BY JERRY LIPTAK

Generally, in the postseason world of “survive and advance,” there is no place for inter-team camaraderie. Cross country is an exception, and proof was on competitors’ faces after the Nov. 4 Meet of Champions at Mines Falls, on the campus of Nashua South High.

True,  no  local athlete could see the determined expressions of Hanover’s Georgia Griffin and Con-
Val’s Alex McGrath, runaway winners of the girls and boys races, respectively.

Once the races concluded, however, the athletes disregarded school colors and sought out fellow competitors.

“We’re all really close,” said West High junior Kelsey Hunt, a Bedford resident who finished fifth in 18:39. “Everyone’s so nice and down to earth.”

She first talked with Keene’s Eliza Webber, who had edged Hunt for fourth place by .5 seconds.

Then Hunt hugged Memorial’s Jacquelyn Dussault, who outsprinted Hunt’s determined teammate, Kristin Johnson, by .9 seconds to finish 25th.

Dussault was the final individual to earn a trip to the New England Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 10, at Twin Brook Recreation Facility in Cumberland, Maine.

Hunt and Dussault join Memorial’s Holly Banaian, seventh at the M of C; Central’s Arianna Vailas, eighth; and Central’s Alexandra Conway, 22nd, as individual qualifiers.

Among 16 girls teams, Central placed third in the competition and Memorial took fifth. Both earned team entrance to New Englands.

The Bishop Guertin team was the lone boys group with Neighborhood connections to reach New Englands. The Cardinals took sixth among 18 squads.

However, in addition to Central’s Brown and Sinotte, Bishop Guertin sophomores Francis Hernandez and Joey Jourdain, fifth and ninth, respectively, qualified to compete individually in Maine.