By Matt Stout
Staff Writer

The points, places, medals ­ all of that mattered little to the Manchester Central boys and girls cross country teams at the 32nd annual Manchester Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 23, at Derryfield Park.

Running in only what they considered their first real race of the season, the defending champion Little Green ­ two-time for the girls ­ didn’t blow their competition away, nor did they place among the likes of Hanover, Pinkerton Academy, Londonderry or other Class L contenders.

But with four weeks until the Class L championships, roughly five until the Meet of Champions and six before the New England championships, worrying has as prominent a place as cramps among the Central squads.

“Our first meet was more or less for tempo, so this is really the first real big meet of the season,” said Central senior Dante Vitagliano, who placed third for the boys team that finished 14th among 17 teams in the 5K elite race.

Pinkerton placed first among New Hampshire teams, second overall.

“This is just a benchmark, a stepping stone really,” he added. “We think we can go a lot faster, a lot harder later on in the season.”

The same goes for the girls. Led by freshman Arianna Vailas, senior Sarah Brooks and junior Hannah Dow, who placed 18th, 34th and 46th, respectively, Central is trying to fill gaps left by four departed seniors.

Yet, despite finishing eighth among the 10 elite-race schools and behind Hanover, Manchester West and Pinkerton, coach Kelly Feidel said her team is even faster this year.

Averaging just over 21:04 as a team on Saturday, Central’s fourth and fifth runners, Lauren Ashby and Meagan Montville, finished at 21:32 and 21:34, respectively. Last year’s fifth runner ran at around 22 minutes flat.

“My goal is to get the top five under 21 (minutes) in the same race by the end of the season,” Feidel said. “This gives me an idea where they’re at and where we have to go.”

The boys were handicapped without top runner Matt Paulson, who sat with what coach Joanne Dow said was a coach’s decision, but she hopes he’ll return soon. Even without him, Central’s three other top runners ­ Corey Sinotte, Craig Brown and Vitagliano ­ all ran sub-17-minute times. Sinotte finished in 20th at 16:38, Brown in 24th at 16:40 and Vitagliano in 32nd at 16:48.

Central hopes to make up the gap between those runners and its No. 4 and No. 5 spots, Candia’s Matt Reinhold and James Lamontagne, who ran at 18:42 and 18:59, respectively.

“At the beginning of the season, all the talk was like, ‘Oh, fifth man this, fifth man that,’” Vitagliano said. “But I think that will come, and I think the top four will run even faster.”

“I’m excited to do well, but I don’t think there’s a lot of pressure on us to defend it again,” Brooks added. “We did lose some great runners but we’ve got a lot of great runners, too.”

Local results

Central

Vailas and Brooks both ran sub-21-minutes times, Vailas at 20:07 and Brooks at 20:43, while Dow ran a 21:25.

Behind Ashby and Montville, who placed 49 th and 50th overall, were Maria Rocha, who finished 60th with a time of 22:18, and Jill Garrity, who placed 63rd at 22:30.

The boys team’s other varsity runner was Joe Kelly, in 116th with a time of 19:23.

Memorial

The Manchester Memorial boys team, which finished 12th among 32 teams in the large-school race, was paced by Ben Coutu, in 28th at 17:17; Chris Lemieux, in 47th at 17:35; Jonathan Bouchard, in 54th at 17:44; Jack Bauer, in 77th at 18:07; Trevor Merrill, in 85th at 18:18; Corey Duchemin, in 100th at 18:31; and Kostant Stanton, in 125th at 18:54.

The girls team only fielded runners in the freshman race, with Ashlynd Egan finishing first for her team and 64th overall at 15:53 on the 2.1-mile course.

Pembroke

The Pembroke Academy boys and girls teams ran in the junior varsity race and were paced by two freshmen ­ Connor Maroney, in 110th at 19:26, and Ashley Kennedy, in 98th at 25:08.

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Under its first-year coach Leo Ducharme, the Manchester West boys cross country team finished 23rd out of 32 teams in its large-school race.

A middle-of-the-pack team last season in Class L, West and junior Joe Van Gombos, who led the Blue Knights with a 75th-place finish and time of 18:05, expect the same, if not better, by this season’s end.

Behind Van Gombos, who ran a personal-best 17:33 at last year’s Class L meet, were junior Wyatt Hepler of Hooksett, who finished in 79th on Saturday with a time of 18:08; senior Phil Paradis in 144th at 19:20; Patrick Bradford in 171st at 19:54; Artie Murray in 172nd also at 19:54; George Moore in 176th at 20:03; and David Myers in 182nd at 20:11.

Missing were No. 2 runner Russell Johnson of Hooksett, who ran at 17:52 last year at the Manchester Invitational, and the No. 4 runner, senior Nick Gianitsis, who finished this year’s junior varsity race in 20:52. Johnson is recovering from a hip injury and Gianitsis from a sprained ankle.