Don't mess with New Hampshire was the clear message sent on Saturday at the Catholic Memorial Invite at the legendary Franklin Park.
In the Girl Varsity Race, NH#2 Pinkerton Academy girls would put four runners in the Top 10 and have junior, Maison D'Amelio take the individual win in 18:45. The only Massachusetts girls to break up the NH contingency from Pinkerton and Nashua South, would be the Beverly duo of Ashley Foley and Abby Walsh. Foley tried her best to stay with D'Amelio but would have to settle for second in 19:15, while Walsh took 6th place in 19:40. Rounding out the top ten individuals would be another Massachusetts duo, Taylor Pinzone of Waltham in 9th with her 19:58 performance and Grace Leightheiser of Lexington finishing in 20:02 for 10th.
In the team battle, Pinkerton Academy posted 30 points and walked away with the race. Lexington took 2nd with 106 and Beverly finished 3rd overall with 121 points.
The New Hampshire train wouldn't just be rolling through the girls race, as it would also be cruising through the boys race. After finishing 5th at this meet last year and having an off day at the Wickham Park Invite last weekend, David Vorbach of Nashua North reigned supreme at Franklin Park. Getting out hard from the gun, Vorbach was alone at both the first mile and two mile mark to win in 16:15. New Hampshire rival, Calvin Graves of Pinkerton Academy was 2nd in 16:23 and Connor Muise of Nashua North made it a clean NH sweep by taking 3rd in 16:30. The first Massachusetts boy across the line would be Melrose senior, Adam Cook taking 4th place with his time of 16:35.
The boy's team competition would come down to NH#2 Nashua North and NH#4 Pinkteron Academy. Staying true to the NH rankings, Nashua North won confidently with 39 points and Pinkerton was 2nd with a total of 62 points. Not too far off their NH counterparts, MA#10 Mansfield boys finished 3rd overall in the team race with 69 points.