New Hampshire State Champion Wins NXR Northeast By 32 Seconds; Hawks TC Boys, Tub Gator XC Girls Claim Titles

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Aidan Cox of The Black Bears cruised through the 5,000-meter layout at Bowdoin Park and won the NXR Northeast title in 15:43.6 on Saturday, leading his team to a third-place finish. 

The junior from Coe-Brown Northwood Academy in New Hampshire had a 12-second lead by the middle of the race and kept pulling ahead at the finish. Cox had been seventh at the New England Cross Country Championships on Nov. 13 in Vermont. 

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The bigger surprise came from Hawks TC (Bishop Hendricken RI), which bounced back from a fourth-place finish at New Englands to win the NXR Northeast title with 73 points. Hawks went out hard as a group to the front and then held on in the second half of the race. 

Troy Silvestri led the team with a seventh-place finish in 16:43.1. 

The favorite going in, Brothers TC (Christian Brothers Academy NJ), was second with 125 points and rallied to get there after a slow start. 

Eamon Burke of South Farms Track Club in Connecticut placed second in 16:16.0 and Brothers TC's Jack Moran was third in 16:31.6.

In a rematch of last week's New Jersey Meet of Champions, Tub Gator XC (Cherokee) reaffirmed its win over Ridgewood XC (Ridgewood) by taking the NXR Northeast title, 67-86. A week ago at Holmdel Park, Cherokee beat Ridgewood 117-126 for the state title.

Anna Macdonald from Germantown Friends TC won the girls championship race in 19:08.9. Samantha Seabury of Warrior Track and Field Club (Wakefield MA) was second in 19:12.6 and Cassidy Roop of Hunterdon Lion TC was third in 19:14.3.