generals finished well Saturday despite missing their No. 2 boys runner, junior Zeke Landis, who went home sick.

Behind Kurylo, who showed up to his first practice sophomore year in basketball sneakers, Heath O’Neill finished in 150th at 19:27; Kevin Lablond in 173rd at 19:55; Eric Bartolotti in 178th at 20:05; Max Murray in 180th at 20:10; and Jesse Cobb in 184th at 20:20.

On the girls side, Beth Restuccia finished in 104th at 23:12; Hana Hojecka in 160th at 24:26; Sarah Walton in 165th at 24:31; Lauren Baum in 176th at 24:52; and Libby Cullerot in 203rd at 26:57.

“We’re hoping to stack up well against our Class I rivals,” said Tim Finn, who’s co-coach with Larry Restuccia. “Oyster River for example, Hollis-Brookline, Con-Val ­ they’re all teams we’re looking at. Coe Brown, too. We’re hoping to finish top 10 for both boys and girls.”

No matter where they finish, though, the feeling remains the same for both programs.

“I think this year they’re not satisfied in just crossing the finish line,” said Emily West, Goffstown co-coach. “They want to place high, and they want to win.”